Читать книгу Camping in the Winter Woods: Adventures of Two Boys in the Maine Woods онлайн

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Just then Ed called out that he had found the tree. Hurrying to the place where he and Ben stood gazing at a hole near the top of a giant oak, George saw a steady swarm of bees entering and leaving the cavity.

“Guess we’ll have to cut that to-night,” said Ben. “There ought to be a pile of honey in there, boys. But you can’t always tell; sometimes the biggest trees hold the least honey.”

There was an angry buzzing about their heads, and they ducked and ran.

“We’ll mosey along out of here and go home and make some torches. Then we’ll come back after dark and go to work,” Ben promised.

George told of finding the bats, and his companions laughed heartily.

“They roost in a hollow tree like that by the thousands sometimes,” said the guide. “I’ve done the same thing you did, often. Why, I’ve had them strike me in the face so hard that my eye swelled up.”

“What’s that?” demanded Ed, stopping to listen.

“That? That’s our friend the grouse again, only this time he’s drumming,” replied Ben.

“Drumming!” exclaimed the boys, in unison.