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571 



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They rose in a body, and ■with them 

 Uncle True'a hope; only to fall again, 

 as they at their queen's behest went 

 down into the Baskins' chimney ! 



" Pesky things !" he ejaculated. As 

 the church-goers were returning he 

 withdrew the hive, closed the skylight 

 with a bang, and then appeared below 

 just as Aunt True bustled in. 



■'Feel better, Joshua? Such a ser- 

 mon as we had— you don't know what 

 you missed." 



"I'm alluz missing something!" 

 Uncle True answered, crosslv. 



*• Why, what's the matter i"' 



Then he told her how the bees had 

 come, and "every soul of 'em gone into 

 Baskin's west chimbly." 



Aunt True sat right .down, bonnet in 

 hand, while f oshua enlarged upon the 

 subject. lie said he'd agiveu anything 

 if the bees had come to him ; he would 

 have planted buckwheat for them, and 

 in the fall smoked them out, and gath- 

 ered the honey. 



Suddenly Aunt True spoke. '• I don't 

 care if them bees be in Baskin's chim- 

 bly ! You found them, and you've the 

 fust right ; besides it opens in our cellar, 

 and that gives us some title to them." 



"That's so!" cried Uncle True. "Of 

 course tbey belong to me— no question 

 but the law'd decide that ! But Bas- 

 kin's might not think so !" 



''I don't s'pose he'd divide," said 

 Aunt True, " them Baskins is bound to 

 get all there is, every time ! I shouldn't 

 mention the bees ; maybe they wouldn't 

 find it out all summer." 



•'Fact is, it's alluz best to manage 

 folks quietly," chimed in Uncle True. 



Little did either dream what a part 

 they would have to act ; or how often 

 be forced into untruths. 



Never were there such active, hot- 

 tempered insects— the young Baskinses 

 were continually getting stung by what 

 they called hornets. 



" It is a powerful year for 'em ; I've 

 got stung myself 'i"' said Uncle True. 



"Must be there's a nest under the 

 eaves," she said, as she applied salera- 

 tus water. 



And Uncle True pretended to hunt 

 for it. Then, when the garden blos- 

 somed to buckwheat alone, and Bas- 

 kins was amazed. Uncle True explain- 

 ing the unusual spectacle by saying he 

 " liked to see it blow 1" 



Later in the summer Joshua could 

 not forbear an inspection of the chim- 

 ney, so he took cement with him that 

 he might be able to say to the Baskinses 

 that he was mending the chimbly I' 



The buckwheat blossomed, and its 

 sweetness was culled by the busy in- 

 sects. " Reg'lar workers, they are," 

 Uncle True often said, gleefully. "That 

 chimbly must be tilling up fast. Things 

 have gone along nicely. The Baskinses 

 don't mistrust; just as soon as they 

 start, we'll get the honey." 



The buckwheat faded. 



" When are the Baskinses going to 

 the beach ':"' each asked the other. 



The summer went, but alas, the Bas- 

 kinses stayed; they "couldn't afford 

 the seashore" that year! It began to 

 look as if Uncle True would never get 

 a chance at the colony. Fortunately, 

 the fall was unusually long and warm, 

 and the bees kept on working clear up 

 to Thanksgiving. On the morning of 



that day, Mr. Baskins started for his 

 native town with his family. 



" Calc'late to make a long stop, 

 neighbor 'i"' Uncle True spoke care- 

 lessly as possible. 



Mrs. Baskins said, "Pa wouldn't 

 hear to their coming home till the next 

 afternoon." 



" They've gone at last— coast's clear!" 



Even that fact did not open the way 

 for an immediate attack upon the bees. 

 The Trues wailed, fearing the B is- 

 kinses might return for some forgotten 

 article ; theii company came and stayed 

 all day. "They have spiled our best 

 chance !" Uncle True said dolefully. 



"Never mind," said Aunt True, 

 " we'll get everything ready for an 

 early start to-morrow." 



The Trues retired long before the 

 usual time, and slept too soundly— for 

 they did not hear the Baskinses return, 

 about midnight. As Mrs. Baskins said 

 " Pa's too full to accommodate us !" 

 which might have been taken literally 

 after " Pa's" hearty dinner, but what 

 she meant was the ancestral bed-rooms 

 were tilled with relatives from a dis- 

 tance. As th^se were from a cyclone 

 district, the young Baskinses heard a 

 tale of horror that sank deep into their 

 minds. 



" No part of our country is safe these 

 days," said Baskins. 



" Out our way we're prepared," said 

 the cyclone representative ; " We have 

 a cave in the cellar to run into; let the 

 house sail off then, we'resafe !" 



