Despite all that Somat and his two backers could say, the other nine
men swiftly agreed upon the thing Deltos had proposed. Somat went so
far as to declare that he would warn Rolla; but he was instantly
given to understand that any such move would be disastrous to
himself. In the end he was made to agree not to tell her.
"We aren't going to let you and your idealism spoil our only chance
to save the race!" Sorplee told him pugnaciously; and Somat gave his
word. At first he hoped that the nine might fall out among
themselves when it came to actually enslaving the Sanusians; but he
soon concluded that, if there was any difference of opinion, the
aristocratic element would take charge of half the captives, while
Sorplee's friends commandeered the rest. The outlook was pretty
black for Rolla's friends; yet there was nothing whatever to do
about it.
Among the four people on the earth, however, the thing was being
discussed even more hotly. Van Emmon found himself enthusiastically
backing Somat, the liberal-minded one.
"He's got the right idea," declared the geologist. "Let the
Sanusians come over of their own free will! Let the law of
competition show what it can do! Dandy experiment!"
Smith could not help but put in: "Perhaps it's Deltas and Sorplee
who are right, Van. These Sanusians are mere aborigines. They
wouldn't understand democratic methods."
"No?" politely, from the doctor. "Now, from what I've seen of Rolla,
I'll say she's a perfect example of 'live-and-let-live.' Nothing
either subservient or autocratic in her relations with other people.
Genuinely democratic, Smith."
"Meanwhile," remarked Billie, with exaggerated nonchalance,
"meanwhile, what about the bees? Are they going to be permitted to
show their superiority or not?" Van Emmon took this to be aimed at
him. "Of course not! We can't allow a race of human beings to be
dominated forever by insects!
"I say, let's get together and put Rolla wise to what Deltos and
Sorplee are framing up! We can do it, if we concentrate upon the
same thought at the right time!"
Smith did not commit himself. "I don't care much either way," he
decided. "Go ahead if you want to"--meaning Van Emmon and the
doctor--"I don't want to butt in."
"Don't need you," growled the geologist. "Two of us is enough."
"Is that so?" sarcastically, from Billie. "Well, it'll take more
than two of you to get it over to Rolla!"
"What do you mean?" hotly.
"I mean," with deliberation,--"that if you and the doctor try to
interfere I'll break up our circle here!" They stared at her
incredulously. "I sure will! I'm not going to lend my mental
influence for any such purpose!"
"My dear," protested the doctor gently, "you know how it is: the
combined efforts of the four of us is required in order to keep in
touch with Sanus. Surely you would not--"
"Oh, yes, I would!" Billie was earnestness itself. "Mr. Van Emmon
was so good as to blame me for what I did in that Capellette mix-up;
now, if you please, I'm going to see to it that this one, anyhow,
works itself out without our interference!"
"Well, I'll be darned!" The geologist looked again, to make sure it
was really his wife who had been talking thus. "I'm mighty glad to
know that you're not intending to warn Supreme, anyhow!"
"Maybe I shall! snapped Bilhe.
"If you do," stated the doctor quietly, "then I'll break the circle
myself." They looked at him with a renewal of their former respect
as he concluded emphatically: "If you won't help us stop this slave
raid, Billie, then, by George, you'll at least let the bees fight it
out on their own!"
And so the matter stood, so far as the investigators were concerned.
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."
This was sound policy; even Somat had to admit it. He had decided to
be a member of the expedition, for the reason that Rolla flatly
refused to accompany the other men unless he, her special god, went
along. His two liberal-minded friends stayed behind to take care of
their belongings in the ruined city.
The expedition was a simple one. It consisted of a single large auto
truck and trailer, the only items of automotive machinery that the
twelve had been able to reconstruct from the ruins. However, these
served the purpose; they carried large supplies of food, also means
for protection against the bees, together with abundant material for
routing them. A large quantity of crude explosives also was
included. The trailer was large enough to seat everybody; and the
ten men of the party had a good deal of amusement watching Rolla as
she tried to get accustomed to that land of travel. She was glad
enough when the end of the road was reached and the truck began to
push its way into the wilderness, giving her an excuse to walk.
