Alice went with John: and Alice carried the straw hive, and John carried the Scotch hive, which was an octagon, or eight-sided, wooden one, painted red, with glass windows and shutters; and he took two boards as well, and they both hastened to the kitchen garden, where the new swarm of bees had settled.
‘What luck the little ladies have, ma’am!’ said the gardener. ‘You promised them the second swarm; and what a fine one it is, much bigger than the one I have just hived!’
‘Yes, this is the children’s swarm, and I am glad that it is such a large one. But how will you take it, John? it is in such an awkward place.’
‘With the ladder, quite easy, ma’am; but,’ added John, looking up at it, ‘I can’t shake them off the branch, and shall have to take them as I can.’
John ran to fetch the ladder, which was close by against the wall, where he had been pruning some fruit trees.
The little girls were very impatient, and watched the gardener mount the ladder; then their grandmamma handed him the Scotch hive; and to their great astonishment, John said—
‘I must sweep these bees into the hive.’
The gardener fixed the wooden hive between the ladder and his own knee, and then with one rapid sweep with his hands, he threw the whole lump of bees into the hive, and turned the hive down on the board.
A great number of the bees flew off and rose again high up into the air, but John said—
‘Don’t be afraid, ma’am, they never sting when they are swarming.’