Without troubling to fetch hat or wig, he raced down the garden path, and had almost reached the gate before Tristram caught him up.
"Up or down did they go ?" he asked, standing in the middle of the road, uncertain in which direction to run.
"Across, most likely; but higher up than this, by the line they took," Tristram answered, pointing in the direction of the town.
"Hullo!" "What is it ?" "Why, look: there--under the arch!" Beneath the very centre of the triumphal arch, and directly under the sacred name of King William, there hung a black object larger than a man's head and in shape resembling a bunch of grapes.

It was the swarm, and a very fine one, numbering--as Captain Barker estimated-- twenty thousand workers at the very least.

He ran under the arch, and nearly cricked his neck staring up at them.
His excited motions had been seen by a small knot of wagoners and farm-hands, who were drinking and gossiping on the benches before the Fish and Anchor, to wile away the time of waiting for the King's arrival.

At first they thought the royal cavalcade must be in sight, though not expected for an hour or more; and hurried up in twos and threes.
"What's the to-do, Captain ?" "Where's that lumbering fool Narcissus ?" demanded Captain Barker, stamping his foot and pointing to the cluster over his head.
Mr.Swiggs came forward, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
He had been the last to arrive, having lingered a minute to attend to the half-emptied mugs of his more impatient fellows.
"Here," he announced.
"Fetch a ladder, and bring one of the new hives--the one I rubbed with elder-buds the day before yesterday.

Tristram, run to the house for my gloves and a board.