76 AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



new line makes a sharp angle with the other line, 

 and we know at once that the tree is only a few 

 rods into the woods. The two lines we have estab- 

 lished form two sides of a triangle of which the wall 

 is the base ; at the apex of the triangle, or where the 

 two lines meet in the woods, we are sure to find the 

 tree. We quickly follow up these lines, and where 

 they cross each other on the side of the hill we scan 

 every tree closely. I pause at the foot of an oak 

 and examine a hole near the root ; now the bees are 

 in this tree and their entrance is on the upper side 

 near the ground not two feet from the hole I peer 

 into, and yet so quiet and secret is their going and 

 coming that I fail to discover them and pass on up 

 the hill. Failing in this direction I return to the 

 oak again, and then perceive the bees going out in a 

 small crack in the tree. The bees do not know they 

 are found out and that the game is in our hands, and 

 are as oblivious of our presence as if we were ants 

 or crickets. The indications are that the swarm is a 

 small one, and the store of honey trifling. In " tak- 

 ing up " a bee-tree it is usual first to kill or stupefy 

 the bees with the fumes of burning sulphur or with 

 tobacco smoke. But this course is impracticable on 

 the present occasion, so we boldly and ruthlessly as- 

 sault the tree with an ax we have procured. At the 

 first blow the bees set up a loud buzzing, but we 

 have no mercy, and the side of the cavity is soon cut 

 away and the interior with its white-yellow mass oi 

 comb-honey is exposed, and not a bee strikes a bloif 



