HAPPY 



"Well, you saw the close of it the death of our 

 colony." 



"Yes, I remember," I said. But he was so wise I 

 could scarcely believe that he was but two months old, 

 for he seemed so tattered of wing and battered of body ! 



Without thinking what we were about, we drew near 

 the door. Groups of workers were banked about 

 the entrance, waiting impatiently to be away at the 

 first streaks of dawn. Presently a note like a bugle-call 

 sounded, and immediately the face of things was 

 changed. By twos and threes and fours the workers 

 took wing and scurried into the fields. 



A dull gray light lay on the world; the air was damp 

 and moved lazily out of the east; the dew had fallen 

 thick on the flowers and now began to twinkle from 

 myriad angles. Crip and I had left the hive at the same 

 instant, but once on the wing I forgot all about him 

 and flew like mad this way and that until I caught a 

 whiff of fragrance from an unexplored meadow, and 

 thither I hastened. Strange and thrilling sensation! 

 I had not until now felt the joy of dipping into the 

 flowers and searching out their honey-pots. It was a 

 field of late sunflowers, and all of them had their faces 

 toward the east, eager to look upon the sun. Joyfully 

 they waved in the breeze and beckoned to one another 

 as if to say: " Good morning. How glorious is the sun, 

 our king!" In spite of the dew on their faces, some 

 of them already were wearing the brand of the hot 

 summer, which had all but gone and left them beseech- 

 ing of autumn her tender graces. 



"I am old and frayed," I heard one say, "and these 

 mornings chill me, but my work is done. The heart 



52 



