hunting, for the honey."

"Pray tell us how you take the honey, Malachi."

"Why, ma'am, the bees always live in the hollow of the old trees, and
it's very difficult in a forest to find them out, for the hole which
they enter by is very small and very high up sometimes; however, when we
get a lead, we generally manage it."

"Tell us what you mean, Malachi."

"We catch the bees as they settle upon the flowers to obtain honey, and
then we let them go again. The bee, as soon as it is allowed to escape,
flies straight toward its hive; we watch it till we can no longer see
it, and walk in that direction and catch another, and so we go on till
we see them settle upon a tree, and then we know that the hive and honey
must be in that tree, so we cut it down."

"How very clever," said Percival.

"It requires a sharp eye though," said Martin, "to watch the bee far;
some of the trappers catch the bees and give them sugar mixed with
whisky. This makes them tipsy, and they can not fly so fast, and then
they discover the hive much sooner, as they can run almost as fast as
the bee flies."

"That's capital," cried Percival; "but tell me, Martin, how do you kill
the bears?"

"Why, Master Percival, with our rifles, to be sure; the easiest way to
kill them is when they are in their holes in the hollow trees."

"How do you get them out?"

"Why, we knock the tree with our axes, and they come out to see what's
the matter, and as soon as they put their heads out, we shoot them."

"Are you in earnest, Martin?"

"Yes, ma'am; quite in earnest," replied Martin.

"It's all true, ma'am," said the hunter; "the bears about here are not
very savage. We had much worse down in Maine. I've seen the Indians in a
canoe on a river watching the bears as they swam across, and kill in the
water six or seven in one day."

"Still a bear is an awkward sort of animal when it's angry," replied
Martin; "and, as we may have them down here in the autumn, it's as well
not to let them be thought too lightly of."

"Indeed, there's no fear of that," said Emma; "as for Malachi, he
thinks nothing dangerous; but I have no wish to see a bear. You say we
may expect them, Martin. Why so?"

"Because, miss, they are very fond of maize, and we have a field of it
sown, which may tempt them."

"Well, if they do come, I must trust to my rifle," replied Emma,
laughing; "at all events, I do not fear them so much as I did when I
first came here."

"Don't fire, miss