No need to describe the trip in detail. Within three days the truck
was as far as it could go up the rock wall of the "edge." The point
selected was about twenty miles west of where Cunora was hid, and
directly opposite the upper end of her home valley. No attempt was
made to go over the top as Rolla had done; instead, about two miles
below the ridge a crevasse was located in the granite; and by means
of some two tons of powder a narrow opening was made through to the
other side. Through it the men carried their supplies on their
backs, transferring everything to improvised sleds, a hundred pounds
to a man.
While this was being done, Rolla hurried east and located Cunora.
The girl was in a pitiful condition from lack of proper food, and
comparative confinement and constant strain. But during Rolla's
absence she had seen none of the bees.
"What are you going to do now?" she asked Rolla, after the explorer
had told her story.
Rolla shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "These gods," she
declared with sublime confidence, "can do no wrong! Whatever they
propose must be for the best! I have done my part; now it is all in
the hands of the Flowing Blossom!"
Not until they reached the head of the valley which had been her
home did Rolla ask Somat as to the plan. He answered:
"Ye and the other woman shall stay here with me, on this hill." He
produced a telescope. "We will watch with this eye-tube. The other
nine men will go ahead and do the work."
"And will they separate?"
"Nay. They intend to conquer this colony first; then, after your
people are freed and safely on the way to my country, the conquerors
will proceed to the next valley, and so on until all are released."
He kept his word not to warn Rolla of the proposed captivity. "In
that way the fear of them will go ahead and make their way easy."
Meanwhile the nine were getting ready for their unprecedented
conquest. They put on heavy leather clothes, also leather caps,
gloves and boots. Around their faces were stiff wire nets, such as
annoyed them all exceedingly and would have maddened Cunora or
Rolla. But it meant safety.
As for weapons, they relied entirely upon fire. Each man carried a
little wood alcohol in a flask, in case it was necessary to burn wet
or green wood. Otherwise, their equipment was matches, with an
emergency set of flint and steel as well. There could be no
resisting them.
"We'll wait here till we've seen that you've succeeded," Somat told
Deltos and Sorplee. "Then we'll follow."
The nine left the hills. The hours passed with Rolla and Cunora
amusing themselves at the "eye-tube." They could see the very spot
where their lovers were being punished; but some intervening bushes
prevented seeing the men themselves. The other villagers were at
work quite as usual; so it was plain that, although the bees were
invisible, yet they were still the masters.
Hardly had the nine reached the first low-growing brush before they
encountered some of the bees. None attempted to attack, but turned
about and flew back to report. It was not long before Supreme, and
therefore Billie, knew of the approaching raiders.
"They are doubtless provided with the magic flower," Supreme told
her lieutenants. "You will watch the blossom as it sways in the
wind, and keep always on the windward side of it. In this way you
can attack the inferiors."
The word was passed, bee-fashion, until every soldier and worker in
the colony knew her duty. The stingers were to keep back and watch
their chance, while the workers harrassed the attackers. Moreover,
with the hives always uppermost in her mind, Supreme planned to keep
the actual conflict always at a distance from the "city."
It was late in the day when the nine reached the stream in whose bed
rested the pyrites taken from Corrus and Dulnop. This stream, it
will be remembered, flowed not far from the torture-place. Deltos's
plan was to rescue these two men before doing anything else; this,
because it would strengthen the villagers' regard for the
conquerors.
The bees seemed to sense this. They met the invaders about three
miles above the village, in an open spot easily seen by the people
with the telescope. 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. It was like a vast cloud of
soot; only, the buzzing of those millions of wings fairly drowned
out every other sound. The nine had to signal to one another;
shouting was useless.
Within a single minute the ground was covered with bees, either dead
or insensible from the smoke. Yet the others never faltered. At
times the insects battered against the wire netting with such force,
and in such numbers, that the men had to fight them away in order to
get enough air.
