_Nuova and Hero again, and a Battle_
Just as Nuova was about to launch herself into the air, a sudden
commotion at the hive opening made her look back. After this look she
had no further thought of the garden. What she saw was the group of
drones coming out of the hive, with another group of worker bees
attendant upon them. These attendants were cleaning the drones' bodies
and wings and evidently preparing them for some great event. It was
plain to Nuova that this was the preparation for the Great Courting
Chase. Her heart gave a leap, her eyes became misty; she stumbled and
almost fell. She was so dizzy that she thought sudden death had struck
her. It was only, however, the blow of her heart and mind in realizing
that Hero--her Hero--must be in the group and preparing to leave her
forever. He had, in a sense, already left her forever she knew, for he
had made his decision--or rather she felt that the cruel bee tradition
had made the decision for him--to follow the Princess. And if he
followed her he could but win. Her wonderful, handsome, powerful Hero
would be easily the successful one in the Great Courting Chase.
She ran her eyes anxiously over the group of drones now well out of the
entrance and spreading out on the platform. At first she did not see
Hero. But in a moment she did. He was a little apart from the others,
and showed none of the excitement of the other drones. Indeed, he seemed
to be rather depressed, and was evidently keeping quite by himself. He
had not even an attendant with him. Nuova saw in this her chance.
She turned back from the edge of the platform, merged into the excited
crowd, none of the bees paying any attention to her at all, and began to
work her way through the press toward Hero.
Just then, however, Uno appeared by his side and began to brush his
wings. He turned on her with an impatient gesture. Surprised and angry,
Uno made a grimace and left him. A moment later, Due, noticing that he
had no helper, hurried over to him, but she, also, much to her surprise
and chagrin, was treated as Uno had been.
Hero seemed to be in an irritable mood. As the drones and their
attendants came farther out, he moved away toward the front of the
platform. This brought him rather near Nuova, who was able to reach him
before any other bee could offer him her services.
Nuova, unperceived by Hero, slipped behind him and began nervously and
awkwardly, glancing at the attendants on the other drones for guidance,
to clean his wings. Soon an awkward tug apprised Hero that some one was
again trying to attend him, and he turned with an angry movement to
drive her off, when he recognized Nuova, and arrested his gesture. He
stood still, looking at her keenly, and, without a word, let her go on
caring for him. She grew even more nervous and awkward. Then he smiled
gently, and spoke to her in a low voice.
[Illustration: Nuova began to clean his wings]
"How do you come to be out here?" he asked. "You weren't sent as an
attendant to us. Only the older and more experienced bees are given
that--honor." He smiled again. "You didn't come out just now?"
"No," said Nuova almost in a whisper--"no, I was going out for honey."
"Oh, fine!" said Hero. "Out into the world already! You must have done
your work in the hive very well."
"Yes," murmured Nuova demurely.
Just then two or three Black Bees slipped out from behind a bush near
the platform, but no one noticed them.
"But why don't you go, then?" asked Hero. "It is beautiful over there
among the flowers." He waved an antenna toward the garden. "And
fragrant, and exciting. Other kinds of creatures; beetles and
grasshoppers and big buzzing flies. Some bad ones, too; spiders and
giant bee-birds always watching, watching to catch you." Nuova
shuddered. "But you are not afraid, are you?" Hero looked at her keenly.
"Or are you? Do you prefer to stay here in safety and just wait on the
drones?"
"Yes," said Nuova slowly, "I prefer to wait on a drone."
"I am surprised," said Hero sternly and even half-contemptuously.
Just then Nuova made an awkward tug at his wing. He winced. "Ouch!" he
said; then half-laughed. "Your champion will never win Principessa if
you pull his wings out."
As he said this, Nuova involuntarily, in response to her feelings, gave
an even harder tug at his wings.
Hero exclaimed again, and half-pulled away from her. He spoke almost
angrily.
"Here, what _are_ you doing?" he cried. Then, as he looked into the
eager, excited, pretty face of his little attendant, he felt his heart
give a curious throb. And when he spoke again it was almost tenderly.
"Well, you are good to try and help me, anyway. But"--and now he spoke
rather moodily--"I don't need much preparing. I can beat any of
them"--and he waved contemptuously toward the other drones--"easily,
just as I am."
Poor Nuova! He could hardly have said a more discouraging thing to her,
or one to hurt her more. She drew back a little and had hard work not
to cry. She half-sobbed as she said: "That--is--fine. I am sure--you
can." She paused. Then she said slowly: "And if you do beat them, are
you sure to get--her? Are you sure to be able to catch--her?"
The excitement on the platform was growing. The drones seemed to be
getting impatient, and the attendants worked feverishly at the cleaning
and making ready for the wonderful event about to happen. The infection
of all this excitement began to seize Hero. He had turned his face away
from Nuova to stare intently at the opening of the hive. It was there,
of course, that the Princess would soon appear.
At Nuova's last question he started a little. "Eh?" he said rather
brusquely. "Oh, yes, of course, I can catch her. She will fly faster
than we at first, but she can't keep it up as long as we can. She will
try to go higher and higher in the air, but that is hard work. That is
when we shall catch up with her." He paused, then added, musingly: "It
is odd; she is trying her best to get away from us and yet she wants to
get caught all the time. She must get caught, you know, or we shouldn't
have any Queen, and the hive would go all to pieces. The old Queen never
comes back, of course. The Princess is our one chance to have a Queen at
all."
Nuova seemed to be thinking hard. Something was puzzling her. "But," she
asked insistently, "what really does happen if a Princess doesn't get
caught, or something happens to her. There must be some way to save the
community, isn't there?"
