The Swarm 



amassed. It is as though they were 

 prisoners to whom freedom at last had 

 been given, who had suddenly been led 

 to a land of refreshment and plenty. 

 They exult, they cannot contain the joy 

 that is in them. They come and go 

 aimlessly, — they whose every movement 

 has always its precise and useful purpose 

 — they depart and return, sally forth once 

 again to see if the queen be ready, to 

 excite their sisters, to beguile the tedium 

 of waiting. They fly much higher than 

 is their wont, and the leaves of the 

 mighty trees round about all quiver 

 responsive. They have left trouble 

 behind, and care. They no longer are 

 meddling and fierce, aggressive, suspicious, 

 untamable, angry. Man — the unknown 

 master whose sway they never acknowl- 

 edge, who can subdue them only by con- 

 forming to their every law, to their habits 

 of labour, and following step by step the 



77 



