e you can do it
jest as easy as not."

"But I am afraid the bees will sting me!" I objected.

"Oh, you can put on them gloves and tie that 'ere veil over your head,"
the old man said. "I'll tie it on fer ye."

I had misgivings, but, not liking to fail old Hughy at a pinch, I let
him rig me up for the feat and at last, taking the plug, started to walk
up the slightly inclined tree trunk to the woodpecker's hole, which was
close to the point where the basswood rested against the hemlock. I
found it was not hard to walk up the sloping trunk if I did not look
down into the gully. With stray bees whizzing round me, I slowly took
one step after another. Once, I felt the trunk settle slightly, and I
almost decided to go back; but finally I went on and, reaching the hole,
grasped a strong, green limb of the hemlock to steady myself. Then I
inserted the plug, which fitted pretty well, and drove it in with the
heel of my boot.

Perhaps it was the jar of the blow, perhaps it was my added weight, but
almost instantly I felt the trunk slip again--and then down into the
gully it went with a crash!

Luckily I still had hold of the hemlock limb and clung to it
instinctively. For a moment I dangled there; then with a few convulsive
efforts I succeeded in drawing myself to the trunk of the hemlock and
getting my feet on a limb. Breathless, I now glanced downward and was
terrified to see that in falling the basswood had carried away the lower
branches of the hemlock and left no means of climbing down. If the trunk
of the hemlock had been smaller I could have clasped my arms about it
and slid down; but it was far too big round for that. In fact, to get
down unassisted was impossible, and I was badly frightened, I suppose I
was perched not more than thirty-five feet above the ground; but to me,
glancing fearfully down on the rocks in the bed of the brook, the
distance looked a hundred!

Moreover, the trunk of the basswood had split open when it struck, and
all the bees were out. Clouds of them, rising as high as my legs, began
paying their respects to me as the cause of their trouble. Luckily the
veil kept them from my face and neck.

I could see old Hughy on the brink of the gully, staring across at me,
open-mouthed, and in my alarm I called aloud to him to rescue me. He did
not reply and seemed at a loss what to do.

I had started to climb higher into the shaggy top of the hemlock, to
avoid the bees, when I heard some one call o