ttention 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?"

[Illustration: HE GRABBED UP A BIG STICK]

"Am I?" said Chuck. "Well, I should say so." He was licking his jaws in
memory of the little feast he had had the day before.

Coonie looked at Chuck out of the corners of his mischievous eyes, but
Chuck never guessed he was laughing at him when he added, "I'll take a
hive at this end, you can have one at that. Let's hurry."

Chuck was in a hurry indeed. Already he felt sure he could smell the
honey, so he left Coonie and ran toward the hive at the end of the row
in high spirits. But before he knocked on it he stopped and looked back.
He wanted to see how Coonie was getting along.

Now, Coonie did not really want any honey. All he wanted to do was to
play a joke on his friend, but it very often happens that the practical
joker gets the worst of it in the end. And as Coonie stepped up to the
hive and pretended to knock, he put his paw right down on top of the
Queen Bee, whom he did not see sunning herself on the ledge.

The Queen Bee has no sting, you know, and cannot defend herself. She is
by no means helpless, however. She has, in fact, an entire army ready to
fight for her at a moment's call.

When the other bees heard their Queen's cry for help they all rushed out
of their hives and began at once attacking Coonie. They buzzed angrily
around him and burrowed into his fur until he rolled over and over on
the ground, doubled up with the pain.

This was what Chuck saw when he turned around to find out how Coonie was
getting along! He grabbed up a big stick, but he soon saw there was
nothing he could do to help.

He also saw that the bees in their mad attack had left their fort
unguarded. So he stuck his paw inside the door and broke off a good
sized piece of comb full of nice, yellow honey. Then he started for the
woods again as fast as he could.

[Illustration]

Coonie did not see Chuck as he shot past him a few minutes later, trying
to shake off the bees that still clung to him, as he ran. And a few days
later, when they met down by the brook, Coonie pretended not to see him.

"Howdy, Coonie," Chuck called out in his cheery way. "Where are you
going so fast? Well, I never," he added, noticing Coonie's bumps and
bandages. "Have you been in a fight?"

"Just a little f