“What! You know Loveydear? Tell me where she is. Tell me, right away.”
“No.”
Maya spoke quietly and firmly; she glowed with secret delight.
“I’ll bite your head off if you don’t tell.” The warrior drew dangerously close.
“It will be bitten off anyhow. Go ahead. I shan’t betray the lovely dragon-fly. She’s a close friend of mine.... You want to imprison her.”
The warrior breathed hard. In the gathering dawn Maya could see that his forehead was pale and his eyes tragic with the inner struggle he was waging.
“Good God!” he said wildly. “It’s time to rouse the soldiers.—No, no, little bee, I don’t want to harm Loveydear. I love her, more dearly than my life. Tell me where I shall find her again.”
Maya was clever. She purposely hesitated before she said:
“But I love my life.”
“If you tell me where Loveydear lives”—Maya could see that the sentinel spoke with difficulty and was trembling all over—“I’ll set you free. You can fly wherever you want.”