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Show The San Joan Story I FOR TONIGHT BEN'S BUSY BEES Benny was a cripple. Hut ho wsa well able to take care of hlmaelf. When ha i waa IS years old his father left Mary-I Mary-I land and aet out In a bis; wag-on for tho I In those days there was no railroad so tho trip waa In a hi wagon drawn i bv oifn In It were piled the fwlher. I Mr. Ralph, (he mother and tho baby, aa : wtll aa Benny and hts crutch. The family eattled down on a atrip J of rich land near an Indian reservation, and Hen Immediately began to build Iti-t Iti-t He hoiipee for birrta and homer tiw rah blta. Hwuna; on the back of the wason ' c roast ng the mounlalna and plalna had been a email hive of bees, so placed that they 'were not )olt-d at all. lien would I twice a day sprinkle a spool ful of sugar i about the entrance to the hive, so the I be a lled and flourished In their new horn Within five year the lad had a ' hundred hive all full of fine honey. I One fine day Mr. Ralph rode away to tthe fort, whk-h waa a distance of thirty mllea. j . "1 will not be back before tomorrow t morning. be aald aa he sprang Into the saddle. "Hut you all will bo safe. The I Indiana are friendly. Watch the cattle (and don't let the rain catch any hay In, i the meadow " ' About noon Her, who waa resting; under a tree afler hln dinner, nnw a Ihin blue !'un uf pmiiup in ma nnffsnpp. tnw g .cloud of duet coming toward tho farm. . "Iten." ha Id the mother with a whtlen-Ing whtlen-Ing face. "I believe that la some Indians on the rampage. You know Hlack Hawk ran awy from the reaervatlon a month ago, ard I'm pure It Is ho and some other redekTng out for trouble.""' That waa thue. 'tut of the dfit soon ."PP-Ared on hnrnHwuh. rnlnigT1KS wildr .their feathero shaking in tho sun. 1 In a .few momenta Hen had bohblen ! mttckly to the bar and driven tho colte deep Into the bushea, which grew near I the house Hut there waa no place to hide the homes. j The Indiana came on quickly. Ren ran Into tm yard. Tho backyard waa top of a cliff, which hung over the road by whllh the Indiana were coming, and Jnst aa Its foot waa a cool, clear spring In which there were several Jam of milk. On top j nf the cliff and just above the spring waa j the Ions row of beehives. Tiny white hlvea they were, with thousands of busy Inmates bussing In and out. Hen atole Into the shadow of a rook juat by hs hlvea. He could see the men Blowing up In their ride and wiping the perenirattnn from their face. ftktck Hawk rode up and threw himself . from his horee. The others all sot down 1 and began to drink greedily from the Jam. ! Thie wit Den'a chance. With a long pole 1 he gave a push to hive after hive, and sent a dnsen era h In a down the aide of the bank In five eeconda. The htve buret aa they rolled and out swarmed the a nary j beee. Another half dnaen hlvea were sent flying down bv lien and. In a mnmeht. the , air waa full of bees, while a thick cloud of the Ineeeta settled on earn Indian. I The more the men fought them the more a nary the bees got and the faater fhev stung. Tt waa with trouble that anv i of thm found their hornew. und when they j pianaarH to mount the iea arfftelT'lH the j j hornet' mouth and earn. The Indian i dashed off. the horaea and men both mud-i mud-i dened by the pain; but they earned the hea alnnff. Ben laughed till ho could hardly walk. The frta-htened Indiana, pursued by be ftsrhling beee, eoon disappeared In the distance. dis-tance. Hardly had they anno when a Mimnin nf mrtlAlrm mm IIia fnrt ama In view. Benny waited till they halted at the foot of the cliff "Have you seen any Indians, boys' asked the captain. "I rather think ao," Bennv laughed. "Seven rode here a llltle while ago, and when they stopped down at ihe spring ( pushed about teo doaen hives of beea, down on them and they flew en bate (ueafl they are pretty badly etiiog up by now, and ynti won't have any trouble In telling Just who they are. I am mir one of thrm la so ewnln up about Ills heed that he can hardly aee." The captain laughed and rode away. In an hour be came on a party of aeven akk Indiana trying to atop the pain by bathing bath-ing In a stream. And fen mtnuta later they ere tiding back to the reservation 1 i under guard. The captain gave Bennv the beet pony i at the fort, and for years the seven In- rilana who had been conquered by the bees ' were the laughing stock of their native tribe. (Copyrfght, 11". by the Mcf'lure News- i .i:(M-r Syndicate. NVw York I'Hy.) |