The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1906-11-08
When the Bees Swarrned
copyright. 1906. by G. H. sutcli

copyright, 1906, by c. II. Sutcliffe]
Fourteen times the paymastar and
his safe and escort passed over his
route and returned smiling. When
they started out for the fifteenth trip
"MeXican Charlie" had his plans all
laid. He was Il Mexican half breed
and when you have such man look
out for deviltry. He was hanger Oh
around the stage stations for hun
dred miles up and down the line. He
was gambler, a horse thief and sus-
pected of murder, and he had the nee
essary qualifications to make him a
leader of other bad men, He war
two months making his plans, an!
they We're laid for the complete wipe
out of the entire party. He didn't pre-
pose to leave a single man alive tn
identify him afterward.
When the roundup was completed
the outlaw gang numbered an even
twenty men, and all were armed with
Winchesters and revolvers. The route
was gone over and the spot finally
settled on for the attack was midway.
between Forts Davis and Concho.
There the rude mountain road wound
upward for half a mile. to pitch sud
denly into a ravine with walls fifty
feet high and its length half a mile or
more.
To collect nineteen outlaws together,
hide them away for week, hold
them steady and fit out part. of the
number with horses and arms was no
slight undertaking, but the half breed
successfully accomplished it, and that
without arousing suspicion. On the
first day of a certain July the outlaw
band was posted in the ravine, and the
major left Fort Davis at an hour to
bring him to the spot at about noon.
Whites and Indians were at peace
and the country quiet. and the pay
master and his escort had not the
slightest hint of the reception the out
laws had in store for them.
1t may have been known to the
mountain Indians that the caves and
crevices in the walls of the ravine
were inhabited by wild bees, but it
certainly was not to the whites. They
had bred and swarmed there for
years. On this July day there was an
angry buzzing high above the heads of
the outlaws, but they gave it no atten-
ton. The rocks We're warming up and
the bees getting ready to swarm
Scouts had been sent forth to find
other crevices and report, and thou
sands upon thousands of the hot head
ed insects We're ready to swarm out
and follow their leaders to new homes
Stretched on the shelves or posted
behind powders, the outlaws We're
waiting for their prey. They got the
signal that the escort was coming
across The fiat; then that it was toiling
up the long hill; then, after a mo-
ment's wait, that it was about to enter
the ravine. The half breed had told
his men over and over to fire to kill,
to wipe out every soldier at the first
volley. Iut he told them again. There
We're twenty bullets for eleven men
and every outlaw having a rest for his
rife and target not twenty feet
away.
OF sudden one of the bee scouts
settled down on the bare hand of one
of the outlaws. He sought to flick it
OFF, and the insect stung him and flew
away. 1t would seem as if it flew up
to the others and warned them of the
trespassers and melted them to battle.
Within minute perfect cloud of
them descended, They were angry
and excited and looking for a fight.
The outlaws could make no defense
against such an enemy. In thirty sec
onds they we're almost literally cover
ed and being knitted in score of
places, and just as the two troopers
at the head of the escort reached the
head of the ravine the ambushers fled
down it with shouts and yells of pain
and terror
Their horses were half a mile below.
The bees followed the men to the
horses and attacked the latter, and in
a few seconds there was a wild stam-
pede. Some of the animals came up
the ravine, and some went down, and
the shouts of the outlaws were echoed
and re-echoed by the shrill neighs Of
the half maddened horses.
The paymaster could not tell what
had taken place, except that the wild
bees had come out. He was forced to
order a retreat, and there was no
pause until the outfit had dropped
back full mile. Then scouts wee
sent forward and after time made
= pretty good guess as to what was
I'M The bees seemed to be ont in