44 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN 



dreds shall have hatched from those humped 

 cells over there. See?" 



This information gave me the clue to a 

 release from my quiet embarrassment of at- 

 tentions, and immediately I moved towards 

 the big table-land of Drone cells. If you 

 believe it, every fellow colonist made gallant 

 way for me, some going backward, some 

 forward, some with a sidewise, hesitating 

 gait, all heads practically turned towards 

 me. I may as well say that some people 

 are fulsome about our colony etiquette, 

 speaking excessively of the way in which 

 we treat our Sovereign in every colony, but 

 I never have been denied some token of 

 special notice from one or more near me 

 as I went my rounds from cell to cell, and 

 I have interpreted it as a combination of 

 adoration for my sex and wonderment be- 

 cause I could do what no one else among 

 all our thousands could possibly do. 



When I reached the elevated area of 

 Drone cells, it was as if I had to crawl over 

 a lot of jelly glasses turned upside down, 



