When the surrey came near the place where they heard a “rat-tat-tat” upon a tin pan, Hester slowed up and guided Spark over to a fence rail where she planned to tie him. Then the girls jumped out and followed Hester noiselessly over to the place where the adults in the party were standing.
The hive was placed right under an enormous swarm of bees, and Mr. Tompkins, encased in wire-mask and rubber gloves with long gauntlets, and a wire mesh armor covering his neck and upper body, was beating the pan regularly to call the bees to attention.
But imitation of Nature did not complete that hiving of a swarm because a genuine thunder storm now came up suddenly, and the rolling vibrations above caused the bees to break and seek madly for shelter. The queen was soon inside the convenient hive, and in a short time thereafter, every bee in the swarm had sought refuge from the threatening electrical storm.
“Isn’t that a wonderful sight! I wouldn’t have missed it for anything,” exclaimed Janet, when the last vagrant bee alighted upon the running board and sought entrance to the hive.
“We can thank that thunder for this quick work. Some times a swarm of that size takes an hour or more to collect inside the hive,” remarked Mr. Tompkins removing the wire mask and the gloves.
“That thunder storm won’t touch us, either. It is already passing overhead,” said Mrs. Tompkins, gazing upward.
“I’ve only felt a drop or two of rain,” added Miss Mason.
“But it did a good job for us,” laughed Mr. Tompkins.
“If a farmer is entitled to claim a swarm of bees he has to hive, can the real owner of the runaway swarm demand payment in any way?” asked Mrs. James.
“There have been disputes over that claim but the usual rule is that when a farmer cannot find the owner of the swarm in time to save it, and he does the work himself, the owner must reimburse the finder the value of the swarm, or let him keep it.”