And Darwin himself has noted the visits of bees to flowers which have lost their petals. Here, again, is a flower of white clematis of which snails have eaten the greater part of the petals. Yet it receives as many bee visits as the perfect flowers on the same plant. There, again, is a flower in that bed of harpaliums of which a caterpillar has neatly eaten off the ray florets. Nevertheless, there is a bee on it gathering nectar, although there are scores of perfect flowers around it! Such are the strange ways of the bee, which in the imagination of certain theorists selects the most showy flowers for its visits!

With Aristotle's bee, constant in its The Nineteenth Century and After.

visits, and Lord Avebury's bee, preferring blue, you may, theoretically, produce a blue flower. You put your penny of faith in the slot, and it is evolved while you wait. With the bee of nature, the real visitor of the flowers, this is impossible.

If it be true that:

"Tis distance lends enchantment to the view

And robes the mountain in its azure hue,

it would also appear that it is remoteness from actual fact which has enabled the theorists to crown the bee with an azure halo and make it the evolver of the blue flower.

G. W. Bulman.

III.

The bridge, slowly creeping forward behind its noisy head, was not the only spot where progress had been made that day. The same sun that dissipated the clinging mist from the river and revealed the bridgers at work, lit up another scene of toil in a village some thirty-five miles away,of toil less imposing, but no less important in its results. The little deserted village, the "Hornet's nest," was the lair of one section of the raiders. Nestling on one side of a low hill, hidden by others slightly higher all round, the spot was well chosen for its purpose. On each side of the principal street straggled houses, once white but now roofless and blackened. From a cow-byre at one end there issued the sound of hammering, and now and then the hum of a motor engine, driven for short bursts at high speed, rose to a whine. Tarpaulins clumsily stretched on charred rafters and weighted with

LIVING AGE. VOL. XXXIV. 1792

stones formed the roof of the shed. Never a savory spot, an odor as of a motor garage now hung about the place, its pungency unpleasingly intensified by the smell of some extinguished acetylene lanterns, for here also they had been working through the night. Men kept passing in and out of the shed,-they were erecting machinery out in the yard.

In a room of the village inn, still the best house in the place, four officers had just finished a hasty meal and were pushing back their ammunitionbox seats from the packing-case table. One of this group was noticeable: very pale, he carried his arm in a sling and had been eating clumsily with his left hand. Another was almost as conspicuous: a wiry man, with a freckled face and red hair, he wore a hybrid naval uniform. Upon his yachting cap shone a metal badge representing some insect. The third, the Commandant of the section of raiders, was

big and bull-necked, and the sly expression in his protuberant eyes made him look like a cunning frog-if such a thing can be imagined. All these were youngish men, but the fourth was the youngest. He had nothing to distinguish him but his pink cheeks and a bread-and-butter face; he was attached to the nautical man only, and did not wear his uniform.

"We can't spread this map in here," said the senior, in a guttural voice, lighting his pipe; "let's go into the next room, or, better, into the tap-room, where there's a bar." Following him, they separated on each side of the long counter, the pewter top of which was thick with dust, pieces of plaster, and broken glass. It was a moment's work to sweep this off to add to the wreckage already inches deep on the floor. The little run, where some buxom "patronne" or "Miss" had formerly reigned, was more than ankle-deep in broken glass and crockery; the shelves behind were bare of their former array of bottles. Behind the shelves, the sharp edges of the slivers of a dusty mirror, radiating outwards from one or two points, caught the light in a prismatic sparkle, and gave the one touch of brightness to the brutal squalor of the room. Even the smell of dust and plaster had not altogether exorcised the established reek of stale tobacco-smoke and spilt liquor which still hung about. “Anyway, I am greatly relieved that you have come," said the last speaker. "I heard you were on your way, but many expected things do not arrive these days, and I was not too hopeful.

And though I must confess that

I am even now a bit sceptical about your box of tricks, I am only too keen to try. Have you unpacked your— what do you call them-squadron, fleet, covey, swarm?”

