XI 



SOME BEES 



A FRIEND of mine, whom I will call Louisa, 

 came to stay with us for the purpose of seeing 

 something of camp life. She and I started, 

 out several marches from the railway, meaning to 

 try for both big and small game. Sometimes my 

 husband and I had got quite good bags of quail and 

 partridge here, but this year they were rather few 

 and far between. 



Louisa and I were out one morning and had got 

 as far as hitting one duck and missing a partridge 

 when, in beating up a nice bushy fence, we had the 

 misfortune to beat out a nest of bees. I was on the 

 side of the fence away from them, and had not an 

 idea of what had happened when I saw Louisa, 

 Bumps Raja, with his friend Dial, the forest guard, 

 and a coolie all flying for their lives. The coolie on 

 my side started to run too in an opposite direction, 

 calling to me to come. I followed for a little way, 

 then told him to stop and tell me what in the world 

 we were running away from ! He shouted out that 

 they were bees, and off he went ; but I could only 

 see one bee anywhere near him and there were none 

 on me. 

 The other men had all disappeared, but I heard 



