“Guess—a—nasty old—fly—crawled up—my—nose,” Chuck managed to get out between sneezes.
“Too bad, old chap,” said Coonie, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. “ Come along with me and we’ll get some honey, and that will make you feel better.” Still sneezing, Chuck trotted off with Coonie across the fields.
When they reached Farmer Jones’ barnyard everything seemed very quiet and sleepy around there.
“Is that where the honey is kept?” whispered Chuck, as Coonie took a peep in at the barn-door.
“No,” answered Coonie, “I just wanted to see if the double-buggy was there. It is not, and now I feel perfectly sure they have all gone to town and taken the dog with them.”
Then they felt quite safe. Very boldly they walked around to the gate in the yard where Coonie said the honey was. “Hurrah,” he cried, “someone has left the gate open for us. They must have been expecting us!”
“I have never been in here before,” said Chuck. “What are all those square white boxes along the fence?”
“Those are called bee-hives,” Coonie answered, a little proudly, to think he knew so much. “The honey is kept inside.”
“But how do we get at it?” asked Chuck. “Those little holes in front look hardly big enough for me to get my paw through, much less my head and shoulders.”
“Oh,” laughed Coonie, “how stupid you are! You just go up and knock very loudly at the door and when a bee comes out, you ask if he hasn’t something to eat for a poor fellow, who has come a long way and is very hungry and tired. But should he pay no attention to you, hit him with your paw. This will frighten the others so they will bring out all the honey you wish and leave it there on the ledge for you. Come on, I’m hungry, aren’t you, Chuck?”