Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 March 1878 — A FIGHT WITH HORNETS. [ARTICLE]

A FIGHT WITH HORNETS.

Wo had two terrible bugbears to brave that season, ami they were by no means imaginary ones. There were six, including myself, who went to school together on that road; A 1 Cummings and Rike, Elsie llanley and Hitty Hall, and a boy named Sip Mansur. None of us were more than ten years old, except Hitty Hall, who may have been eleven or twelve. In the country, especially in backwoods districts, boys are not generally allowed to go to school in the summer after they are ten or eleven years old. There is always too much hoeing and haying to be done on their father’s farms. It was nearly A mile down to the red school-house which stood at the “ Corners.” The road ran along the side of Trlong ridge of pasture lamt-between pole and brush fences, which were rather low and poor, and bushes grew plentifully all along the way. It was a road but little traveled. We would often scare np partridges between the very wheel-ruts, or see hares scudding ncross it. It was a wonderful place for blue-jays. It seems to me now Unit wo never passed without seeing a squad of these noisy birds. Berries, too, were abundant—strawberries in June, and in July and August, raspberries and blackberries by the bushel. Ah, those were pleasant times—trudging home from school, berrying, bird’s-nesting and chasing the red squirrels along the fences—or would have been but for the bugbears-. The first and worst of tlfe.se was “ Dagon,” the second an enormous nest oTgreat black-banded hornetsthat are so common in New England. This nest hung from a low branch of a small white maple, one of a clump which stood just inside the pasture fence, two or three rods from the road When we first saw it in June, it was not larger than a quart bowl; but it grew and grew, till by the first of August it would have filled a ten-quart bucket. Scores of those great, savage hornets would swarm'out at the least provocation, even at the sound of our voices. Young fellows passing had thrown stones and sticks at the nest, and made the hornets irritable, and, indeed, we boys had frequently stoned

First Rike, then Elsie, had been stung as-wepassedl "TFfi©~'hornets would dart at us like bullets. If we came within a hundred feet of their house, we Were almost sure to hear a quick, vengeful buzz, and feel the long, peisonous stings of these worst of tul hornets. Both Rike and Elsie were stung near the left oar. Within an hour their faces had swollen almost beyond recognition. We used to either to run past the nest at full speed, or else get over the fence and pass at a long distance from it. lhit Dagon was the larger and far more dangerous object of our daily terrors. Dagon was a three-year-old Herefordshire bull, belonging to “ Old Zaek Daniels,” as he was called, whose pasture bordered the road. Well do 1 remember the great, whitefaced monster, his short, thick horns,, surly pink nose, and wicked, red-ringed eyes. All of this animal, except his broad, white face, was a deep chestnut red, glossy and sleek as an otter-skin, lie was what stock-fanciers would deem a beauty, but to us school-children, a furious beast,-lying in wait to rend and gore us. Never were the followers of Cadmus in greater fear of the dragon than we were of Dagon. Dagon had received his singular name from Mr. Merritt, the Free-Will Baptist Minister. Mr. Merritt, while crossing the pasture, had been attacked by him, and had but narrowly escaped severe injuries. The reverend gentleman went gravely to complain to the bull’s owner.

“ Mr. Daniels, said he, “your great Dagon has assaulted me, nnd but for God’s mercy would have trodden me under his feet.” Old Mr. Daniels’ reply was characteristic: “Them as is afeard o’ mv bull had better keep out o’ my parster.” But Dagon did not keep in his pasture. The low, weak fence ottered little or no obstacle to him. The herd of cattle which Mr. Daniels kept there were often in the road, Dagon with them. And then with what terror would wo discover his big nr.ilk-white face, or hear his deep bass notes issuing from a cloud of dust, followed by the "sudden outburst of his far-resoundinr tenor! It was skulk and run then, and we made wide ddottrs to avoid giving Mr. Bull offense. Of course we complained at home. Something was said a number of times to Mr. Daniels about the danger of letting sp vicious an animal run at largo. But none of our folk liked to have trouble with - the old hian, who was known to be crabbed and revengeful. As the season advanced, Dagon grew more and more aggressive arid noisy. If he saw us passing, he would come to the fence and follow along beside it as we scudded in the road; and if he found , a place low enough, over he would leap with a roar. Then we had br scramble over the fence on the lower side of the road, in 1 a hurry. It was a wonder he did not sometimes overhaul us. for the fence was made of brush, and we often f#\ick in it. One morning Elsie had a particularly narrow escape. Dagon was in the road. Some larger boys, passing, had stoned and enraged him. ■ We came upon him suddenly in a clump of sumac by the roadside.

