“She had been ill but a few days,” one said.
“She has not been well since the robbery,” added another.
“She was hurt in the fight,” put in a third.
“But she did not complain,” answered another.
Crip and I now in our turn came into the presence of the Queen lying prone on the floor, her wings draped about her. There were present none of the trappings of the dead, nor anything to show that she was not asleep, so peacefully she lay there. I came presently face to face with her, and once I had looked into her eyes I saw that the vision had vanished, that the spirit had gone.
I turned away sick at heart, wailing I know not what black hymn of despair. Crip, too, I had lost, and I feared he had gone on his long journey. I seemed to sink into a bottomless abyss.
Soon I had partially recovered my composure. The commotion which had swept the colony slowly subsided, although there still ran an undercurrent of anxiety. What should we do? That part of the intelligence of the bee which has to grapple with such emergencies had been active on the instant.
“The Queen is dead—long live the Queen,” was the low, reverential chorus.
“Three Queens have been ordained,” ran the cry.