CHAPTER XI
SACKING THE FOREST STORE-HOUSE
TOBY had insisted upon stowing that wonderful aeroplane appendix whichhe called an "aviator's life-saver parachute," in the bottom of thewagon when starting out on this camping trip. He was working at it whilehelping to keep camp the first afternoon after their arrival.
"All I hope is," he went on to say, when Elmer chanced to come aroundclose to where he straddled a log, and did some heavy sewing with thetoughest waxed string he could use, "that I find a chance to try outthis thing again while we're in this region. If no other place shows upI might climb to the top of the tower on the old house, and jump offthere. How high would you guess, off-hand, that might be, Elmer?"
"Oh! perhaps thirty-five or forty feet," replied the other, carelessly,and hardly noting what Toby was saying, because just then he had caughta peculiar sound that came from some little distance away.
"Do you hear that, Elmer?" called out George.
"Yes, and I was trying to make out what it was when you spoke," repliedthe scout master. "I reckon it must be some one busy with an ax, for theblows are repeated as regular as clock-work."
"And our chums took the camp ax away with them?" suggested Toby, lookingup, an eager glow commencing to show in his eyes.
"Yes, and they went off in that direction, too," added George.
With that the four camp keepers smiled at each other.
"Can it be possible they've found a bee-tree, after all?" asked George,who, despite his yearning for a honeycomb, could not overcome hisskeptical disposition, and believe that such a delightful consummationof the bee hunt had come about.
"Listen to that whanging, will you?" cried Toby; "nobody but Lil Arthacould use an ax like that. As sure as you live they must have strucksomething. Tell me about the babes in the woods, will you; some peoplewade in good luck every time they start out!"
"Another fellow has taken hold, because the sound changes," Georgeobserved, sagaciously; "and p'raps Ty Collins is swinging the ax now. Hecan hew close to the line; fact is, I never saw a scout who could chopas evenly as Ty. Wow! did you hear that crash, fellows? A tree went downthat time, whether there's any honey in the same or not. I'll onlybelieve it when I see, smell and taste the nectar."
A short time afterwards they heard some one coming on the run. Then afigure broke out of the brush, waving excitedly.
"Hi! get your buckets, and come along to help gather the harvest!" LilArtha was shouting as he approached, half out of breath.
"Then you sure enough did find a bee-tree, and it isn't any joke?"demanded the incredulous George.
"Take a look at me, and then say if I show up like a joke!" demanded thelong-legged scout, indignantly.
Everybody laughed as he twisted his face up, and tried to look serious.It was an utter impossibility with that lump ornamenting the end of hisnose, others gradually swelling his cheeks, while various suspicioussigns behind his ears marked the places where the angry little bees hadleft their stings.
"No hurry, Lil Artha," said Elmer; "let me rub your face with this witchhazel, and put a little ointment on to relieve the pain and reduce theswelling. You're puffing out under the eyes right now, and if somethingisn't done you'll have to be led around for a while."
While Elmer was doctoring the battered comrade George kept plying himwith questions, as though he had great difficulty in believing theglorious truth.
"I hope it isn't only an old hornet's nest you've struck," he went on tosay, doubtfully; "but then there wouldn't be any at this time of year, Iguess. Sure you saw real honey, did you, Lil Artha?"
"And smelled it too!" cried the afflicted scout. "Why, the old treeburst open when it fell, and you just ought to see what gallons of thestuff fills the hollow trunk away up near the top. My! but the bees aremad, and swarming around there by the million! I ran in among 'em,thinking to snatch a comb, and get away with it, but they swooped downon me, and I had to cut for it like fun. Elmer, however, can we get someof that honey without being stung to death? Oh! if only I had one ofDaddy Green's bee head-nets that he loans to people when he's showingthem the inside of a hive in his apiary, wouldn't it be the boss; andrubber gloves to go with the same."
"Perhaps I might rig up a net somehow," Elmer mused; "I've got a pieceof mosquito netting in my bag that I use for a minnow seine, and thatought to make several head-nets. Let's see if we can find any glovesthat'll help keep our hands out of danger."