“Oh, Dagon! There’s Dagon!” Hitty cried, forj she had first discovered him. We turned and fledi>ack up the road. But the bull had seen us and followed, with a fierce snort. In her terror, Elsie, incumbered with her books and basket, fell and got behind tho rest of us, who were already climbing the fence. As we tumbled over we saw, to our horror, that the infuriated animal was close upon ' her. Screaming with affright, she jumped down over a great rick of old fogs on the lower sido of the road. Dagon, not daring to leap upon so uncertain a foothold, stood and looked down upon her, arching his neck and giving vent to a queer, whining bellow. Elsie, crouching between tho pile of logs and the fence, durst not stir till Rike and Sip, stealing along on the lower side of the fence, pulled away tho bottom brush and dragged her, beneath the poles, into the field below. We dared not go back after her basket and books, winch Dagon had trampled under his feet. The poor child could scarcely get over her fright to • that whole day. And that very afternoon, when going home from school, she was stung by one of the hornets. To elude Dagon and dodge the hornets required all our skill. Left to oiir own rosouroes, we at length hit upon a plan to turn our two implacable enemies one against the other. 1 believe it was Sip who first proposed that wo should try to get the bull into tho hornets’ nest; but we all, girls and bovs, helped to carry out the scheme. First, we looked for a good hole In the fence on the lower side of the road, through which we could beat a hasty retreat to the bushes. As I have said, the hornets’ nest was just inside of the pasture where Dagon reigned supreme. The fence along here chanced to be pretty good, being through bushes where fencing stuff was plenty, and we had not much fear that thf bull would leap over it. We waited for an opportunity to draw Dagon into our plot. At length, one Thursday afternoon, we saw him within twenty rods of the hornets’ nest. “Now, ole feller,” said Sip, “we’ll get you into the limboes!” First, we sent Elsie off into the bushes, to be out of the way. Rike, Sip and I then got old hemlock knots to throw, and cautiously posted ourselves in the high brakes, twenty or thirty yards from the hornets’ nest. I well remember what a hot, muggy afternoon it was. A 1 now began to stalk along the road, and to imitate Dagon’s deep, gruff booings; while Hitty stood and waved her little hat, trimmed with an old red ribbon. The sound of this counterfeit challenge soon came to Dagon’s jealous ears. He raised his head and glared around, then began to bellow ana paw, breaking put at times into a loud, trumpet-like defiance. Catching sight of Hitty’s hat, he started for the road at a confident trot. No doubt he meant to teach us a lesson that wo should not soon forget. ——— “He’s coming!” “ He’s coming!” A 1 and Hitty both cried, and darted through the hole in the lower fence. We boys in the brakes rose and let Hy our knots at the hornet’s nest. Whack, whack! they went againstit, and out poured the hornets with angry hum, just as Dagon, with a menacing bellow, came crashing through the brush down to the fence. Thanks to our stratagem, he found things ready for him! Sip, Rike and I had lied, but we heard the sounds of fearful commotion. Scores of the infuriated hornets darted at Dagon the instant he presented himself! But, long accustomed to frighten and drive everybody and everything, the bull was loth to fly. - '• • • —_ He plunged and tore about, uttering some of the odifbst bellowing and bawlings that 1 ever heard. The fence cracked, and we could see the bushes waving and swaying, . The more Dagon tore around, the more the hornets stung him. Though we saw little of the tussle, we could hear enough to make sure that Dagon had all he could attend to.

Sip plucked up courage to creep back along the fence, below the road. A minute after, he called outthatthe bull had run; and then we all saw Dagon going up across the pasture, with tail cruet, snorting like twenty bagpipes! That was sport for us, anti wo exulted to our hearts’ content. But, for good reasons, we each promised to say nothing of our trick. Next day we saw the other cattle, brit not Dagon. That night it was rumored about that the bull was sick —all swelled up—didn’t know what ailed him—supposed to be poisoned. A few days after, it was reported that “Daniels’ bull” had somehow got info a hornets’, nest, and was stung and injured. Every one thought it a very singular circumstance. But Dagon was not killed, though it was nearly a fortnight before he again made his appearance in the pasture—a wiser and a better bull. From that day he never took ariy notice of us children. Meanwhile, Mr. Daniels had come by night, with a huge bundle of straw, and burned out the hornets’ nest. So that one and the same stroke of motherwit ridded us of both our bugbears, and we had nothing more to molest us on our way to school.— Youths' Companion.