Hero seemed to have lost interest again in Nuova and her questionings.
He was gazing fixedly at the hive entrance.
"Oh," he said carelessly, "I don't know. I've heard sometimes that a
worker bee can--"
He was suddenly interrupted. There was a new and very violent commotion
on that side of the platform which the few Black Bees had approached,
unnoticed, a few minutes before. Now there was a whole group of them
plainly in sight and many others were coming quickly out from behind the
bush. A great and angry buzzing was heard from the guards on the
platform and cries of "Lotta, Lotta! The Amazons! Call Lotta! Call the
Amazons! Hurry! The Black Bees! The Black Bees!"
The guards, few as they were in comparison with the oncoming horde of
Black Bees, threw themselves bravely at them, and a moment after Lotta
and her Amazons began issuing pell-mell from the hive entrance. They
were met almost immediately by the foremost Black Bees, who had easily
killed or were driving back the few guards, and were making rapid
headway over the platform toward the entrance. A few even had passed in
through the entrance, but they were driven out again at once by the
issuing Amazons. In fact, most of the first Black Bees to gain a
foothold on the platform and to push forward to the entrance or into it
were killed. But that brought no terror to the others. They pressed on
over the dead bodies of their comrades, lunging and striking viciously
with their long lances.
But Lotta and the Amazons were fighting fiercely, too. They were making
a heroic defense of the hive and its stores. The battle raged with great
fury, but for a little while with no apparent advantage to either side.
The Black Bees seemed, on the whole, the more expert and the more
furious fighters--they are, indeed, a race of bees famous for their
fighting--but Lotta's wonderful personal courage and deeds of prowess
were a great inspiration to the defenders. She appeared to be everywhere
at once, and her shouts of defiance to the enemy and of encouragement to
her followers made up in some measure for the feebler strength and less
experience of her band.
This was so obvious to the Black Bees that she was soon singled out for
special attack by groups of her adversaries. Two or three Black Bees
would combine to assail her from different sides, but her lightning
movements and dashing bravery had so far saved her even from being
touched by an enemy's lance. But just at the moment when Nuova had
recovered a little from her amazement and terror at this sudden
invasion, Lotta received her first wound. The fierce Black Bees were
closing around her too closely. Nuova felt a violent rage rising within
her as she realized that at any cost the Black Bees were going to kill
the leader of the Amazons. Lotta was staggering, and a half-dozen lances
were lunging at her. She stumbled, gave one final shout of
defiance--and fell.
It was a terrible blow to the Amber Amazons. They were seized with
dismay. They had no one to lead them. They hesitated, gave way here and
there, and the Black Bees with triumphant shouts pressed forward. Some
of them had even reached the entrance, when a new, shrill battle-cry and
call of encouragement to the Amber fighters rose above all the noise of
the battle.
The cry came from Nuova. She had watched the whole terrible struggle in
a sort of daze; half of terror, half of utter amazement. But when Lotta
was struck down, the rage rising within her seized her completely, and
when the Black Bees had pressed on over the fallen leader's body with
shouts of triumph, she sprang forward, grasped Lotta's own lance from
her sinking hand, and threw herself with such fury on the rear of the
marauders that they had to turn to defend themselves. Then it was that
she had uttered her first battle-cry. As the Amber bees heard it and saw
at the same time that some of the black fighters had turned to defend
themselves against an attack in the rear, they checked their retreat
and began answering back this new shrill call. In the next moment they
saw something that filled them all with rejoicing and gave them at once
a new courage.
Nuova, taking a lesson from the method of the attackers, had looked
about, even as she leaped into the fight, for the leader of the Blacks,
and had fought her way fiercely directly toward her. In a moment they
were face to face, and in another moment thrusting and parrying in
deadly personal combat.
But nothing could withstand the vigor and audacity of this rage-maddened
new warrior's assault, and the black leader, first contemptuous, then
amazed, then terrified, found herself fighting vainly for her life. She
managed to strike Nuova one or two glancing blows with her lance, but
for answer received a thrust fairly through the body, and fell with a
great cry of defeat and pain.
This it was that filled the despairing Amber bees with a new courage and
reanimated them to fresh resistance. Turning on their attackers, they
renewed the battle with an irresistible surge toward Nuova, and reaching
her and following her lead in but few moments more they had rushed the
disheartened Black Bees off of the platform. They even followed them
into the grass, where they killed many of them one by one. Then they
hurried back with shouts of victory, and ranged themselves in lines for
marching and dancing. While the foragers busied themselves with carrying
the bodies of the fallen off of the platform, all the Amazons marched
and danced and sang loud songs of triumph.
[Illustration: Nuova was among the fallen]
But Nuova was not among them. She was among the fallen. Not far from the
body of the dead leader of the Black Bees whom she had so brilliantly
overcome, Nuova lay huddled. Saggia, who had been hustled out of the
press and into the entrance of the hive while the battle was going on,
now hurried to her fallen friend. Beffa, also, came hopping anxiously to
her, and Hero, who knew now that Nuova was no coward, and had, indeed,
been seized with a great admiration and at the same time a great
solicitude for his extraordinary little worker-bee friend, also hastened
to her side and bent over her. Other bees, too, came crowding around,
and Nuova's body would almost have been trampled under foot by the
surging crowd if Hero had not angrily cleared a little space about her.
Saggia, who had found already to her great joy that Nuova showed no
lance wound, but had only been stunned by a glancing blow, was lifting
her gently to her feet. And just as Hero came to her side, Nuova, dazed
and faint, first opened her eyes.