head!

"A banging of pans began on the bank. Somebody had borrowed the
cook's tinware in the hope of starting the swarm. A wave of unrest
ran over the insects; but soon they settled into quiet again.

"The heat was affecting my head. I felt fretful, irritable. Why
didn't somebody do something to help me? But what? My teeth
chattered, a nervous chill shook me, and the bees buzzed at my
shaking.

"The voices behind me stopped. Something was about to happen. I
listened. Feet came stealing cautiously along the beam. What was
going on?

"'Sit perfectly still.'

"It was Lancy's voice. What was he trying to do? I felt a consuming
curiosity, but dared not turn my head. His voice came again:

"'Take a full breath; then shut your mouth.'

"What in the world had my mouth got to do with it? But I obeyed.

"A penetrating sulphurous scent stole through the thick air. Then
right under my bee-swollen feet swung a small black kettle,
suspended by a chain round its bail, and filled with a yellowish
substance, burning bluely. It was brimstone, of which we had a
supply for fastening bolts in the rocks. Lancy was trying to smoke
the bees off.