p, while I come after with the
hive!"

Tristram, having fixed the ladder firmly a little to the right of the
swarm, began to ascend. Captain Barker, giving orders to Narcissus
to stand by with the flat board, took the empty hive, and holding it
balanced upside-down in the hollow of his palm, was preparing to
follow on Tristram's heels, when an interruption occurred.

Round the corner of the road from Harwich town came a red-coated
captain, riding on a grey charger, and behind him a company of foot
marching eight abreast, with a sergeant beside them.

"Hullo!" cried the Captain, halting his company and riding forward.
He was a thin and foppish young gentleman in a flaxen wig, and spoke
with a high sense of authority, having but recently sacrificed the
pleasures of his coffee-house and a fine view of St. James's Park to
seek even in the cannon's mouth a bubble reputation that promised to
be fashionable.

"Hullo! what's the meaning of this?"

"Bees," answered Captain Barker shortly. "Narcissus, is the board
ready?"

"Do you know, sir, that his Majesty is shortly expected along here?"

"To be sure I do."

"Then, sir, you are obstructing the road. This is most irregular."

"Not at all--most regular thing in the world. A little early,
perhaps, for the first swarm."

"Be so good as to take down that ladder at once, and let my company
pass."

"A step higher, Tristram," said the little man, turning a deaf ear to
this order. "Better use the right hand. Wait a moment, while I get
the hive underneath."

"Take down that ladder!" shouted the red-coated officer.

"You must wait a moment, I'm afraid."

"You refuse?"

"Oh dear, yes! Keep back, sir, for the bees are easily frightened."

"Sergeant!" foamed the young man, "come and remove this ladder!"

He spurred his horse up to the arch as the sergeant stepped forward.
The beast, being restive, rubbed against the ladder with his flank
and shook it violently just as Tristram dislodged the swarm overhead.
Captain Barker reached out, however, and caught them deftly in the
upturned hive. Into it they tumbled plump. But the little man,
exasperated by the shock, had now completely lost his temper.
With sudden and infernal malice he inverted the beehive and clapped
it, bees and all, on the officer's head.

With that he skipped down to the ground, and Tristram, foreseeing
mischief, slid down after him quick as thought.

The officer roared like Hercules caught in