“Maybe I shall! snapped Billie.

“If you do,” stated the doctor quietly, “then I’ll break the circle myself.”  They looked at him with a renewal of their former respect as he concluded emphatically:  “If you won’t help us stop this slave raid, Billie, then, by George, you’ll at least let the bees fight it out on their own!”

And so the matter stood, so far as the investigators were concerned.  They were to be lookers-on, nothing more.

Meanwhile the survivors of a once great civilization prepared to move in person against the bees.  They did this after Deltos had pointed out the advantages of such a step.

“If we rout the bees ourselves,” said he, “the natives will regard us as their saviors, and we shall have no trouble with them afterward.”

This was sound policy; even Somat had to admit it.  He had decided to be a member of the expedition, for the reason that Rolla flatly refused to accompany the other men unless he, her special god, went along.  His two liberal-minded friends stayed behind to take care of their belongings in the ruined city.

The expedition was a simple one.  It consisted of a single large auto truck and trailer, the only items of automotive machinery that the twelve had been able to reconstruct from the ruins.  However, these served the purpose; they carried large supplies of food, also means for protection against the bees, together with abundant material for routing them.  A large quantity of crude explosives also was included.  The trailer was large enough to seat everybody; and the ten men of the party had a good deal of amusement watching Rolla as she tried to get accustomed to that land of travel.  She was glad enough when the end of the road was reached and the truck began to push its way into the wilderness, giving her an excuse to walk.

No need to describe the trip in detail.  Within three days the truck was as far as it could go up the rock wall of the “edge.”  The point selected was about twenty miles west of where Cunora was hid, and directly opposite the upper end of her home valley.  No attempt was made to go over the top as Rolla had done; instead, about two miles below the ridge a crevasse was located in the granite; and by means of some two tons of powder a narrow opening was made through to the other side.  Through it the men carried their supplies on their backs, transferring everything to improvised sleds, a hundred pounds to a man.

While this was being done, Rolla hurried east and located Cunora.  The girl was in a pitiful condition from lack of proper food, and comparative confinement and constant strain.  But during Rolla’s absence she had seen none of the bees.

“What are you going to do now?” she asked Rolla, after the explorer had told her story.

Rolla shrugged her shoulders indifferently.  “These gods,” she declared with sublime confidence, “can do no wrong!  Whatever they propose must be for the best!  I have done my part; now it is all in the hands of the Flowing Blossom!”