"
"How can my brother tell which bee will first fly away?" demanded
Bear's Meat.
The bee-hunter was able to foresee this, by knowing which insect had
been longest on the comb; but so practised had his eye become, that
he knew with tolerable accuracy, by the movements of the creatures,
those that had filled themselves with honey from those that had not.
As it did not suit his purpose, however, to let all the minutiae of
his craft be known, his answer was evasive. Just at that moment a
thought occurred to him, which it might be well to carry out in
full. He had once saved his life by necromancy, or what seemed to
the simple children of the woods to be necromancy, and why might he
not turn the cunning of his regular art to account, and render it
the means 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.
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