The next
day they came out again, and were hived. But something offended them,
or else the tree in the woods--perhaps some royal old maple or birch
holding its head high above all others, with snug, spacious, irregular
chambers and galleries--had too many attractions; for they were
presently discovered filling the air over the garden, and whirling
excitedly around. Gradually they began to drift over the street;
a moment more, and they had become separated from the other bees,
and, drawing together in a more compact mass or cloud, away they went,
a humming, flying vortex of bees, the queen in the centre, and the
swarm revolving around her as a pivot,--over meadows, across creeks and
swamps, straight for the heart of the mountain, about a mile distant,
--slow at first, so that the youth who gave chase kept up with them,
but increasing their speed till only a fox hound could have kept them
in sight. I saw their pursuer laboring up the side of the mountain;
saw his white shirt-sleeves gleam as he entered the woods; but he
returned a few hours afterward without any clew as to the particular
tree in which they had taken refuge out of the ten thousand that
covered the side of the mountain.
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