All were busy and happy in the hive and everything went well. Then one sad day word went round that the Queen was missing. In a moment everybody left their work and rushed wildly through the hive, looking for her in every room and buzzing out their fear and sorrow. She was not in the hive! Her guards were questioned. They reported that she had gone for a short flight in the fresh air, saying that she did not need their attendance. Scouts were sent out in all directions to look for her, while the bees stood about in groups, too anxious to do anything but wait for news. One by one the scouts returned, reporting no success in their search. Others were sent out, and still others, but they too returned with no news. Then the buzzing died down to a sorrowful silence, for the bee-people felt that their Queen was lost. "She must have met with her death out there," they whispered. Suddenly a joyful call came from a returning scout; next moment the Queen came flying in, tired and ruffled and shaking with fear. How her people crowded about her in their joy! They caressed her, stroked her trembling wings, and begged her to tell them what had happened. "I flew rather far from the hive," she said, "and a huge monster called a boy threw his cap over me and then picked me up in his hand. I would not sting him as you might have done, so I was helpless. He carried me round the garden to another boy-monster, and they agreed to pull off my wings. Think of my terror! I struggled hard to escape, and at last managed to slip through the clumsy fingers of the monster, and flew home. Oh dear, it was terrible! I shall never again go out by myself." "No, you must not," said her people. "We could not bear to lose our dear Queen." They comforted her, and fed her, and soon the hive was going on again in its old, happy way. BILLYBUZZ THE DRONE "You are lazy," said the boy who watched the bees. "Why don't you work like the others?" Billybuzz the Drone helped himself to a little more honey from the best pantry; then he turned his big brown head slowly towards the boy who watched the bees. "You people will never take the trouble to understand us," he said. "You call us lazy, but we cannot work. We are not made like the workers." "How is that?" asked the boy. "Surely you can fly about and gather honey? That is easy enough." "Not if one's tongue is too short," replied the Drone. "The Worker Bees have long, hairy tongues to lick the honey out of the deep flower-cups, but my tongue is too short, and would not reach far enough down." "But you could gather pollen to make bee-bread for the baby bees," said the boy. "I have no pollen-basket," said the Drone. "Can you not make wax?" "No. I have no wax pockets in my coat." "Then you could be a soldier-bee, and help to guard the Queen and hive." "I should be useless. I have no sting." "Oh, well, at any rate you could be a nurse and give the babies their meals, like those nurses over there."