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profound stillness.
When the imprisoned bee was put over the comb, and le Bourdon's cap
was placed above all, these simple-minded children of the woods and
the prairies gazed, as if expecting a hive to appear beneath the
covering, whenever the latter should be removed. It was not long
before the bee "settled," and not only the cap, but the tumbler was
taken away. For the first time since the exhibition commenced, le
Bourdon spoke, addressing himself to Peter.
"If the tribeless chief will look sharply," he said, "he will soon
see the bee take flight. It is filling itself with honey, and the
moment it is loaded--look--look--it is about to rise--there, it is
up--see it circling around the stand, as if to take a look that it
may know it again--there it goes!"
There it did go, of a truth, and in a regular bee-line, or as
straight as an arrow. Of all that crowd, the bee-hunter and Margery
alone saw the insect in its flight. Most of those present lost sight
of it, while circling around the stand; but the instant it darted
away, to the remainder it seemed to vanish into air. Not so with le
Bourdon and Margery, however. The former saw it from habit; the
latter from a quick eye, intense attention, and the wish not to miss
anything that le Bourdon saw fit to do, for her information or
amusement. The animal flew in an air-line toward a point of wood
distant fully half a mile, and on the margin of the prairie.
Many low exclamations arose among the savages. The bee was gone, but
whither they knew not, or on what errand. Could it have been sent on
a message by the pale-face, or had it flown off to give the alarm to
its companions, in order to adopt the means of disappointing the
bee-hunter? As for the last, he went coolly to work to choose
another insect; and he soon had three at work on the comb--all in
company, and all uncovered. Had the number anything to do with the
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charm, or were these three to be sent to bring back the one that had
already gone away? Such was the sort of reasoning, and such the
queries put to themselves, by several of the stern children of
nature who were drawn up around the stand.
In the mean time le Bourdon proceeded with his operations in the
utmost simplicity. He now called Peter and Bear's Meat and
Crowsfeather nearer to his person, where they might share with
Margery the advantage of more closely seeing all that passed. As
soon as these three chiefs were near enough, Ben pointed to one bee
in particular, saying in the Indian dialect:
"My brothers see that bee in the centre--he is about to go away. If
he go after the one that went before him, I shall soon know where to
look for honey."
"How can my brother tell which bee will first fly away?" demanded
Bear's Meat.
The bee-hunter was able to foresee this, by knowing which insect had
been longest on the comb; but so practised had his eye become, that
he knew with tolerable accuracy, by the movements of the creatures,
those that had filled themselves with honey from those that had not.
As it did not suit his purpose, however, to let all the minutiae of
his craft be known, his answer was evasive. Just at that moment a
thought occurred to him, which it might be well to carry out in
full. He had once saved his life by necromancy, or what seemed to
the simple children of the woods to be necromancy, and why might he
not turn the cunning of his regular art to account, and render it
the means of rescuing the females, as well as himself, from the
hands of their captors? This sudden impulse from that moment
controlled his conduct; and his mind was constantly casting about
for the means of effecting what was now his one great purpose-
escape. Instead of uttering in reply to Bear's Meat's question the
simple truth, therefore, he rather sought for such an answer as
might make the process in which he was engaged appear imposing and
mystical.
"How do the Injins know the path of the deer?" he asked, by way of
reply. "They look at the deer, get to know him, and understand his
ways. This middle bee will soon fly."
"Which way will he go?" asked Peter. "Can my brother tell us THAT?"
"To his hive," returned le Bourdon, carelessly, as if he did not
fully understand the question. "All of them go to their hives,
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