a minute, the second bee was also buried in a cell, and the glass
was again removed. Le Bourdon now signed for his companions to draw
near.

"There they are, hard at work with the honey," he said, speaking in
English, and pointing at the bees. "Little do they think, as they
undermine that comb, how near they are to the undermining of their
own hive! But so it is with us all! When we think we are in the
highest prosperity we may be nearest to a fall, and when we are
poorest and hum-blest, we may be about to be exalted. I often think
of these things, out here in the wilderness, when I'm alone, and my
thoughts are acTYVE."

Ben used a very pure English, when his condition in life is
remembered; but now and then, he encountered a word which pretty
plainly proved he was not exactly a scholar. A false emphasis has
sometimes an influence on a man's fortune, when one lives in the
world; but it mattered little to one like Buzzing Ben, who seldom
saw more than half a dozen human faces in the course of a whole
summer's hunting. We remember an Englishman, however, who would
never concede talents to Burr, because the latter said, a
L'AmEricaine, EurOpean, instead of EuropEan.

"How hive in danger?" demanded Elksfoot, who was very much of a
matter-of-fact person. "No see him, no hear him--else get some
honey."

"Honey you can have for asking, for I've plenty of it already in my
cabin, though it's somewhat 'arly in the season to begin to break in
upon the store. In general, the bee-hunters keep back till August,