"Yes, sir," somewhat stiffly answered the man in the nautical suit. "They've all been unpacked, and my men are

"Are your anarchists, engineers, chauffeurs, or skippers prepared to proceed on individual forlorn hopes? Mind you, those who do not blow themselves up, or get smashed by a fall, or taken prisoner, will almost certainly get shot as spies, and it's odds that 'good-bye' at starting will be good-bye for ever."

"We quite realize all that, sir, and we'll take our chance. 'Tis a forlorn hope in a way; but the prizes are large. Why, just think, given a chance"

"Yes, yes, I know. I see you are a cran-I mean, an enthusiast, and quite rightly. Well, I'm going to give you a bellyful of chances!" The other smiled.

"Now, listen. As you are a newcomer, I'll put you in touch with the position in a few words. Never mind if I tell you something you know already, don't interrupt-listen. See square D 14? That's where their third army is, some seventy thousand strong. They're in a good position, at a strategic point, and are holding some vlllages, the names don't matter. They've been there five days. Our Western force, which is not strong enough to attack, has been hanging on to and harassing them; we cannot make a grand attack, yet we hope to scatter their army and bag much of it. marched a long way, fought a lot, and lost nearly all its transport, and—this is the point-it must be starving, quite played out and very short of ammunition, and it has only got one line of rail communication, which is cut! The railway's back along here-see?" other nodded. "Of course we cut this line when we retired. In fact, I believe,

It has

The

though I'm not entirely in the confidence of the 'Generalissimo,' that he wished the enemy to advance here. Naturally they have been doing their best to reopen communication, and, being splendid engineers, have done a lot; but so far they have not succeeded, for no trains have gone up, and only a small wagon convoy or two-a mere trifle. The country all round for miles is a desert as far as supplies go, we saw to that, and they must be in a very bad way. We know from spies that they have been for days on reduced rations and have many sick, and their guns are not so busy as they were. My duty, like that of the other raiding parties, for the last five days has been to prevent communication being re-established on the railway. We've cut the line and telegraph-their wireless is not working, for we cap tured all their gear-till we are sick. The bridges are very strongly guarded, and all the petty damage we can do is repaired almost at once, for unluckily it is a double line, and they repair one pair of rails from the other. Altogether, our efforts are futile. Now, I don't believe in your new machines flying about vaguely and killing a few wretched men here and there by a bomb, and I think the chief must agree, as he has sent you here. I believe in attacking some sore spot, and going back to it again and again. The one place where they are vulnerable is at the big broken bridge here, one hundred and thirty odd miles from the army. They're working like devils to repair the break, or rather to cross the river by a temporary bridge first, and they are doing it much too quick. They may be through in a day or two, and if so their army is saved; but if we can delay the repair for three or four days even, I think it is lost! They know all this, and they've made a Port Arthur of the bridge-head, and got a large garrison there. We've tried in

vain to get near it, but the whole place is surrounded by outposts, barbed wire, and all that, and they have lit up the bridge till it looks like a gin palace. My engineer officer, who blew up the bridge originally, spent some hours the night before last watching them from a hill, and, thanks to their lighting, saw a lot. He had three men carrying dynamite with him: one blew himself up, two were captured, and he himself was wounded in the arm. Nothing that walks can get near the bridge. But that's the place to attack-that's their sore spot, and here you areO Beelzebub, Prince of Flies, with your horde! Your duty will be, so long as a single insect remains, to fly to that spot every night and bite or settle or sting, or do what you will to delay the work. Remember, if the bridge is delayed for three days I expect the third army will fall into our mouths like a ripe plum. No food, no ammunition, no horses, they cannot retreat far. Now you have the position."

"Hold on; there is one thing more, and then you will have all my ideas. The aërial attack will be made to-night. Now, how about the news of this reaching the other forces of the enemy?"

