1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



163 



ory and practice came in conflict quite often, 

 but were usually settled upon the practical side. 



Late Saturday evening, when the doctor bade 

 Fred good-night, he said, " I must go out to the 

 rancheria to-uight. You and Sam will have 

 the valley all to yourselves over Sunday." 



The doctor was expected back before Monday 

 morning: but Fred and Sam were left in an 

 increasing degree of wonderment until Wednes- 

 day morning, when the doctor did return. At 

 the breakfast-table he was disposed to be silent, 

 and appeared much depressed. When they 

 arose from the table he picked up his felt hat 

 and said, as he held it up, " That was a sound 

 hat when I went out Saturday night; now 

 there are holes through the crown. Those were 

 made by a bullet while the hat was on my 

 head." 



" Dat's what I call hewin' close to de line," 

 said Sam; "for gracious, if de lead'd come so 

 near my head, ebery kink in my wool 'ud been 

 straightened, suah." 



" Why, doctor, have you such enemies out- 

 side?" asked Fred. "That was certainly a 

 close call." 



" Yes," repUed the doctor; " there are enemies 

 without. Sit down again and I will tell you. 

 You have not lived long enough in this western 

 country to have learned the peculiar tactics of 

 the land-grabber. He takes up a government 

 claim of 160 acres, and then holds the several 

 thousand acres adjacent by bulldozing off every 

 would-be settler. If the settler is obstinate his 

 stock is usually stampeded or mutilated. If he 

 still persists in holding his claim, a bullet ends 

 his career, and the land-grabber is monarch of 

 all he surveys until another victim appears. 

 In these remote parts the murderer escapes 

 punishment, from the fact that the murder is 

 not even investigated There is such a land- 

 grabber just over the mountains from us. An- 

 other murder was committed on his domain. 

 In this case the murdered man had a spirited 

 son, and, having heard of the mysterious man 

 of the mountains, at the instigation of Mr. 

 Landgrabber he was upon the watch for me, 

 and that explains the bullet-holes. There are 

 so many intricate and even dangerous passes 

 around this mountain that I easily slipped 

 away from my pursuers. Now, if I mistake 

 not, this young man, if he persists in holding 

 his father's claim, will, in due time, join his 

 father in the spirit-land, and his taking-off will 

 be laid to the mysterious man of Crystal Moun- 

 tain." 



" But. doctor, why don't you go right out and 

 clear up this matter ? " 



"I fear, Fred, that there has been so much 

 evil laid to me, that, should I appear openly, I 

 should be shot on sight. I feel that, by and by, 

 something will turn up to relieve me. Mean- 

 while I must stay in the valley and work out 

 my destiny." 



Secure in the hidden valley the doctor and 

 Fred pursued their planning and work with the 

 bees, and in a few weeks the episode was well 

 nigh forgotten. Fred found the little apiary 

 of ten colonies, which he at first despised, a 

 center of great preparations for larger opera- 

 tions. The doctor had for some months been 

 laying in a stock of supplies, and had enough 

 for all present needs; but, even after it became 

 dangerous for him to go outside the valley, 

 his Indian allies, who roamed the country at 

 will, brought him such small things as he 

 needed. 



Preparations for increasing the bees were not 

 completed until the first of January. When 

 every thing was in readiness the work went 

 forward with much precision. Fred was de- 

 lighted at the ease with which the divisions 

 were accomplished, and said they could be done 

 every six weeks. But the doctor said there 

 was some uncertainty about it; and as two 

 months' time was safe, and fast enough, they 

 would stick to that. 



As the months passed, Fred thought many 

 times of his outside friends; and when working 

 alone his mind was constantly upon Alfaretta. 

 Many talks he had with the doctor upon her 

 mental trouble. The doctor was always deeply 

 interested, and would often say, in an absent- 

 minded way, ■' Buell— Buell! If that name 

 were only Bull— any way. I shall investigate 

 that matter the next time I go to Sacramento." 



Fred had been in the valley well toward a 

 year; had made the tlfth division of the bees, 

 and was now the proud manager of 300 colonies. 



Matters in the valley were moving along in 

 their usual channel, when, one evening as they 

 were about to retire, two Indians came into the 

 valley in a much perturbed state of mind, took 

 the doctor aside, and, after a hasty consulta- 

 tion, he departed with them. Fred and Sam 

 sat for a long time speculating upon the unusu- 

 al occurrence, and both fervently hoped the 

 doctor would not again fall into the hands of 

 the land-grabbers. The doctor not returning, 

 they both at a late hour retired. Before sleep- 

 ing, Fred's last thoughts and last little prayer 

 were for the welfare of Alfaretta; and with her 

 name this night he included the doctor; but he 

 slept very lightly, and dreamed again of the 

 night episode with Dawson, and saw again the 

 white apparition on the stump. "I declare," 

 said he, as he awose, "how real that did ap- 

 pear!" 



Again he slept, and dreamed; and as the 

 streaks of dawn were breaking in the east he 

 again awoke; and, sitting up, he said, in an 

 undertone, " What a vivid dream ! I thought I 

 heard her singing." 



Then to his astonished senses came the strong 

 clear tones: 



The nig-ht is stormy and dark, 



My lover Is on the sea; 

 Oh let me to the night winds hark 

 And hear what they say to me. 



