Otherwise, the geologist's wife might have had a
different opinion of the matter. As it was--
"Corrus and Dulnop," said she as cooly as Supreme herself might have
spoken, "are not the first to suffer because they have discovered
something big."
Whereupon her husband's wrath got beyond his grip. "Not the first!
Is that all you can say?" he demanded hotly. "Why, of all the
damnably cruel, cold-blooded creatures I ever heard of, those
infernal bees--"
Van Emmon stopped, unable to go on without blasphemy.
The doctor had got over the horror of what he had seen. "We want to
be fair, Van. Look at this matter from the bees' view-point for
awhile. What were they to do? They had to make sure, as far as
possible, that their supremacy would never be threatened again.
Didn't they?"
"Oh, but--damn it all!" cried Van Emmon. "There's a limit somewhere!
Such cruelty as that--no one could conceive of it!"
"As for the bees," flared Billie, "I don't blame 'em! And unless I'm
very much mistaken, the ruling class anywhere, here on the earth or
wherever you investigate, will go the limit to hold the reins, once
they get them!"
The expression on Van Emmon's face was curious to see.
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