"Bees, however, as we have already observed, are not usually
ill-tempered; and, if not molested, are generally inoffensive. Thorley
relates, that a maid-servant who assisted him in hiving a swarm,
being rather afraid, put a linen cloth as a defence over her head
and shoulders. When the bees were shaken from the tree on which they
had alighted, the queen probably settled upon this cloth, for the
whole swarm covered it, and then getting under it, spread themselves
over her face, neck, and bosom, so that when the cloth was removed,
she was quite a spectacle. She was with great difficulty kept from
running off with all the bees upon her. But at length her master
quieted her fears, and began to search for the queen. He succeeded,
and expected that when he put her into the hive the bees would follow.
He was, however, in the first instance disappointed, for they did not
stir. Upon examining the cluster again, he found a second queen, or
probably the former one, which had flown back to the swarm. Having
seized her, he placed her in the hive, and kept her there. The bees
soon missed her, and crowded into the hive after her, so that, in two
or three minutes, not one remained on the poor frightened girl. After
this escape she became quite a heroine, and would undertake the most
hazardous employment about the hives."--_Lardner_.