TEMPERAMENTS 
95 
Moreover, to add to the difficulties, they were 
in an awkward place to get at—the tops of the 
combs too high up inside the eaves to reach with a 
knife unless I stood on a box. Also, the combs 
were very large and hard to handle, even when 
cut in two parts. They were about twenty-eight 
inches long by twenty inches deep, and heavy with 
honey, which dripped or gushed down upon my 
face at almost every cut of the knife, for even with 
the aid of a flashlight to penetrate the dark recess, 
it was blind work. Also, from the start, the bees 
resented intrusion. They concentrated on stinging 
and infuriated bees can push and pry somehow 
through almost any covering. 
Before long, the proprietor said he had some busi¬ 
ness downstairs he must attend to ... if I 
didn’t mind? I understood. 
At the end of five hours steady work, all the combs 
were out and I had fitted ten frames with good 
worker comb containing brood and honey, cutting 
the combs to fit the frames, then pressing them in 
and tying them in place with light string till the 
bees should fasten them more securely with wax. 
But the queen had not been found, and the bees 
all clustered in the cavity. 
I took out as many as I could with a small sugar 
