1892 



GLEANrNCJS IN BEE CULTURE. 



(jS-? 



RAMBLE 66. 



A TWO-IIOIINKD KII.K.MMA. 



Hcsidcs tlu' hariuloss cMvatiircs in tliis i-oim- 

 try. tlicro art> other classes of liviiiR tliiii>;s tliat 

 are not so pleasant to meet. As my time he- 

 eanie now more fully oeeiipied 1 found it neces- 

 sary lo arise very early in the morning. My 

 caliin door faced the east, and the first piM-p of 

 day came directly into it. for my door and win- 

 dows were lefl open. The lirsi morniiifr I aiose 

 so early tin- lii-st olnect I saw when I stepped 

 outdoors was an usly head j)rotr\idinf2: from un- 

 der my cabin, and only a few inches from the, 

 thr(>shold. From the size of the head I jud)JC(^d 

 there was (juite a serpcMit attached to it. I de- 

 clarinl war by securinji a piece of board, and, 

 fiettiuij into a safe position, I put the end of it 

 down in no gentle manner on its neck; and the 

 lieavier I bore down, the heavier the .serpent 

 br(>athed. Says I. all to myself. "This must be 

 a new-fangle<l snake, with powerful lungs." 

 The body meantime kept up such a wolloping 

 under the cabin that I give the board a twist 

 away from the hole, and I was startled, and 

 came near dropiiing the board as the body of a 

 rattlesnake rolled out before me, and I saw it 

 was the whirr of those rattles that I had mis- 

 taken for breathing. There were ten rattles, 

 and ills snakeship was nearly four feet in 

 length. For a long time after! had " pulver- 

 ized "" his head, the rattles vibrated rapidly. 

 The sound is much like that made by the sing- 

 ing of a locust. When he was stone dead the 

 rattles were cut oil, and in my cabin they hang 

 as a trophy. My thoughts run to rattlesnakes 

 more or less all day. I always did believe it 

 was wrong to get up so very early in the morn- 

 ing, and here was a case of genuine danger. 



•■\vhp:w! such a pkkfume!" 



The next morning when the day broke into 

 my cabin I thought of the danger lurking 

 around my door, and 1 rolled over and prepared 

 to take another nap: but, whew! there arose 

 such a perfuin*! as Araby the blest never 

 dreamed of. A skunk had fired off a whole 

 battery of hi- ammunition right under my bed. 

 I had heard of dilemmas with two horns to 

 them; but this was the first that ever .sorely 

 perplexed me. I could not get out of bed for 

 fear of snakes, and could not stay in bed oii 

 account of skunk perfumery. When I had 

 stormed around a while, and remarked many 

 things about the glorious climate and its per- 

 fumes. I cooled down and considered that rat- 

 tlers and skunks wouldn't come every alternate 

 day in the year, and I would strike a happy 

 mean between four and six o'clock, and get up 



at live, which resolve I kept, and was troubled 

 no more with undesirable dangers and per- 

 fumes ai'ound my cabin, though 1 met and van- 

 (luished an occasional rattler on the plain. 



'I'he moral I leai'iied from tlu^ dilemma was 

 tliis: Never build a cabin sciiiat- down on Uw. 

 ground in this country. Huild itup so that you 

 can at least circulate a club under it. 



1 relat<'d the incident and the dilemma I was 

 in. to my old washwoman (now. tiiy old wash- 

 woman is a femal(! not to b(> sne,(>z<^d at; she 

 takes two daily papers and weeklies, and regu- 

 lates an old v(!teran for a companion). This 

 veteran was the happy possessor of a shot-gun; 

 and, being a liberal olil veteran, he lent me tin; 

 gun. 



"Why," said he, "it's really dangerous for 

 you to live away out then^ all alone. Somebo<ly 

 will come along and kill you for ?>r).()0." 

 " Why," says I, " I haven't got r^.tX)." 

 " Well, they don't know but you have. Take 

 my gun, and welcome*. Why, what if you 

 should b(! taken sick away out there alone? 

 You can tire the, gun and attract attention. 

 This gun hasn't any quirkums about it." I 

 mentally blessed th(! old veteran, and took the 

 gun. Nothing very exciting happened for a 

 few days; and, seeing two well-dressed, good- 

 looking, and accomplished ladies successfully 

 hunting rabbits. I shouldered my gun, not very 

 early, one morning, and sallied forth. 1 didn't 

 wish to shoot my tame rabbits, and got beyond 

 their run; and the first rabbit I fired at, I found 

 that the gun had a quirkum — it kicked, and the 

 muzzle arose in the air. I didn't kill a hawk; 

 but if there had been one above, I surely 

 should. 



" Well," says I, " that would be a funny case 

 — shoot at a rabbit on the ground and kill a 

 hawk in the air. The feat would beat Dr. 

 Carver." 



I next ran into a shoal of quail. They flew 

 up on both sides of me; and before I could get 

 my gun organized in the right direction they 

 were out of sight. 



I entered town, and met a watermelon ped- 

 dler, and wishing to show game; of some kind I 

 purchased a large one for .5 cents, and though I 

 kept on the back streets I met several smart 

 young men who would sing out, " Did you shoot 

 tliat watermelon '?" 



Another very important thing I learned about 

 setting a cabin down close to the ground is, 

 that ants will love you so as to be your con- 

 stant companions. Ants are very numerous in 

 California, and the little red ants ar(i about as 

 numerous and enteriirising as any little people 

 on the face of the earth. I put my eatables in 

 a little cupboard, and suspended it by wires 

 from above; but a prospecting ant found the 

 road down the wire; and one morning when I 

 returned from town, about a million were btisy 

 carrying otr two loaves of bread, a pound of 

 butter, a cup of honey, and a pound of sugar. 

 While I was a little provoked at them I could 

 not buL admire their imterprise. The reader 

 will therefore see why bee-keepers on a lone 

 ranch, miles from any habitation, seldom gc^t 

 lonesome. Animate and inanimate nature 

 gives them enough to think about. 



The cooking-utensils of a b<'e-man are in 

 number according to his ability as a cook, and 

 also as to whether he resides permanently on 

 the ranch. The latter has a stove that he has 

 picked up at a second-hand store, while the 

 transient-dweller uses an oil-stove, or makes a 

 stove out of five-gallon tin cans. In the [)hoto 

 tiie RambhT's tin-can stove, with its pipe made 

 from the same material, shows to good advan- 

 tage, and would com|)aie favoral/ly with any 

 thing Robinson Crusoe ever made. The water- 

 bucket hanging up is also made from a tin can. 



