Carting the Bees 163, 



Rain is disastrous, as it washes the honey from the 

 heather. A strong hive will in one good day add 

 between four and five pounds to the weight of the 

 skep. In return for a consideration the shepherd will 

 keep an eye on the hives, and perhaps send a message 

 down the glen if the tops become too heavy and the 

 hives threaten to swarm to obtain more room an 

 event that occasionally happens. With astonishing 

 gravity old Sandy, the leader of the expedition, will 

 lay his commands on the temporary custodians while- 

 the horses are being yoked for the return journey and 

 the boys recovered for they went guddling trout in, 

 the burn and lost themselves. 



With similar rites and ceremonies the bees are 

 brought home again ; but that is not until the har- 

 vesters have carried home the kirn dolly ; till the corn- 

 stacks are being sheathed in their covering of straw ;. 

 till the blackening potato-tops are inviting the digger,, 

 and the ruddy-cheeked apples are glowing amid the 

 many-tinted orchard leaves. It is a good time with 

 the peasants, for the summer's labour is over, harvest 

 wages have been earned and paid ; nothing more 

 than a generous return of honey is needed to crown 

 the year's good luck. It is in speechless excitement,, 

 however, that they in the autumn moonlight grope 

 their way, each man to his own hives, and lift them, 

 with an anxious heart ; for bees are capricious 

 servants, and till he feels their weight the owner 

 cannot guess whether they have gathered for him a. 



