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 Deltos 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 Billie.
"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 harassed 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 be hind 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.
Supreme herself had stung Deltos.