All four got
to their feet and stretched, silently but thoroughly. Not until they
were ready to quit the study did the doctor make reply.
"Smith, I don't need to remind you that it's the little things that
count. It's too old a saying. In this case it happens to be the greatest
truth we have found today.
"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 no? 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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