Page:St. Nicholas, vol. 40.1 (1912-1913).djvu/381

1913.] the tree, at that point, was so big he could not get a good hold upon it. So he just dug his smarting nose into the bark, and clawed himself around to the other side of the tree, where the branches that were still green sheltered him a bit.

“Luckily, here the bees did n’t seem to notice him. He kept very still, listening to their angry buzz till it had somewhat quieted down. Then, instead of going about it with a noisy dash, as he had done before, he worked his way up stealthily and slowly, till he could crawl into the crotch of the first branch. You see, that bear could learn a lesson.

“Presently he stuck his nose around to see how near he was to the bees’ hole. He had just time to locate it—about seven or eight feet above him —when, again—biff! and he was stung on the lip. He drew in his head again quick, I can tell you, quick enough to catch that bee and smash it. He ate it, indignantly. And then he lay curled up in the crotch for some minutes, gently pawing his sore little snout, and whimpering angrily.

“The warm, sweet smell of the honey was very strong up there. And, moreover, Teddy Bear’s temper was now thoroughly aroused. Most cubs, and some older bears, would have relinquished the adventure at this point; for, as a rule, it takes a wise old bear to handle a bee-tree successfully. But Teddy Bear was no ordinary cub, let me tell you,—or we would never have called him ‘Teddy.’ He lay nursing his anger and his nose till he had made up his mind what to do. And then he set out to do it.

“Hauling himself up softly from branch to branch, he made no more noise than a shadow. As soon as he was right behind the bees’ hole, he reached around, dug his claws into the edge of it, and pulled with all his might. The edges were rotten, and a pawful of old wood came. So did the bees!

“They were onto him in a second. He grunted furiously, screwed his eyes up tight, tucked his muzzle down under his left arm—which was busy holding on—and reached around blindly for an- other pull. This time he got a good grip, and he could feel something give. But the fiery torture was too much for him. He drew in his paw, crouched back into the crotch, and cuffed wildly at his own ears and face, as well as at the air, now thick with his assailants. The terrific hum they made somewhat daunted him. For a few seconds, he stood his ground, battling frantically. Then, with an agility that you would never have dreamed his chubby form to be capable of, he went swinging down from branch to branch, whining, and coughing, and spluttering, and squealing all the way. From the lowest branch he slid down the trunk, his claws tearing the bark and just clinging enough to break his fall.

“Reaching the ground, he began to roll himself over and over in the dry leaves and twigs, till he had crushed out all the bees that clung in his fur.”

“But why did n’t the rest of the bees follow him? They followed this other bear, to-day!” protested the Babe, feelingly.

“Well, they did n’t!” returned Uncle Andy, quite shortly, with his customary objection to being interrupted. Then he thought better of it, and added amiably: “That ’s a sensible question, a very natural question, and I ‘ll give you the answer to it in half a minute. I ’ve got to tell you my yarn in my own way, you know,—you ought to know that by this time,—but you ’ll see presently just why the bees acted so differently in the two cases.

“Well, as soon as Teddy Bear had got rid of his assailants, he clawed down through the leaves and twigs and moss—as I did just now, you remember—till he came to the damp, cool earth. Ah, how he dug his smarting muzzle into it, and rooted in it, and rubbed it into his ears and on his eyelids; till, pretty soon,—for the bee-stings do not poison a bear’s blood as strongly as they poison ours,—he began to feel much easier. As for the rest of his body,—well, those stings did n’t amount to much, you know, because his fur and his hide were both so thick.

“At last he sat up on his haunches and looked around. You should have seen him!”

“I ’m glad I was n’t there, Uncle Andy!” said the Babe, earnestly shaking his head. But Uncle Andy paid no attention to the remark.

“His muddy paws drooped over his breast, and his face was all stuck over with leaves and moss and mud—”

“We must look funny, too,’ suggested the Babe, staring hard at the black mud-poultice under his uncle’s swollen eye. But his uncle refused to be diverted.

“—And his glossy fur was in a state of which his mother would have strongly disapproved. But his twinkling little eyes burned with wrath and determination. He sniffed again that honey smell. He stared up at the bee-tree, and noted that the opening was much larger than it had been before his visit. A big crack extended from it for nearly two feet down the trunk. Moreover, there did not seem to be so many bees buzzing about the hole.”

The Babe’s eyes grew so round with inquiry at this point that Uncle Andy felt bound to explain. °

“You see, as soon as the bees got it into their cunning heads that their enemy was going to