After a hunt through all the traps the boys managed to secure enoughcoverings to answer the purpose after a clumsy fashion. Meanwhile Georgeand Toby had hastily gathered what utensils they had with them capableof holding some of the honey. Everybody was wildly excited, for they hadnever really passed through an experience of this sort. Bee trees theyhad heard of many times, but that one should actually be discovered whenthey were camping out, and yearning for something of a sweet nature,seemed almost too good to be true.
"All ready here, Lil Artha!" exclaimed George; "and now lead us to yourwonderful wild honey hive. I just want to see it with my own eyes,that's all."
Lil Artha looked severely at him, that is, as well as he could withthose half-shut eyes of his, and then remarked sarcastically:
"Well, if you ain't the limit, George; I sure hope you _do_ see theplain evidence, yes, and _feel_ some of 'em too, like I did. They saythe poison of bee stings is used in medicine, and it's mighty good forsome things. P'raps a dose of the same'd cure you of your questioningeverything there is. But come on, everybody."
Elmer did not know whether they were exactly wise in abandoning thecamp, even for a brief time; but he felt that it would be hard to keepany one there; so he concluded to take the slight risk.
Lil Artha was a pretty good scout. He had noted directions as he wentforth on the expedition, so that in returning to the camp he had madewhat might be called in more senses than one a "bee-line"; and now thetrail was so plainly marked that even a fellow with one eye, orhalf-closed ones, could follow it back to where the other three scoutsawaited their coming, hiding behind the brush so as not to attract toomuch attention from the buzzing horde of insects.
The netting was fashioned into head protectors, the ends being tuckedwell down in their coats. Then donning heavy gloves the two boysselected for the work, George and Ty Collins, started boldly into thatwhirling mass of excited bees.
They shortly came out bearing pans full of splendid honey, anddoubtless a considerable number of stings in spite of all theprecautions taken against this evil.
"Next time look for a little fresher stock," Elmer told them; "for whilethis is all right, and like amber in color, you'll find that it's lastyear's gathering. Split the tree further up, and get the latest stuff!"
So Ty took the ax back with him; while George worked a sort of smokesmudge Elmer had prepared, in order to help stupefy the bees. It did thebusiness in great shape, too, as every bee keeper uses this means forkeeping the little insects from paying too much attention to him when heis working with their hive. They seem to fancy that their home is indeadly danger of being consumed, and every working bee immediatelyburdens itself down with all the honey it can carry, and for the timebeing renders itself helpless to use its sting.
Every scout managed to accumulate one or more lumps, however, for theair was heavily charged with the bewildered insects, now homeless on afall afternoon; and although the boys did a great deal of dodging theycould not avoid contact all the time. But then the sight of thatsplendid honey made them forget their present troubles. They snatched upthe bottle of witch hazel, or applied the ammonia solution recklessly,to immediately start in again working like heroes.
Elmer started back to camp bearing their one bucket actually full of themost delicious honey he had ever tasted; and soon afterwards Lil Arthafollowed with two kettles also heavily laden with the same.
When Chatz came along with several heavy honeycombs secured with anarrangement consisting of cords, and stout twigs from some hickory tree,the three looked at each o
ther in dire dismay.
"We can't live on honey alone, you know," Lil Artha up and said; "and itlooks like we've already got every cooking vessel loaded down, with nothalf the store of sweet stuff cleaned out. What in the wide world can wedo with it all? I guess this is a case of too much of a good thing."
"I know!" declared Chatz, suddenly; "in prowling around that hauntedhouse I saw several old stone jars in what was once used as a pantry.Let's go over and lug the same to camp, Lil Artha. They can be washedout clean, and will hold all that honey, I assure you, suh. And we cancarry most of the same back home with us to show other scouts what we'vebeen doing up here in the woods."
