HAPPY 



strange words as they went ; and over me I could hear 

 the croon of the nurse bees and other sounds which 

 were still foreign and mysterious. 



Without even thinking of the direction I took, I 

 started on the way back to my cell. Crawling along 

 the bottom-board until I reached the side of the hive, 

 I climbed up it until I came to a bridge of comb stretch- 

 ing to a frame, and a moment later I was crossing from 

 comb to comb, and, ere long, to my great joy, stood 

 on the spot whence I had started. In my passage 

 I had met hundreds and hundreds of my brothers, 

 none of whom seemed glad to see me, although I thought 

 a few stopped to watch me stumbling along on my way. 

 However, I now know that not one actually paused 

 from his work. The world they live in is too full of 

 duties and the dark days of winter are always too 

 close at hand, while eternally is sounding in their ears 

 the refrain, "Work, work, for the frost is coming. " 



I went round and round the cell which had been my 

 house. I couldn't make out why I did this, because I 

 was absolutely sure of my location. Still, to make 

 doubly sure, I even thrust my head into the doorway 

 and scented the bread with which it had been filled. 

 There still remained about it a curious odor, which I 

 never forgot, and at this late day, with my eyes closed, 

 I could find my cell perhaps not by the smell, but 

 through the same divining sense that has led me across 

 ten thousand fields and streams and hills to my home 

 again. I found, however, that I had been a little 

 bruised by my fall. The foremost leg on my right side 

 was hurting me. It had probably been sprained when 

 I struck the bottom-board. I began to claw at it, when 



22 



