HAPPY 



grew dark and great flashes of fire tore the heavens 

 apart and blinded me. 



This terrified me. I knew not its meaning, but in- 

 stinctively I fled homeward. But my progress was 

 slow, and I had not gone far when again the whole 

 world seemed to tremble, shaken through and through 

 by the most violent rumblings conceivable. It grew 

 so dark I almost stopped in my flight, not sure of my 

 way. At this moment of hesitation something struck 

 me squarely in the back, almost knocking me down. 

 It had been a great drop of water, and almost im- 

 mediately others began to pelt me. Soaking wet and 

 tossed by the gale, I was forced to alight. As I dropped 

 downward I saw nothing but black shadows, and 

 presently I was dashed into a great tree. I seized a 

 branch that offered shelter, which proved to be none 

 too well protected against the blast that now drove 

 the rain in solid sheets. I was cold, and clambered 

 around to the under side of the limb, and there, 

 feeling none too secure, I grudgingly deposited some 

 of my honey in a crevice. By lightening my load I 

 was better able to keep my balance; but so gusty was 

 the blast that it whipped the rain all over me, and 

 I was unable to find a spot that was dry. I began 

 to climb from one branch to another in the hope of 

 reaching a safer haven, but, alas! none was to be found. 



Worse things, too, were awaiting me. I was crying 

 for Crip when the branch to which I clung suddenly 

 snapped. Down and down it fell while I clung to it. 

 I was too cold and wet to try to take wing, and present- 

 ly the branch crashed into a swirling stream of water. 

 At first I was entirely submerged. It seemed an inter- 



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