The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1913-04-18
Bees and Bars
By N. QUAD
Copyright. 1918. by Associated Lit.
erary Press.
By N. QUAD

fore the big fireplace In Zeb Whites
cabin, | asked him for a story Of the
mountains. He was silent for awhile,
and then he laughed in a shamefaced
way and said:
Its story agin myself"
That's all right"
ut happened a long time ago."
1T will be just as good"
"Waal." he started in. lone Sunday
mawnin' arter breakfast the old wo-
man looks ut me sorter queer and
says:
"'Zeb. you know thar's q camp meet
in gwine on over at Smokers grove
"'Mebbe l do says l.
They are havin' a powerful time I
hear
"Glad on it,
"'Zeb. we'll take a walk over to that
camp meetin' as soon as | git the dishes
washed Up. inc we won't come back
home till night
lit would be time throwed away
but we's gwine right along jest the
same she says.
1T was jest the season to watch wild
bees and line EN- to a tree" explained
Zeb. land l figered on putin in the
day at that. told the old woman SO
and asked her to 60 on alone. and she
turned on me with:
"'Zeb White. II yo' reckon to cheat
the Lawd and come out all right yo'l
git left! Nobody eve did 1t in all this
world. II yo' steal his day sunthin'
will shorely happen to yo'.'
but we want honey in the fall,
don't we?' says l.
whats the good of honey II yo'
lose yo'r soulT
"'Nobody's gwine to lose his soul on
account Of huntin' up a bee tree
"'Mebbe not. Mebbe he'll jest break
his neck or leg or wildcats will claw
him up or the bars roll him about.
The Bible tells about the fate Of the
stiff necked and obstinate. but 20
won't heed it. Jest 60 right along arter
yo'r wild honey, Zeb White, and III
60 to the camp meetin' by myself. l
reckon y0'll find out the power Of
Providence befo' sundown.'
"She went away without another
word to me. and fur half an hour I
was a good mind to fOller on. l didn't
feel right about 1t tall, and my old
dawg skunk away from me as II he
was ashamed Of his master. l didn't
want to give in, however, and bimeby
l shet the doah and strOlled of to look
fur bees. / was maxim fur q place
about two miles away but bef0' I
reached it ! stopped to look at a big
chestnut tree with a holler in it. That
boiler was big 'nuff fur TO- men to
stand in. and | was was loOkin' in and
wonderin' why l had never seen the
tree befo' when | heard sunthin' NOV
thar was a whoppin' big bar sneakin'
up on me. l could tell by the looks of
his eye that he meant bizness. and it
was no use to try to bluff him. One
jump carried me into the boiler, and
he rushed and jest missed me. l had
no gun, but l did have my knife along.
and when the bar tried to foller me
into the tree | slashed him TO- or Eve
times. He was no fool. He seen
had the advantage. and he jest backed
of and sOt down to wait. l kept purity
quiet fur an hour. thinkin' he'd git dis
! couraged and go away. but be had 9th
er plans on hand. When I stuck my
head out and waved my arms and yell
ed at him he growled a few times. but
he didn't come a foot higher.
1T vas plain that l was ina bad
way" continued the old hunter. but
/ didn't see what l could do about It.
was In the boiler. and the bar was
, outside. and thar was no show fur me
to come out until he went away. 1t
cum sundown. and 1t Gun night. and
!. he was still thar. saw ! was in fur
all night. and I went to sleep. ] woke
up once and saw his eyes shinin'. but
he let noe alone. ] woke soon arter
daylight and he was still thar. Not to
worry you with perticklers. passed
two nights and two days and q half in
that tree. and at last I'd hev given my
left arm fur a drink Of spring water.
to say nothin' about my hunger. was
no longer q match fur the bar. was
weak and Eighty. and he'd hev q big
0OVduk0ke OvCG uCs I4VW0v0A u
tryin' to work up my courage to crawl
out and do the best and hev It over
with when Abe Holden. who was look
I'm fur his lost mewl. cum that way.
and the varmint made q sneak. My
voice wasn't much stronger than q
baby's. but ! managed to make Abe
hear. and he pulled me out and helped
me home. The old woman sot on tho
doorstep singin. q hymn. and as We
cum up she looks at Abe and says:
"tGood evenin'. Mr.. Holden. Kin I
take It that yo'r old woman 10 peartr
Fairly peart. fairly peart. Ars.
White he replied.
".And 20 pear to hev . stranger
with you.' she goes on.
"'No, ma'am. It's Zeb, yo'r old man
Indeed! The last l saw Of my old
man he was gwine out to ind a bee
tree. Did he find itr
He found a boiler tree, ma'am::.
"sYesr
".And a barr