So the pair hastened away, and after a while came back with the stonecrocks or jars, each of which would hold several gallons. Elmerpronounced them the finest possible thing for holding their rich find,and proceeded to cleanse them thoroughly at the spring, after which thevarious cooking receptacles were emptied, and both Chatz and Lil Arthastarted eagerly back to the fountainhead for a fresh supply.
They certainly cleaned out the best part of that tree hive during thenext hour, and had four jars full of splendid honey, some of it as clearas crystal. It was the greatest "harvest home" the Hickory Ridge BoyScouts had ever experienced; and they seemed never to get quite enoughof the sweet stuff, for every one kept tasting as new supplies weredisclosed by splitting the tree further.
Finally, however, it came to an end, and the distracted bees were letalone with the sad wreck of their once fine hive. Perhaps, if theysurvived the chill of the coming night, some of them would start infresh, and carry away enough of the discolored honey, refused by thediscriminating scouts, to start a new hive, and keep the swarm aliveduring the winter.
Nobody seemed furiously hungry as the afternoon waned and the shades ofnight began to gather around the camp. This was hardly to be wonderedat, however, since they had tasted so much honey for hours that it tookaway their customary zest for ordinary food. Elmer told them it was abad thing, and every fellow promised that from that time on he wouldtake his sweet stuff in moderation.
Of course they cooked some dinner; and after once getting a taste of thefried onions and potatoes it seemed that to some degree their fickleappetites did return, so that the food vanished in the end.
"I'm thinking about all that darker honey we left there," Lil Artha wassaying, as they sat around the crackling fire long after night hadfallen, and supper had been disposed of an hour or more.
"My starth!" ejaculated Ted, "I hope now you don't want to lay in anymore of the thweet thtuff, do you, Lil Artha? Why, we'll be thticky allover with it. Don't be a hog. Leave thome to the poor little beeth; andit didn't look real nice, you know."
"Oh! I wasn't regretting that we couldn't make a clean sweep," explainedthe tall scout, whose face was once more gradually resuming its normalappearance; "but if what I've read is true, up in some places where theyhave black bears, they always set a watch when they've cut down a beetree. You see, the smell of the honey is in the air, and if there's abruin inside of five miles he'll be visiting that broken tree hivebefore morning, when the watcher can send a bullet into him."
"But you don't think there are bears around here, do you?" asked George,always to be found on the side of the opposition.
"Well, hardly," replied Lil Artha, "though some of us wish it might beso, because we've got a gun along, and they say bear steak isn't halfbad when you're in camp, even if it does taste like dry tough beef whenyou're at home, and sitting down with a white table cloth before you.I'd like to try some, that's what; but this expedition wasn't startedfor a bear hunt, you know."
"No, that's so," Ty Collins remarked; "more likely a ghost hunt," and hegave Chatz a sly look out of the corner of his eye as he said this.
"That was meant for me, suh," Chatz said, with dignity; "you think youcan laugh at me because I'm weak enough to believe there may be such athing as a ghost. But if you-all are so sure nothing of the kind evercould happen, what's to hinder me from having the entire camp alongto-night when I go over there and hide, to watch what happens at exactlymidnight?"
Elmer laughed softly.
"Do you mean that as a dare, Chatz?" he asked.
"Take it as you please, suh; and we'll soon see who believes in ghostsor not; because the one who backs down first is likely after all to beafraid of meeting up with visitors from the spirit land."
"Who's going along with Chatz and myself?" asked Elmer, turning to thecircling scouts; who began to look serious, and cast quick glancestoward each other.
"Oh! I'll keep you company, Elmer!" said George, first of all; forsomehow he fancied everybody was staring hard at him, and not for worldswould he allow them to think he was _afraid_.
"Count me in!" added Ty Collins, with a laugh, that bordered on thereckless.
"I'll go along, too," observed Ted.
Landy Smith hastened to nod his head in the affirmative when Elmerlooked at him; Lil Artha spoke up and said he was bound to be one of thenumber; and finally Toby completed the list by signifying that he wasready to sacrifice himself also.