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Updated: May 9, 2025
The two who had seconded him before again showed agreement. Sorplee and Deltos, however, together with the other seven, were distinctly opposed to the method. "Somat," protested Deltos, as though surprised, "you forget that there's an enormous population over there. Let them come in of their own free will? Why, they would overrun our country! What would become of us?"
Within a few minutes they had new agents; Van Emmon used Somat's eyes and ears, while Smith got in touch with the elderly bearded man at the head of the table. His name was Deltos. "A very striking confirmation of the old legends," he was saying through a big yawn, as Smith made connection. He used a colloquial type of language, quite different from the lofty, dignified speech of the Sanusians.
All told, there were a couple of hundred of the villagers, and all were armed with tools they knew how to use very well. "Who shall do the honors?" asked Sorplee. "Wish Somat was here, to explain for us." "Don't need him," reminded Deltos. "All we've got to do is to show these two fellows we dug up."
The next he was writhing in the death agony, and the bees were supreme once. Supreme herself had stung Deltos. Of the four on the earth, Smith was the first to make any comment. He had considerable difficulty in throwing his thought to the others; somehow he felt slightly dazed. "This is unbelievable!" he said, and repeated it twice. "To think that those insects are still the masters!"
The two who had seconded him before again showed agreement. Sorplee and Deltos, however, together with the other seven, were distinctly opposed to the method. "Somat," protested Deltos, as though surprised, "you forget that there's an enormous population over there. Let them come in of their own free will? Why, they would overrun our country! What would become of us?"
And the encounter took place during twilight, just early enough to be visible from a distance, yet late enough to make the fire very impressive. "Remember, it's the smoke as much as the flame," Deltos shouted to the others. "Just keep your torches on the move, and make as much fuss as you can!" Next moment the swarm was upon them.
The safest thing for us, and the best for them, is to make an industrial army of 'em and set 'em to work!" His enthusiasm was boundless. "I must say," admitted Deltos, with his usual dignity, "that you have the right idea, Sorplee. If I had stated it, however, I should have been more frank about it. The arrangements you propose simply means that we are to take possession of them!"
And it was not until the first of the villagers was within twenty yards that the nine suspected anything. Then they heard the buzzing. Looking closer, they saw that it was an attack! "Stop!" cried Deltos, in swift panic. "We are friends, not enemies!" It was like talking to the wind.
They were to be lookers-on, nothing more. Meanwhile the survivors of a once great civilization prepared to move in person against the bees. They did this after Deltos had pointed out the advantages of such a step. "If we rout the bees ourselves," said he, "the natives will regard us as their saviors, and we shall have no trouble with them afterward."
He swung the stick with such vigor that he fairly cleared a circle for himself. The natives paused, howling and shrieking, before the final rush. An inspiration came to Deltos. He tore his cap from his head and his net from his face. "Look!" he screamed, above the uproar. "I am a man, like yourselves! Do not kill!" Next second he froze in his tracks.
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