HAPPY 



impostor had come to own an ascendency over the 

 colony. It was a strange fate, as Crip explained, 

 that we should cling to an impostor and die rather than 

 bring an alien to reign over us. But Crip and I were 

 thinking, and so were many of our little brothers. 

 Crip, on occasion, now gave her food through the wire 

 screen; while I found it convenient to hang about the 

 place. In the mean time the impostor spread her vile 

 brood over the hive, and kept up her conspiracy against 

 the Queen the Master had given us. 



Several days passed, and the Master, returning, 

 found what he thought a reconciliation. He opened 

 the cage and out walked the most beautiful Queen I 

 had ever seen, except my own Queen-Mother. In- 

 stantly, however, a troop of hostile bees, evidently led 

 by the impostor, fell upon her, and in a moment she 

 was in the center of a "ball" and being slowly crushed 

 to death. 



The Master was watching, however, and quickly 

 rescued her and restored her to the cage. 



"They are not ready to receive her, son," he said. 

 "In fact, unless we can destroy the fertile worker, 

 that horrid impostor, we may not succeed." 



"I've been thinking," said Crip, to me that night 

 as we stood by the cage and listened to the regal call 

 of the Queen, "that I shall fight the first bee that 

 comes near her." 



"And so shall I." 



Crip had just given her some honey, and was stand- 

 ing near her on the screen when an ugly bee, unusually 

 large, came up and caught hold of one of her legs which 

 had protruded through the meshes of the cage. He 



114 



