of rescuing the females, as well as himself, from the hands of their captors?  This sudden impulse from that moment controlled his conduct; and his mind was constantly casting about for the means of effecting what was now his one great purpose-escape.  Instead of uttering in reply to Bear’s Meat’s question the simple truth, therefore, he rather sought for such an answer as might make the process in which he was engaged appear imposing and mystical.

“How do the Injins know the path of the deer?” he asked, by way of reply.  “They look at the deer, get to know him, and understand his ways.  This middle bee will soon fly.”

“Which way will he go?” asked Peter.  “Can my brother tell us that?”

“To his hive,” returned le Bourdon, carelessly, as if he did not fully understand the question.  “All of them go to their hives, unless I tell them to go in another direction.  See, the bee is up!”

The chiefs now looked with all their eyes.  They saw, indeed, that the bee was making its circles above the stand.  Presently they lost sight of the insect, which to them seemed to vanish; though le Bourdon distinctly traced its flight for a hundred yards.  It took a direction at right angles to that of the first bee, flying off into the prairie, and shaping its course toward an island of wood, which might have been of three or four acres in extent, and distant rather less than a mile.

While le Bourdon was noting this flight, another bee arose.  This creature flew toward the point of forest, already mentioned as the destination of the insect that had first risen.  No sooner was this third little animal out of sight, than the fourth was up, humming around the stand.  Ben pointed it out to the chiefs; and this time they succeeded in tracing the flight for, perhaps, a hundred feet from the spot where they stood.  Instead of following either of its companions, this fourth bee took a course which led it off the prairie altogether, and toward the habitations.

The suddenly conceived purpose of le Bourdon, to attempt to mystify the savages, and thus get a hold upon their minds which he might turn to advantage, was much aided by the different directions taken by these several bees.  Had they all gone the same way, the conclusion that all went home would be so very natural and obvious, as to deprive the discovery of a hive of any supernatural merit, at least; and to establish this was just now the great object the bee-hunter had in view.  As it was, the Indians were no wiser, now all the bees were gone, than they had been before one of them had flown.  On the contrary, they could not understand how the flights of so many insects, in so many different directions, should tell the bee-hunter where honey was to be found.  Le Bourdon saw that the prairie was covered with bees, and well knew that, such being the fact, the inmates of perhaps a hundred different hives must be present.  All this, however, was too novel and too complicated for the calculations of savages; and not one of those who crowded near, as observers, could account for so many of the bees going different ways.