HAPPY 



Immediately I set about my task. Without think- 

 ing, I peeped into two or three cells and found that the 

 bees allotted to me were but four days old. Miraculous 

 as it may seem, while I knew nothing about preparing 

 food for the young, I fell to it with zest. Taking a 

 supply of honey from one cell, I sought one stored with 

 pollen; and there, without ceremony, I began to mix 

 honey and bread, making a thin paste to which I had 

 to add ever so little water. Then I placed the least bit 

 of it in each of the cells of my section. The tiny worm- 

 like bees began to wriggle, so I knew at once that I 

 had succeeded in my task. 



Several days now rolled away in comparative idle- 

 ness. The great storm had completely washed out 

 the supplies of honey, leaving the flowers draggled and 

 broken. We busied ourselves with chores about the 

 hive and with flights into the fields, ever on the scout 

 for sweets. For my part, I was set to filling up a hole in 

 the uppermost corner of the hive. At the moment it 

 was serving as a ventilator. A little stream of air was 

 constantly flowing out of it ; but the cold v/eather was 

 on its way and the time had come to stop the hole. 

 With winter once fallen, it would be too late. 



"The mesquite-trees are full of gum," said the dear 

 old fellow who set me to my task. "Hurry and bring 

 home a good supply. I hear you are a capital hand 

 at this sort of thing." 



So I went swiftly forth, and soon I found a crystal 

 drop of gum on a mesquite-tree. I bit off scraps of it 

 quite easily, and soon had my basket-legs filled with 

 the gum; and it required only a moment to return and 

 pack it in the hole in the hive. 



66 



