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Hiving the Bees · The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank

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  Chapter nineteen of The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  please visit LibriVox dot org. The Bobsey Twins at Cloverbank by Laura Lee
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  Hope Hiving The Bees. Bert Bobbsey did not understand what Sam Porter's excitement was
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  all about, but he could tell by the way Sam acted and by the
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  way he called, that it was something serious. So he dropped his fish
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  and his pole and made ready to follow his new chum. Come on,
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  come on, called Sam, peering out from his shelter in the bushes as
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  he saw that Bert was not hurrying as much as he might. Run for
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  it. If you don't want to get stung. Stung, exclaimed Bert,
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  yep answered the country lad, don't you see that's a bunch of bees with
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  the Queen Bee in the middle, and they're looking for He placed his settles
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  so they can start a new home. I only hope they don't light on
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  this bush, he added, as Bert crawled in the shelter with him.
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  If they do, oh boy, look out for yourself. The best thing
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  to do will be to leg it for the creek and jump in. Just
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  let your nose stick out, that's all. I hope they don't decide to
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  settle here where we are. But the swarm of humming, busy little insects
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  following their queen suddenly turned and made for a tree not far away. There
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  the bees clustered in a bunch on one of the low branches. That's good,
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  cried Sam. Mister Watson can easily get them from there. Come on,
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  we'll go tell him. The boys picked up their fish and their poles,
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  and soon they were at Cloverbank. Oh what a fine lot of fish,
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  exclaimed Missus Bobbsey as she saw the two boys with their strings. Yes
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  they're good fish, Bird said, but will you take them? Please?
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  Nan, I have to go with Sam and tell mister Watson about his swarm
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  of bees. What's this about the beees, Missus Bobbsey wanted to know.
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  The boys taking turns, quickly told her, and Bert added, I'm going
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  to watch mister Watson catch them. Oh so am, I cried Freddy.
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  Nan hurried back to the farmhouse with the two strings of fish, which were
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  to be put in the cool cellar until needed. Sam said he would be
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  back and get his after the bees were caught. So some of my bees
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  got away, did they asked mister Watson. When he had been told the
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  news. He was about to set out for another of his orchards where peaches
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  were being picked, but when he heard about his honeymakers, he decided to
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  postpone his orchard trip. Followed by the Bobbsey twins, their mother and Sam,
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  mister Watson hurried to the little valley where he kept about a hundred hives
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  of bees. Like little dog houses, the hives were only with flat instead
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  of peaked roofs, and of course only a small slit was kneaded in the
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  bottom of each hive house to let the bees fly in and out. The
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  hives stood and rose in an orchard of apple trees near a small garden.
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  There was a farm house in this valley in which lived a man and his
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  wife who looked after the bees. I had three swarms out today, called
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  Jason Stern, the bee keeper, to mister Watson when he later arrived.
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  I couldn't get them all. One got away. I know where it is,
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  the peach grower answered Burton. Sam saw the swarm alight when they were
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  coming back from fishing. I'll take an empty hive on the small hand cart
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  and bring them back. You'd better come along to help, That is,
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  if you have the other swarms safe. Yes, they're all right, except
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  the one that got away, said Mistress Turn. While the Bobsey twins watched,
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  mister Watson and the bee keeper put rubber gloves on their hands and on
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  their heads big straw hats, the brim of which held the mosquito netting veil
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  away from their faces so no bee could get near them. They also tied
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  down the legs of their trousers, for sometimes a bee or two will crawl
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  up your pants, and it isn't very pleasant, said Jason Stern with a
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  laugh. Then a two wheeled cart with a flat wooden platform was brought out
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  of the barn and the party off. They presently came in view of the
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  tree on which the swarm had alighted. The cluster of bees was like a
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  big football, and somewhat similar in shape. A low buzzing sound could be
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  heard. Better. Not coming in closer with the children, advised the farmer
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  to missus Bobbsey, a stray bee or two might sting them. You can
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  watch Jason and me from here. The mother of the twins, and in
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  fact the twins themselves as well as Sam, did not care to go too
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  near, so they sat down on a grassy hillock while the two men wheeled
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  the cart close under the tree. On the cart was an empty bee hive,
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  one of many kept ready for just such occasions as this. Also,
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  mister Stern had brought with them a smoker, which was something like a tin
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  funnel with a little leather bellows beneath it. When this bellows was pumped,
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  clouds of smoke were sent out of the small end of the funnel, directed
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  against the swarm of bees. The smoke quieted them so they would not sting
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  those who handled them. The cart, with the open empty hive on it,
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  was wheeled up until it was directly under the branch on which hung the
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  clustering bees around their queen. You hold the cart steady now, Jason directed
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  mister Watson, and I'll climb up in the tree and jar them off as
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  soon as most of them are inside the hive. Clap the cover on,
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  all right, was the answer. I wonder what would happen, said Bert
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  if the cluster of bees and their queen should fall on mister Stearn's head instead
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  of in the empty hive. It wouldn't be very pleasant, his mother answered,
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  though I guess with the veils the men won't get stung. But watch
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  now, children, and see them hive, the runaway bees. Jason,
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  are you all ready down there? Called mister Watson to his be man,
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  when the farmer himself was up in the tree. All ready was the answer,
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  Shake him down. End of Chapter nineteen.