Shortly one or two got up courage enough to imitate Dulnop as he “fed the flower;” and presently there were several little fires burning merrily upon the ground.  As for the aborigines, they let themselves loose; never before did they shout and dance as they shouted and danced that night.  It was this Rolla and Cunora heard.

Before five minutes had passed, however, a scout awakened Supreme.  Billie could see that the bee was angry at having been disturbed, but swiftly collected herself as she realized the significance of the scout’s report.

“So they have found the terror,” she reflected aloud.  “Very well.  Arouse all except the egg-layers and the drones.  We can make use of the food-gatherers as well as the fighters.”

The hive was soon awake.  Billie was sure that every last bee was greatly afraid; their agitation was almost pitiful.  But such was their organization and their automatic obedience to orders, there was infinitely less confusion than might be supposed.  Another five minutes had not passed before not only that hive, but all within the “city” were emptied; and millions upon millions of desperate bees were under way toward the village.

Rolla and Cunora knew of it first.  They heard the buzzing of that winged cloud as it passed through the air above their heads; but such was the bees’ intent interest in the village ahead, the two women were not spied as they hid among the bushes.

By this time twilight was half gone.  The firelight lit up the crowd of humans as they surged and danced about their new deity.  For, henceforth, fire would replace Mownoth as their chief god; it was easy to see that.

Moreover, both Corrus and Dulnop, as primitive people will, had been irresistibly seized by the spirit of the mob.  They threw their burden down and joined in the frenzy of the dance.  Louder and louder they shouted; faster and faster they capered.  Already one or two of their fellow villagers had dropped, exhausted, to the ground.  Never had they had so good an excuse for dancing themselves to death!

And into this scene came the bees.  Not one of them dared go within ten yards of the flames; for a while, all they did was to watch the humans.  Such was the racket no one noticed the sound of the wings.

“Shall we attack those on the edge of the crowd?” one of Supreme’s lieutenants wanted to know.  The commandant considered this with all the force of what mental experience she had had.

“No,” she decided.  “We shall wait a little longer.  Just now, they are too jubilant to be frightened; we would have to kill them all, and that would not be good policy.”

Of course, the bee had the pollen crop, nothing more, in mind when she made her decision; yet it was further justified.  There was no let-up in the rejoicing; if anything, it became more frantic than before.  Darkness fell upon a crowd which was reeling in self-induced mental intoxication.