Down North and Up Along 
time and a vast amount of hard work to dig 
that long gallery through the hard earth and 
collect that mass of pollen and honey bit by 
bit from distant flowers. 
As we looked at the ruins of a once happy 
home, we felt the self-satisfied regret of the 
conqueror at the discomfiture of the conquered. 
The self-control of the bees was remarkable. 
They flew about us in great excitement, but 
their anger was not of that stinging nature which 
makes one so anxious to respect the privacy of 
bees. One flew at M. and administered a 
sharp admonitory rap on the cheek, but used 
no more pointed argument. 
The Christian fortitude of these bees might 
have made us uncomfortably ashamed of our 
part in the adventure, had it not occurred to us 
in time that possibly the reason for their for- 
bearance was not because they were good, but 
because they were stingless. 
This thought recalled the picture of Hum- 
boldt sitting on the mountain-side above 
Caracas, where small hairy stingless bees crawled 
over his hands. These bees were called 
" Angelitos" by the natives; and we on North 
Mountain also met our Angelitos. 
48 
