THE YOUNG QUEENS 141 



should escape who now clamour for birth, they would fall 

 into the hands of their elder sister, by this time irresist- 

 ible, who would destroy them one by one. The workers 

 therefore will pile on fresh layers of wax in proportion as 

 the prisoner reduces, from within, the walls of her tower ; 

 and the impatient princess will ardently persist in her labour, 

 little suspecting that she has to deal with an enchanted ob- 

 stacle that rises ever afresh from its ruin. She hears the 

 war-cry of her rival ; and already aware of her royal duty 

 and destiny, although she has not yet looked upon life, nor 

 knows what a hive may be, she answers the challenge from 

 within the depths of her prison. But her cry is different ; 

 it is stifled and hollow, for it has to traverse the walls of 

 a tomb ; and, when night is falling, and noises are hushed, 

 and high over all there reigns the silence of the stars, the 

 apiarist who nears these marvellous cities and stands, question- 

 ing, at their entrance, recognises and understands the dialogue 

 that is passing between the wandering queen and the virgins 

 in prison. 



74 

 To the young princesses, however, this prolonged reclusion 

 is of material benefit ; for when they at last are freed they have 

 grown mature and vigorous, and are able to fly. But during 

 this period of waiting the strength of the first queen has also 

 increased and is sufficient now to enable her to face the perils 

 of the voyage. The time has arrived, therefore, for the depar- 

 ture of the second swarm, or " cast," with the first-born of the 

 queens at its head. No sooner has she gone than the workers 



