THE SWARM 



hope; finalty, when their number was 

 reduced by one-half, their queen was 

 bom, but her wings were imperfect, and 

 she was unable to fly. Impotent as she 

 was, her bees did not treat her with the 

 less respect. A week more, and there re- 

 mained hardly a dozen bees; yet a few 

 days, and the queen had Nanished, leaving 

 a few wretched, inconsolable insects upon 

 the combs," 





There is another instance, and one that 

 reveals most palpabl}- the ultimate gesture 

 of filial love and devotion. It arises from 

 one of the extraordinan,- ordeals that our 



recent and tyrannical intervention inflicts 

 on these hapless, unflinching heroines. 1, 



[61J 



