The Life of the Bee 



eager, exhausted, full of discreet agita- 

 tion ; and had seen the young amazons 

 stationed at the gate salute them, as they 

 passed by, with the slightest wave of 

 antennae. And then, the inner court 

 reached, they had hurriedly given their 

 harvest of honey to the adolescent por- 

 tresses always stationed within, exchang- 

 ing with these at most the three or 

 four probably indispensable words ; or 

 perhaps they would hasten themselves 

 to the vast magazines that encircle the 

 brood-cells, and deposit the two heavy 

 baskets of pollen that depend from 

 their thighs, thereupon at once going 

 forth once more, without giving a thought 

 to what might be passing in the royal 

 palace, the work-rooms, or the dormitory 

 where the nymphs lie asleep ; without 

 for one instant joining in the babel of 

 the public place in front of the gate, 

 where it is the wont of the cleaners, at 

 74 



