“Mother sent me post-haste to tell you that a great swarm of bees was found down the road about a quarter of a mile from us. No one knows whose it is, and there it hangs. If we delay much longer in hiving it it will wander away and be lost.”
The girls were up and dancing about in a moment, and Mrs. James said: “What does your mother want us to do about it?”
“Well, she thought that if you scouts wanted the swarm, it is a dandy one to start a colony with as it is so large and compact. If we can get home again in a few moments and carry Mother and Father to the spot, with a hive, we can capture it for you.”
“If it’s a lost swarm, it won’t cost us anything to buy,” ventured Janet.
No one had thought of that but now they were more eager than before to secure the swarm. So Frances had the car out of the barn in a jiffy, and the girls stood waiting to jump in. Just as the automobile was slowing beside the porch, the scouts from camp ran up and wanted to know where they were going on a Sunday?
“Jump in, jump in!” ordered Janet, waving her hands.
“We’ll tell you on the way there!” exclaimed Natalie.
So the scouts jumped—some inside the automobile, some on the running board where they clung for dear life while Frances tore out of the yard, turning the corner of the fence on two wheels and just missing the gate-post by the width of a hair. On down the road sped the machine, completely enveloped in the dust it raised.
Frances was so used to the road by this time that she knew every rut, every rock, and every obstacle in the way from Green Hill Farm to Four Corners store. So, in spite of the blinding dust that choked the others, the driver of the car kept right on, steering by instinct as she raced for the swarm of bees—the prize.
But no one had known that the constable of the township had ordered extra deputies to watch the roads on Sundays and arrest any one found breaking the speed laws. Thus it happened that the dust blinded the occupants of the car so that they did not see the officer who was waiting for them to come close enough to hold up.