The Life of the Bee 
eager, exhausted, full of discreet agita- 
tion; and had seen the young amazons 
stationed at the gate salute them, as they 
passed by, with the slightest wave of 
antenne. And then, the inner court 
reached, they had hurriedly given their 
harvest of honey to the adolescent por- 
tresses always stationed within, exchang- 
ing with these at most the three or 
four probably indispensable words; or 
perhaps they would hasten themselves 
to the vast magazines that encircle the 
brood-cells, and deposit the two heavy 
baskets of pollen that depend from 
their thighs, thereupon at once going 
forth once more, without giving a thought 
to what might be passing in the royal 
palace, the work-rooms, or the dormitory 
where the nymphs lie asleep; without 
for one instant joining in the babel of 
the public place in front of the gate, 
where it is the wont of the cleaners, at 
74 
