But if
they find that he is going to succeed in breaking in and burglarizing
the place, then they fling themselves on the precious honey which they
have taken so much pains to store, and begin to stuff their honey sacks
as full as possible. All they think of then is to carry away enough to
keep them going while they are getting established in new quarters.
The trouble with the fool bear who has got us into this mess to-day was
that he tackled a bee tree where the outside wood was too strong for
him to rip open. The bees knew he couldn't get in at them, so they all
turned out after him, to give him a good lesson. When he got away
through the underbrush so quickly they just turned on us, because they
felt they must give a lesson to somebody."

"_We_ didn't want to steal their old honey," muttered the Babe in an
injured voice.

"Oh, I'm not so sure!" said Uncle Andy. "I shouldn't wonder if Bill
and I'd come over here some night and smoke the rascals out. But we
can wait. That's the difference between us and Teddy Bear. He
wouldn't even wait to clean the leaves off his face, he was so anxious
for that honey, and his revenge.

"This time he went up the tree slowly and quietly, keeping out of sight
all the way. When he was exactly on a level with the entrance he
braced himself solidly, reached his right paw around the trunk like
lightning, got a fine hold on the edge of the new crack, and wrenched
with all his might.

"A big strip of half-rotten wood came away so suddenly that Teddy Bear
nearly fell out of the tree.

"A lot of bees came with it; and once more Teddy Bear's head was in a
swarm of little darting, piercing flames. But his blood was up. He
held onto that chunk of bee tree. A big piece of comb, dripping with
honey and crawling with bees, was sticking to it. Whimpering and
pawing at his face, he crunched a great mouthful of the comb, bees and
all.

"Never had he tasted, never had he dreamed of, anything so delicious!
What was the pain of his smarting muzzle to that ecstatic mouthful? He
snatched another, which took all the rest of the comb. Then he flung
the piece of wood to the ground.

"The bees, meanwhile--except those which had stung him and were now
crawling, stingless and soon to die, in his fur--had suddenly left him.
The whole interior of their hive was exposed to the glare of daylight,
and their one thought now was to save all they could. Teddy Bear's one
thought was to seize all