The others were not averse to laying in a supply of the same, and promised to arrange it for the morning, for night was now close at hand, and nothing could be done looking to an attack upon the bee tree.

They carried the doe down to the water’s edge.  Jerry had come upon the animal soon after entering among the trees, and she had startled him by her sudden jump, so that it took three shots from his rifle to drop her.  Then, as he stood over his game, the buzzing of the bees had attracted his attention, as the late comers arrived, laden with honey; and unable to resist the inclination to investigate, he had climbed up, with the disastrous result as stated.

Bluff and Frank waded out to the motor-boat, allowing Jerry to ferry his venison in the little dinghy.  Will greeted their coming with delight, for he saw great possibilities for future feasts in the game acquired.

Of course he was wild to hear the story, which was told amid much merriment all around while they dined off fresh venison steak and scalloped oysters.

CHAPTER XX

LYING IN AMBUSH FOR BIG GAME

“Nobody lives in that old shack, then?” inquired Will.

“Only when the turtle season is on, which doesn’t happen to be now,” replied Frank.

“I was afraid there might be a bunch of criminals ashore, and that Jerry had tumbled into a peck of trouble,” continued the other.

“Oh, it happened to be only a hollow tree he dropped into,” said the hero of the adventure, who could take a joke even when it happened to be on himself.

“There it goes again!  Just think what beastly luck!  I’m a Jonah, that’s what!  Oh! why didn’t you ask me to go, instead of Bluff, Frank?  I could have snapped him off when he was crawling out of that hole.  Just think what a lovely reminder it would have been in times to come!” wailed Will, pretending to be bitterly disappointed, though Frank imagined he was assuming this to tantalize Jerry.

“Talk to me about your artistic temperament!  What d’ye call that?  Me crawling out of that old bee tree make a beautiful picture!  Yes, I guess it might, for the rest of you, but I’m satisfied to let the episode die a natural death.  But wait till we fill up our spare pots and pans with that delicious honey!  Um! um!” And Jerry smacked his lips as he contemplated the feast in store.

They spent the night quietly enough.  Nothing occurred to bother them, save the one annoyance they experienced from sandflies.  The tiny creatures attacked them as soon as the breeze died out, and for an hour or two proved irritating in the extreme.

Bluff executed a war dance as he slapped at his invisible persecutors, and wondered if he were going into a fever, his face and neck and arms burned so.  Luckily, a night breeze coming up, drove the horde of tiny insects away, but for several days the boys were rubbing and scratching at the irritated skin.