They heard
a broken grumble like the murmur of a falling tide.
"Swarm? What for? Catch me leaving a good bar-frame Hive, with
fixed foundations, for a rotten, old oak out in the open where it
may rain any minute! We're all right! It's a 'Patent Guaranteed
Hive.' Why do they want to turn us out? Swarming be gummed!
Swarming was invented to cheat a worker out of her proper
comforts. Come on off to bed!"
The noise died out as the bees settled in empty cells for the
night.
"You hear?" said the Queen. "I know the Hive!"
"Quite between ourselves, I taught them that," cried the
Wax-moth. "Wait till my principles develop, and you'll see the
light from a new quarter."
"You speak truth for once," the Queen said suddenly, for she
recognized the Wax-moth. "That Light will break into the top of
the Hive. A Hot Smoke will follow it, and your children will not
be able to hide in any crevice."
"Is it possible?" Melissa whispered. "I-we have sometimes heard a
legend like it."
"It is no legend," the old Queen answered.
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