Alice and Beatrice

								

‘If the queen bee is inside, and I think she is, the others will soon go
to her.’
And he raised the hive a little on one side by putting a pebble under
it, and thus made room enough for the bees to enter the hive.
Alice and Beatrice, seeing so many bees still flying about, thought that
they were all coming out again; but the bees knew better; their queen
was in the hive, and content with her new house, and all the bees went
in by degrees, and soon but very few were seen flying about the hive.
The gardener said that he would leave the hive where it was till the
evening, when he would move it into its proper place.
Whilst the gardener was thus busied, Beatrice cried out, ‘Look! look!
what are those bees doing? Oh, grandmamma, do look at them!’
Grandmamma turned to look, and so did Alice, and they saw some bees
pouring out of another hive, as if they were blown out of it, or shot
from a gun. Out and out they came quicker and quicker, pouring thicker
and thicker; and then they rose in the air, and spread about, and
whirled round and round, flying higher and higher, and it seemed as if
the whole air was filled with bees, and they made quite a noise when
they flew, humming so loud. Grandmamma told the two children that this
was a swarm from another hive, and added, ‘Now we must try and watch
where they will settle, and we must follow them. I hope that they will
not fly away, else we shall lose them.’
Alice and Beatrice looked on in great astonishment, and then followed
their grandmamma, who would not call the gardener or ask him to follow
this swarm, as he was still busy with the other.
‘Are you not afraid, grandmamma, that these bees will fly away, they fly
so high and so far?’
‘No, dear; I think that they will settle soon, as they begin to fly
lower and more together.’ And as she spoke, the cloud of bees came lower
and lower, and soon a black mass was seen on an apple tree, just between
two branches. The black mass grew larger and larger, till at last the
number of flying bees became less, and they grew quiet. They covered the
branch all round, and it looked as if something black had been put round
the branch.
‘How will John get those bees? He cannot reach them, they are so high
up.’
‘John will bring a ladder, and some one must hold the board and the hive
for him.’
Alice ran to call the gardener, and told him of the second swarm.
John said, ‘That is your luck to-day, miss; two swarms on one day are
very lucky. The weather is hot, and our hives are so full of brood, and
so heavy, that I dare say they are glad enough to get rid of some of
their numbers and go into a new hive.’
‘But have you another hive and a board ready, John?’ asked Alice.
‘Yes, miss, to be sure I have. I made ten new hives this winter, when I
had nothing else to do, and I got the carpenter to cut me a dozen
boards; so we have plenty for all the swarms that may come. Perhaps,