Supreme watched from above, and kept sending her lieutenants with
fresh divisions to first one man and then another, as he became
separated from the rest. Of course, nobody suffered but the bees.
Never before had they swarmed a creature which did not succumb; but
these inferiors with the queer things over their faces, and the
cows' hides over their bodies and hands, seemed to care not at all.
Supreme was puzzled.
"Keep it up," she ordered. "They surely cannot stand it much
longer."
"It shall be done!"
And the bees were driven in upon the men, again and again. Always
the torches were kept waving, so that the insects never could tell
just where to attack. Always the men kept moving steadily
down-stream; and as they marched they left in their wake a black
path of dead and dying bees. Half of them had been soldier bees,
carrying enough poison in their stings to destroy a nation. Yet,
nine little matches were too much for them!
Presently the invaders had approached to within a half-mile of the
torture-place. One of Supreme's lieutenants made a suggestion:
"Had we not better destroy the men, rather than let them be
rescued?"
The commandant considered this fully. "No," she decided. "To kill
them would merely enrage the other villagers, and perhaps anger them
so much as to make them unmanageable." More than once a human had
been driven so frantic as to utterly disregard orders. "We cannot
slay them all."
The bees attacked with unabated fury. Not once did the insects
falter; orders were orders, and always had been. What mattered it if
death came to them, so long as the Hive lived? For that is bee
philosophy.
And then, just when it seemed that the wisest thing would be to
withdraw, Supreme got the greatest idea she had ever had. For once
she felt positively enthusiastic. Had she been a human she would
have yelled aloud for sheer joy.
"Attention!" to her subordinates. "We attack no more! Instead, go
into the huts and drive all the inferiors here! Compel them to bring
their tools! Kill all that refuse!"
The lieutenants only dimly grasped the idea. "What shall we do when
we get them here?"
"Do? Drive them against the invaders, of course!"
It was a daring thought. None but a super bee could have conceived
it. Off flew the lieutenants, with Supreme's inspired order humming
after them:
"Call out every bee! And drive every last one of the inferiors to
this spot!"
And thus it came about that, a minute later, the nine looked around
to see the bees making off at top speed. Sorplee raised a cheer.
"Hurrah!" he shouted, and the rest took it up. Neither admitted that
he was vastly relieved; it had been a little nerve-shaking to know
that a single thickness of leather had been all that stood, for an
hour, between him and certain death. The buzzing, too, was
demoralizing.
"Now, to release the two men!" reminded Deltos, and led the way to
the torture-place. They found Corrus and Dulnop exactly as the two
women had left them six weeks before, except that their faces were
drawn with the agony of what they had endured. Below the surface of
the ground their bodies had shriveled and whitened with their daily
imprisonment. Only their spirits remained unchanged; they, of all
the natives, had known what it was to feel superior.
For the last time they were dug out and helped to their feet. They
could not stand by themselves, much less run; but it is not likely
they would have fled. Somehow they knew that the strange
head-coverings had human faces behind them. And scarcely had they
been freed before Sorplee, glancing about, gave an exclamation of
delight as he saw a group of natives running toward them.
"Just what we want!" he exclaimed. "They've seen the scrap, and
realize that we've won!"
Looking around, the nine could see the other groups likewise
hurrying their way. 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."
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. The villagers had their choice of
two fears: either fight the strangers with the magic flower, or--be
stung to death. And no one can blame them for what they chose.
The nine had time enough to snatch knives or hatchets from their
belts, or clubs from the ground. Then, with wild cries of fear, the
natives closed in. They fought as only desperate people can fight,
caught between two fires. And they were two hundred to nine!
In half a minute the first of the invaders was down, his head
crushed by a mattock in the hands of a bee-tormented native. In a
single minute all were gone but two; and a moment later, Deltos
alone, because he had chanced to secure a long club, was alive of
all that crew.
For a minute he kept them off by sheer strength. 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. The next he was writhing in the
death agony, and the bees were supreme once more.
Supreme herself had stung Deltos.