Franz declared it must be an
enchanted princess, and so I thought I would rid it of its spell; but
Fritz stopped me shooting it, and said it was a "Honey Indicator", and
that it was leading us probably to a bees' byke, so we spared its life,
and presently, sure enough, it stopped close by a bees' nest in a
hollow tree.
`This was capital, we thought, and, as we were in a great hurry to
taste the honey, I threw in a lot of lighted lucifer matches, but
somehow it did not kill the bees at all, but only made them awfully
angry, and they flew out in a body and stung me all over. I rushed to
Storm and sprang on his back, but, though I galloped away for bare
life, it was an age before I got rid of the little wretches, and now my
face is in a perfect fever. I think I will get mother to bathe it for
me,' and off rushed the noisy boy, leaving Fritz and me to see to the
fawns and examine the rabbits.
With these latter I determined to do as Fritz proposed, namely, to
colonize Whale Island with them. I was all the more willing to do this
because I had been considering the advisability of establishing on that
island a fortress to which we might retreat in any extreme danger, and
where we should be very thankful, in case of such a retreat, to possess
means of obtaining a constant supply of animal food.
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