THE BEE-HUNT.
The sun was scarcely above the horizon, when the general, whose horse
was already saddled, left the reed cabin which served him as a sleeping
apartment, and prepared to set out on his usual daily ride. At the
moment when he was putting his foot in the stirrup, a little hand lifted
the curtain of the tent, and Doña Luz appeared.
"Oh! oh! what, up already!" said the general, smiling. "So much the
better, dear child. I shall be able to have a kiss before I set out; and
that perhaps may bring me good luck," he added, stifling a sigh.
"You will not go thus, uncle," she replied, presenting her cheek, upon
which he placed a kiss.
"Why not, fair lady?" he asked gaily.
"Because I wish you to partake of something I have prepared for you
before you mount on horseback; you cannot refuse me, can you, dear
uncle?" she said, with that coaxing smile of spoilt children which
delights the hearts of old men.
"No, certainly not, dear child, upon condition that the breakfast you
offer me so gracefully be not delayed. I am rather in a hurry."
"I only ask for a few minutes," she replied, returning to the tent.
"For a few minutes be it then," said he, following her.
The young girl clapped her hands with joy.
In the twinkling of an eye, the breakfast was ready, and the general at
table with his niece. Whilst assisting her uncle, and taking great care
that he wanted for nothing, the young girl looked at him from time to
time in an embarrassed manner, and did it so evidently, that the old
soldier ended by observing it.
"It is my opinion," he said, laying down his knife and fork, and looking
at her earnestly, "that you have something to ask me, Lucita; you know
very well that I am not accustomed to refuse you anything."
"That is true, dear uncle; but this time, I am afraid, you will be more
difficult to be prevailed upon."
"Ah! ah!" the general said, gaily; "it must be something serious, then!"
"Quite the contrary, uncle; and yet, I confess, I am afraid you will
refuse me."
"Speak, notwithstanding, my child," said the old soldier; "speak without
fear; when you have told me what this mighty affair is, I will soon
answer you."
"Well, uncle," the girl said, blushing, but determined on her purpose,
"I am compelled to say that the residence in the camp has nothing
agreeable about it."
"I can conceive that, my child; but what do you wish me to do to make it
otherwise?"
"Everything."
"How so, dear?"
"Nay, dear, uncle, if you were always here, it would not be dull; I
should have your company."
"What you say is very amiable; but, as you know I am absent every
morning, I cannot be here, and-----
"That is exactly where the difficulty lies."
"That is true."
"But, if you were willing, it could be easily removed."
"Do you think so?"
"I am sure of it."
"Well, I don't see too clearly how, unless I remained always with you,
and that is impossible."
"Oh; there are other means that would arrange the whole affair."
"Nonsense!"
"Yes, uncle, and very simple means too."
"Well, then, darling, what are these means?"
"You will not scold me, uncle?"
"Silly child! do I ever scold you?"
"That is true! You are so kind."
"Come, then; speak out, little pet?"
"Well, uncle, these means----"
"These means are?"
"That you should take me with you every morning."
"Oh! oh!" said the general, whose brows became contracted; "do you know
what you ask me, my dear child?"
"Why, a very natural thing, uncle, as I think."
The general made no reply; he reflected. The girl watched anxiously the
fugitive traces of his thoughts upon his countenance.
At the end of a few instants, he raised his head.
"Well, perhaps," he murmured, "it would be better so;" and fixing a
piercing look upon his niece, he said, "it would give you pleasure,
then, to accompany me?"
"Yes, uncle, yes!" she replied.
"Well, then, get ready, my dear child; henceforth you shall accompany me
in my excursions."
She arose from her seat with a bound, kissed her uncle warmly, and gave
orders for her horse to be saddled.
A quarter of an hour later, Doña Luz and her uncle, preceded by the
Babbler, and followed by two lanceros, quitted the camp, and plunged
into the forest.
"Which way would you wish to direct your course, today, general?" the
guide asked.
"Conduct me to the huts of those trappers you spoke of yesterday."
The guide bowed in sign of obedience. The little party advanced slowly
and with some difficulty along a scarcely traced path, where, at every
step, the horses became entangled in the creeping plants, or stumbled
over the roots of trees above the level of the ground.
Doña Luz was gay and happy. Perhaps in these excursions she might meet
with Loyal Heart.
The Babbler, who was a few paces in advance, suddenly uttered a cry.
"Eh!" said the general, "what extraordinary thing has happened, Master
Babbler, to induce you to speak?"
"The bees, señor."
"What! bees! are there bees here?"
"Yes; but lately only."
"How only lately?"
"Why, you know, of course, that bees were brought into America by the
whites."
"That, I know. How is it, then, they are met with here?"
"Nothing more simple; the bees are the advanced sentinels of the whites.
In proportion as the whites penetrate into the interior of America,
the bees go forward to trace the route for them, and point out the
clearings. Their appearance in an uninhabited country always presages
the arrival of a colony of pioneers or squatters."
"That is something strange," the general murmured; "are you sure of what
you are telling me?"
"Oh! quite sure, señor; the fact is well known to all Indians, they are
not mistaken in it, be assured; for as soon as they see the bees arrive,
they retreat."
"That is truly singular."
"The honey must be very good," said Doña Luz.
"Excellent, señorita, and if you wish for it, nothing is more easy than
to get it."
"Get some, then," said the general.
The guide, who some moments before had placed a bait for the bees upon
the bushes, to which, with his piercing sight, he had already seen
several bees attracted, made a sign to those behind him to stop.
