BLACK SWAMP 69 



rotten wood was soft and full of unevennesses ; 

 and this insect, with its burnished black body 

 barred with creamy white, was no mere 

 peppery little " yellow- jacket " wasp, but 

 the great hornet of the woods, whose sting 

 can pierce the hide of the moose. No sooner 

 had the bear picked up the dangerous morsel 

 than he spat it out again with a woof of sur- 

 prise, and ground it into nothingness with an 

 angry sweep of his paw. Then he fell to 

 shaking his head, clawing awkwardly at his 

 mouth, and whining a fretful protest at the 

 sting. Lumbering down to a swamphole close 

 by, he plunged his muzzle again and again into 

 the chill black mud. After a brief period of 

 this treatment, he returned to the stump and 

 went on with his banquet of grubs, stopping 

 every now and then to shake his head and 

 grumble deep in his throat. When another 

 big hornet, catching sight of the feast, pounced 

 upon a grub, he smashed her and ground her 

 up instantly, without caring how many tasty 

 morsels were annihilated in the process. 



When the stump had been quite torn to 

 pieces, and every maggot extracted from it, 

 the bear moved on to the tree of the hornets. 

 He did not notice the nest, for he did not take 

 the trouble to look up. If he had done so, 

 being in a rage against the venomous tribe, 



