AN EVENING WITH THE HORNETS. 129 



the farm had ever taken, or seen taken, a 

 hornets' nest. "Waspy's" nests they had 

 often taken, but never a hornets'. I had to 

 teach them. I took council with Joyce, who 

 is an apt scholar. 



As a boy, I had assisted at the storming 

 of many a hornets' castle. We knew them 

 to be, or at all events we acted in the full 

 belief that they were, arrant cowards. Half- 

 a-dozen boys would stand round the tree 

 with a long leafy branch in one hand and a 

 bat in the other, and swish or nap them 

 down as they approached the hole, and when 

 we had sufficiently thinned the outsiders and 

 scared those inside, a kettle of boiling water 

 poured into the hole finished their business. 

 We never attempted to get at the comb. 



Never do I remember any boy being 

 stung ; yet we took no trouble to cover our- 

 selves, and we were all aware of the popular 

 tradition that "nine hornets can kill a horse." 



This time we did not adopt so foolhardy a 

 plan ; indeed, the situation did not admit of 

 it, for there was no room for a run, and I 

 have been followed by a hornet for a quarter 

 of a mile, swishing and batting all the time. I 

 am sure he could easily have stung me if he 

 had wished. My opinion now is that he was 

 only amusing himself by frightening me. 