" The wind's going to sweep us yet," 

 said Baskins, rolling his big eyes pro- 

 phetically ; " what's to hinder 'f folks is 

 cutting off trees, and leveling the hills 

 as fast as they can. Some day they'll 

 wake up and tind themselves to the 

 mercy o' the elements. 



Under the circumstances, it is not 

 surprising that the children and Mrs. 

 Baskins dreamed of cyclones. 



The Trues began operations at day- 

 break. A smothered chip fire was 

 lighted in the opening of the chimney 

 to smother out the bees. 



" I don't calc'late they're very far 

 down,'' said Uncle True ; " guess I can 

 reach them with a long-handled spoon." 



Then he equipped himself in a hat 

 draped with musquito netting to his 

 waist, a long iron spoon and preserving 

 kettle, and started skyward. Mrs. True 

 took a favorable sight-seeing position 

 in thebackyard. 



Uncle True peered cautiously into 

 the chimney. 



"It's jam full 'o suthi'," he told 

 Aunt True ; "must be a powerful big 

 swarm." 



" Sure, tbey are smoked out enough, 

 Joshuay "?" 



" Oh. yes, they're quiet ; none o' them 

 aint going out or coming in. There's a 

 leetle buzzing, but that don't 'mount to 

 nothing— no more'n a hen's flutterin' 

 when her head's chopped off !" 



While doing two things at once- 

 speculating how much sweetness such 

 a colony could procure, and thrusting 

 in the spoon— Uncle True's elbow 

 started a brick down the chimney. In 

 an instant that "powerful swarm" 

 darted up right into Uncle True's face, 

 as he peeped intently over. With a 

 howl of friglit. he dropped the kettle. 



It rolled and bumped the length of the 

 roof, then bounded off, striking the 

 ground just where Aunt True stood a 

 moment before. 



This woke the Baskinses like an elec- 

 tric shock. They sat up in bed bewil- 

 dered and frightened. Then, hearing 

 the clatter of Uncle True's boots down 

 the slope of the roof, Baskins said : 



" It's probably a cyclone ; we haven't 

 had the equinoctial yet ! The only thing 

 that'll save us is to get out of the house 

 and away from the trees I'' 



As the Baskinses fled out of the back 

 door. Uncle True, wishing only to dis- 

 tance the bees, suddenly dropped 

 among them, in their back yard, and 

 rolled over groaning. Perhaps they 

 took him for some strange b3ing. tip- 

 ped off another planet by a freak of the 

 cyclone ; at any rate they did not recog- 

 nize him in his " bee-protector," for as 

 the figure Hopped its hands wildly sky- 

 ward, and gasped tor speech, Baskins- 

 shouted : 



" Run, all on ye 'i" Make for the open 

 field !" 



" Run " they did, fast and far, 

 screaming till the neighborhood was 

 aroused. 



As the Baskinses crowded through, 

 the gate that opened into a large field, 

 the elder Baskms looked back to see 

 if the house had gone over. To his 

 surprise, it remained apparently firm, 

 not even the chimneys had started, ^e 

 noted also how still the trees were, and 

 what a perfect morning it was. 



" Surely, this is no cyclone," he said, 

 and at once ordered a halt, while he 

 went back to reconnoitre. His atten- 

 tion was at once called to the groans of 

 Uncle True, who was being helped over 

 the fence by his wife. The former,, 

 seeing through his thick veil that it 

 was Mr. Baskins, called out : 



"I've had a terrible fall, neighbor 

 Raskins ; I think I've broke my back. 

 I'll never fix a chimney again !" Witb 

 that he was ushered into the house, and 

 the door slammed behind him. 



As Mr. Baskins gazed upon the roof 

 of the house, and saw many bees flying^ 

 angrily around the chimney, the ab- 

 sence of several bricks, a long spoon 

 and iron kettle on the ground, a dilapi- 

 dated patch of buckwheat in his neigh- 

 bor's yard, the truth gradually dawned 

 upon him. 



"Come back!" he shouted to his 

 family ; " it's no cyclone— only one of 

 old True's experiments." 



As Joshua True sat bolstered up in 

 his armchair before the fire, it seemed 

 as if every one who passed the house 

 looked at the chimney and smiled. 

 Even the boys paused on their way to 

 school, explaining to some new-comer : 

 " O d True's home run down the roof." 

 Bert also, although innocent, was pun- 

 ished for the sins of his pareuts, for his 

 playmates called him " Honey." 



This was more than Uncle True 

 could bear : he decided to move away, 

 and start anew amoue strangers. It 

 was some days before his wife could be 

 persuaded to go, but at last she said : 



" We'll go. Joshuay. but," shaking 

 her long forefinger at him, which 

 meant she was in earnest, ''don't you 

 let me hear anything more about catch- 

 ing a swarm of bees." 



