"Smith"--speaking with the utmost care--"what we have just said
about the bee's sting is all true; but only with regard to the bees
on the earth. It is only on the earth, so far as we know positively,
that the bee is averse to stinging, for fear of losing his sting.
"There is only one way to account for the soldier bee. Its sting has
no barbs!"
"No barbs?"
"Why not? If the poison is virulent enough, the barbs wouldn't be
necessary, would they? Friends, the Sanusian bee is the supreme
creature on its planet; it is superior to all the other insects, all
the birds, all the animals; and its supremacy is due solely and
entirely to the fact that there are no barbs on its sting!"
VII
THE MISSING FACTOR
By the time the four once more got together in the doctor's study,
each had had a chance to consider the Sanusian situation pretty
thoroughly. All but Billie were convinced that the humans were
deserving people, whose position was all the more regrettable
because due, so far as could be seen, the insignificant little
detail of the barbless sting.
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