Little did he imagine
how much had been done for him within the last few moments, and how
greatly all he had in view was jeoparded and put at risk by his own
contrivances--contrivances which seemed to him so clever, but which
were wanting in the unerring simplicity and truth that render those
that come from above infallible. Still, the expedients of le Bourdon
may have had their agency in bringing about events, and may have
been intended to be a part of that moral machinery, which was now at
work in the breast of Peter, for good.
It will be remembered that the bee-hunter habitually carried a small
spy-glass, as a part of the implements of his calling. It enabled
him to watch the bees, as they went in and came out of the hives, on
the highest trees, and often saved him hours of fruitless search.
This glass was now in his hand; for an object on a dead tree, that
rose a little apart from those around it, and which stood quite near
the extreme point in the forest, toward which they were all
proceeding, had caught his attention. The distance was still too
great to ascertain by the naked eye what that object was; but a
single look with the glass showed that it was a bear.
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