On the other side
the country opened deep and wide. A large valley swept around to the
north, heavily wooded at its head and on its sides. It became evident
at once that the bees had made good their escape, and that whether they
had stopped on one side of the valley or the other, or had indeed
cleared the opposite mountain and gone into some unknown forest beyond,
was entirely problematical. I turned back, therefore, thinking of the
honey-laden tree that some of these forests would hold before the
falling of the leaf.
I heard of a youth in the neighborhood, more lucky than myself on a
like occasion. It seems that he had got well in advance of the swarm,
whose route lay over a hill, as in my case, and as he neared the
summit, hat in hand, the bees had just come up and were all about him.
Presently he noticed them hovering about his straw hat, and alighting
on his arm; and in almost as brief a time as it takes to relate it, the
whole swarm had followed the queen into his hat. Being near a stone
wall, he coolly deposited his prize upon it, quickly disengaged himself
from the accommodating bees, and returned for a hive.
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