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UP UNTIL ten o’clock the little Scout served as kitchen maid, lady’s maid, house maid, errand boy, anything the interloper required. Then a load of worthless paper was sent to the incinerator which stood in the middle of the lower portion of Jamie’s side of the garden, halfway between the hives of the Black Germans and the long row of the Italians. As the Scout Master scratched the match and lighted the papers and stood a few minutes to watch the burning, an ominous rumbling that came from somewhere in the direction of the Italians became noticeable.

“Um-hum-m-m,” said the little Scout. “Dunno but I better call Jamie. Some of his bees are going to swarm.”

Coming back up the walk there was a pause of a second beside the hydrant. The Scout Master had intended to set a few drops trickling to keep the mint bed happy, but the heaviest hose was attached and stretched up the walk. The nozzle could be seen lying above one of the jacqueranda trees, open enough to let a tiny stream drip no faster than the earth would absorb it for the watering of the tree. That jacqueranda tree seemed to be particularly precious because, under its lacy shade of serene blue, some of the ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/420 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/421 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/422 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/423 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/424 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/425 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/426 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/427 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/428 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/429 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/430 ​

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“You little devil! You
vile little devil!”

​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/433 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/434 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/435 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/436 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/437 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/438 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/439 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/440 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/441 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/442 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/443 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/444 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/445 ​Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/446 ​"No," said Jamie, "let's give her time to take her hat off and set her house in order, and maybe what I consider straight, she wouldn't think was straight. Some time this evening I'll talk with her, and then I'll telephone you what she says."

"All right," said the little Scout.

Possibly in those two words lay the secret of the thing that made the little Scout so many friends; such an adorable little Scout. In the small person's cosmos there was no time to argue. In training the Scouts the same teaching had been applied to personal experience. The Scout Master had learned how to obey. So Jamie watched the receding figure on the way to the car line, willing in one instance to take a girl's job, because the "little duffer was so helpless." Jamie smiled whimsically and started to interview Margaret Cameron.