Most of the men were now dressed in rough
working garments, similar to what one sees in modern factories.
Whimsical sort of gods, Rolla told herself, but gods just the same.
"Tell me," began Somat, as the woman sat on the floor before him--he
could not get her to use a chair--"tell me, what caused thee to
leave thy side of the world? Did ye arouse the wrath of thy fellow
creatures?"
"Nay," answered Rolla, and proceeded to explain, in the wrong order,
as a child might, by relating first the crossing of the ridge, the
flight from the bees, the "masters'" cruel method of dealing with
Corrus and Dulnop, and finally the matter of the fire itself, the
real cause of the whole affair. Somat was intelligent enough to fill
in such details as Rolla omitted.
"Ye did right, and acted like the brave girl ye are!" he exclaimed,
when Rolla had finished. However, he did not fully appreciate what
she had meant by "the winged masters," and not until she pointed out
some bees and asked if, on this part of the planet, such were the
rulers of the humans, that the man grasped the bitter irony of it
all.
Pages:
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339