But after we had kindled a fire in the stove
and the long funnel had begun to heat the upper part of the room, they
began to fly in still greater numbers. Soon one of them darted down at
us, and Addison pulled off his hat to drive it away.
"I say!" he cried, as his eyes followed the insect where it alighted on
the ceiling. "That's no hornet! That's a honeybee--and an Egyptian,
too!"
We quickly made sure that they were indeed Egyptian bees. They were
coming down through the cracks between the laths at the place where the
plaster had fallen from the ceiling.
"Do you suppose there's a swarm of bees up there in the loft?" Addison
exclaimed. "I'll bet there is," he added, "a runaway swarm that's gone
in at the gable end outside, where the clapboards are off."
He climbed up on the high pulpit and with the handle of the broom rapped
on the ceiling. We immediately heard a deep humming sound overhead, and
so many bees flew down through the cracks that Addison descended in
haste. We retreated toward the door.
"What are we going to do when Senator Hamlin and all the people come?" I
asked.
"I don't know!" Addison muttered, perplexed.
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