The Life of the Bee 



[13] 



All things go to prove that it is not 

 the queen, but the spirit of the hive, 

 that decides on the swarm. With this 

 queen of ours it happens as with many 

 a chief among men, who though he ap- 

 pear to give orders, is himself obliged 

 to obey commands far more mysterious, 

 far more inexplicable, than those he 

 issues to his subordinates. The hour 

 once fixed, the spirit will probably let 

 it be known at break of dawn, or the 

 previous night, if indeed not two nights 

 before ; for scarcely has the sun drunk 

 in the first drops of dew when a most 

 unaccustomed stir, whose meaning the 

 bee-keeper rarely will fail to grasp, is 

 to be noticed within and around the 

 buzzing city. At times one would al- 

 most appear to detect a sign of dispute, 

 hesitation, recoil. It will happen even 



52 



