njured insect set
free.

Up in the air it went at once, regardless of the yellow flowers among
which it had been buzzing, and then flew away in a straight line, with
its white patch on its back, to be traced some forty or fifty yards,
before it disappeared among the trees.

"Gone!" said Nic, who was in advance, for he had followed the insect on
horseback. "Think there's a tree here?"

"No; these are not the kind of trees they nest in. They do not go
hollow."

"What will you do, then?"

"Repeat the process, sir."

And this was done four times, till the last bee was traced to a quarter
of a mile from where they started, and a tiny hole was made out sixty
feet from the ground, about which scores of little dark insects could be
seen darting.

"Now how to get the honey?" said Nic.

"Send or bring Bungarolo here to-morrow with an axe and a bucket, and
you shall have plenty."

Eager to see the taking of the spoil, Nic was over in good time next
morning, the black trotting by his side; and upon reaching the tree the
Australian savage took the axe from his waistcloth, while Leather lit a
great piece of touchwood by means of a burning glass. This wood began
to burn, emitting a dense white smoke, and as the convict waved it
about, the black took off his waistcloth, passed it through the handle
of the bucket, and tied it again about his middle, so that the bucket
hung behind. Then, axe in hand, he began to chop notches in the soft
bark, to make steps for his active feet, and climbed steadily up and up,
Nic watching him the while.

"It looks very dangerous," said the boy. "Think he is likely to fall?"

"Not in the least, sir. They begin doing these things when children,
and they don't seem to have any nerves."

It seemed indeed as if the black did not know fear, for he went on up
and up till he was fully sixty feet from the ground, and here he held on
with his legs while he undid his waistcloth once more and tied it now to
a branch, so that the bucket hung close to the hole where the bees
buzzed in and out, as if feeling in no wise incommoded by the black face
so near.

And now Bungarolo stuck the axe into the soft bark and rapidly
descended, grinning hugely at his success. Leather handed him the
smoking torch, and he went up again, holding the end of the soft wood in
his teeth.

On reaching the hole, the smoke which had accompanied him in his ascent
became thicker, and being held just below the entrance,