The bees had, in fact, lighted upon the bait, and were examining it all
over; when they had made their provision, they rose very high into the
air, and then took flight in a direct line with the velocity of a cannon
ball.
The guide carefully watched the direction they took, and making a sign
to the general, he sprang after them, followed by the whole party,
clearing themselves a way through interlaced roots, fallen trees, bushes
and briars, their eyes directed all the while towards the sky.
In this fashion they never lost sight of the laden bees, and after
a difficult pursuit of an hour, they saw them arrive at their nest,
constructed in the hollow of a dead ebony tree; after buzzing for a
moment, they entered a hole situated at more than eighty feet from the
ground.
Then the guide, after having warned his companions to keep at a
respectful distance, in order to be out of the way of the falling tree
and the vengeance of its inhabitants, seized his axe and attacked the
ebony vigorously near the base.
The bees did not seem at all alarmed by the strokes of the axe; they
continued going in and out, carrying on their industrial labours in full
security. A violent cracking even, which announced the splitting of the
trunk, did not divert them from their occupations.
At length the tree fell, with a horrible crash, opening the whole of its
length, and leaving the accumulated treasures of the community exposed
to view.
The guide immediately seized a bundle of hay which he had prepared, and
to which he set fire to defend himself from the bees.
But they attacked nobody; they did not seek to avenge themselves. The
poor creatures were stupefied; they ran and flew about in all directions
round their destroyed empire, without thinking of anything but how to
account for this unlooked-for catastrophe.
Then the guide and the lanceros set to work with spoons and knives to
get out the comb and put it into the wineskins.
Some of the comb was of a deep brown, and of ancient date, other parts
were of a beautiful white; the honey in the cells was almost limpid.
Whilst they were hastening to get possession of the best combs, they
saw arrive on the wing from all points of the horizon numberless swarms
of honey bees, who, plunging into the broken cells, loaded themselves,
whilst the ex-proprietors of the hive, dull and stupefied, looked on,
without seeking to save the least morsel, at the robbery of their honey.
It is impossible to describe the astonishment of the bees that were
absent at the moment of the catastrophe, as they arrived at their late
home with their cargoes; they described circles in the air round the
place the tree had occupied, astonished to find it empty; at length,
however they seemed to comprehend their disaster, and collected in
groups upon the dried branch of a neighbouring tree, appearing to
contemplate thence the fallen ruin, and to lament the destruction of
their empire.
Doña Luz felt affected in spite of herself, at the trouble of these poor
creatures.
"Let us go," she said, "I repent of having wished for honey; my
greediness has made too many unhappy."
"Let us be gone," said the general, smiling; "leave them these few combs."
"Oh!" said the guide, shrugging his shoulders, "they will soon be
carried away by the vermin."
"The vermin! What vermin do you mean?" the general asked.
"Oh! the raccoons, the opossums, but particularly the bears."
"The bears?" said Doña Luz.
"Oh, señorita!" the guide replied, "they are the cleverest vermin in
the world in discovering a tree of bees, and getting their share of the
honey."
"Do they like honey, then?" said the lady, with excited curiosity.
"Why, they are mad after it, señorita," the guide, who really seemed
to relax of his cynical humour, rejoined. "Imagine how greedy they are
after it, when they will gnaw a tree for weeks, until they succeed in
making a hole large enough to put their paws in, and then they carry off
honey and bees, without taking the trouble to choose."
"Now," said the general, "let us resume our route, and seek the
residence of the trappers."
"Oh! we shall soon be there, señor," replied the guide; "the great
Canadian river is within a few paces of us, and trappers are established
all along the streams which flow into it."
The little party proceeded on their way again.
The bee hunt had left an impression of sadness on the mind of the young
lady, which, although unconscious of it, she could not overcome. Those
poor little creatures, so gentle and so industrious, attacked and
ruined for a caprice, grieved her, and, in spite, of herself, made her
thoughtful.
Her uncle perceived this disposition of her mind.
"Dear child!" he said, "what is passing in your little head? You are no
longer so gay as when we set out; whence comes this sudden change?"
"Good heavens! uncle, do not let that disturb you; I am, like other
young girls, rather wild and whimsical; this bee hunt, from which I
promised myself so much pleasure, has left a degree of sadness behind it
that I cannot get rid of."
"Happy child!" the general murmured, "whom so futile a cause has still
the power to trouble. God grant, darling, that you may continue long
in that disposition, and that greater and more real troubles may never
reach you!"
"My kind uncle, shall I not always be happy while near you?"
"Alas! my child, who knows whether God may permit me to watch over you
long!"
"Do not say so, uncle; I hope we have many years to pass together."
The general only responded to this hope by a sigh.
"Uncle," the girl resumed, after a few moments, "do you not find that
the aspect of the grand and sublime nature which surrounds us has
something striking in it that ennobles our ideas, elevates the soul, and
renders man better? How happy must they be who live in these boundless
deserts!"
The general looked at her with astonishment.
"Whence come these thoughts to your mind, dear child?" he said.
"I do not know, uncle," she replied, timidly; "I am but an ignorant
girl, whose life, still so short, has flowed on to this moment calm and
peaceful, under your protection. And yet there are moments when it seems
to me that I should be happy to live in these vast deserts."
The general, surprised, and inwardly charmed at the ingenuous frankness
of his niece, was preparing to answer her, when the guide, suddenly
coming up to them, made a sign to command silence, by saying, in a voice
as low as a breath,--
"A man!"