26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN 



when going into battle, or some stirring ex- 

 hortation to undertake a crusade, or enter 

 upon a pilgrimage. I thought I could 

 hardly wait until it was all finished. An 

 ecstasy possessed me, and I wished I could 

 bound out of my cell and take part in what 

 I was sure was going on. What she said, 

 written into English, was this: "Hail! 

 Hail! The day has come! All colonists to 

 wing! The air, the glorious air. Come, 

 come! Away we go! To wing, to wing! 

 Sentinels, lead the way! Let everyone 

 praise Providence through the spirit of the 

 hive! To wing! Instant wing! Cheep, 

 Cheep, Cheep, ee-e-ef 



This militant utterance finished, I trem- 

 blingly awaited the result, scarcely appre- 

 hending what it all could mean. But hardly 

 had my mother's excited royal voice ceased 

 to ring throughout the hive, before a vast 

 multitude of fifty thousand of my fellow be- 

 ings began to go pell-mell towards the en- 

 trance of the hive. Only the few that held 

 down the hinged lid of my cell seemed to 