"Oh, that seems simple," interposed the youth. "I suppose you'll have every wire cut, and kept cut, so that not a whisper-"

"Not so fast, young fellow. I see you are not yet a psychologist, and do not appreciate the moral factor in war," he answered, quite pleased at catching the youngster. "The attack takes place to-night, and, whether it succeeds

or not, it will certainly cause consternation and alarm at the bridge. I want that consternation and alarm to be transmitted to the starving army. I want the news of the blasting of their hopes, or even of the mysterious attack, exaggerated by fancy and ignorance of its exact nature, to be the last message they receive. Therefore, from daylight till ten to-morrow morning, their wires will not be interfered with; but after that they will be cut, and kept cut, without chance of repair, and we'll stop all messengers, so that after this there will be mysterious silence. That will give time for the news to rankle, for rumors to breed, and for the doomed army to exercise its power of imagination: the silence will assist. To men in their position a word of discouragement is worth an army corps to

us.

Afterwards, if any machines are left unexpended, we might further assist their hunger-bred fantasies by flying over them and dropping a bomb or two, or even by flying over them and showing a light. That's all, now. I'll leave you to arrange details. You come along and show what your box of tricks is like." With that he went out, followed by the youngest officer, who stopped, put his head in at the door, and said, in a whisper of deep admiration, "Perfect devil, ain't he?"

Then followed a long confabulation between the two engineers over the large-scale plan of the bridge, which showed the information gained the previous evening.

"How many, and what size bombs do you carry?" said the man with the wounded arm.

"One each; eight pounds of stuff." "Well, that's not much good unless you get a detonation alongside some vital spot. It won't do the structure of either bridge itself much harm. Can you drop accurately?"

"If the night is as calm as it is now,

we shall be able to drop three bombs out of four on to a patch a little bigger than this room. If the wind rises it is more difficult, because we have to turn up wind to hover, and the balancing is not so easy. You see we have to hover anyway to aim, and that's the difficulty. That's what the secret gear and auxiliary-lifting propeller are forthe thing you called the little 'whingwhang,' I mean."

"Quite. Now I know what sort of thing you can do, and this, I think, is the scheme. You see, their rate of work must absolutely depend on their pile-driver; if that is destroyed they will have to drive by hand, which will take-oh-five or six times as long. Therefore, that's the sorest point in the sore spot. They're working night and day, partly by the aid of their electric light; if that's destroyed it will hamper them, but will not make them take even twice as long, because they have enough flares to carry on the low-level bridge. That's the second sorest point. Agree?" "Beelzebub" nodded. "AS they're so deuced near finishing, we must try and make a dead cert. of stopping them to-night, as, once their bridge is done, we cannot really damage it with these little bombs. Therefore I think you should sail out with all your fleet, and do your devilmost to-night."

"Yes; that's sound. I quite agree."

"Take on the pile-driver first, and if you get that, or burst the boiler. switch off on to the dynamo-house. That will be a much easier target. It's bigger; and if you get only one bomb to burst inside, even without hitting anything, it will probably wreck the show, for one splinter in the moving parts of the engine or dynamo revolving at high speed will cause the whole thing to fly to bits. Two fair shots should do the trick. Can you count on two bull's-eyes out of twelve shots?"

"I think so, if there is no wind.

Can't we set anything alight? I'm stocking a splendid line in incendiary bombs, pretty things of petrol and celluloid, that look like capsules."

"Nothing. I don't know where their ammunition is, though they must have tons there. Hold on,-yes, I saw some mountains of stuff, just here; mark it on the map, will you? That is probably forage. After you have done all you can, and expended all your explosive, sail along and drop a few capsules on to these mounds and over the yard. You may set something alight with any luck. By the way, can you signal to each other?"

"Yes-we carry colored lights and little lamps in our tails. How about finding our way?"

"I was thinking of that. When you get over the hills about eight miles away from the bridge, you can see the glare of it in the sky, and you can steer straight for it. To assist you before you can see this glare, we'll send out a dozen men who will have lights on poles, shaded so as to shine upwards. Will that do?"

"Excellent. And about a place for landing, in case any of us come back,that's the great difficulty. a pond near here?"

Have you

"Yes, about half a mile away. I'll take you to it later."

"That will do. You must put lamps to mark the pond, in case it is still dark when we get back, and, if it is deep, have a man with a raft of sorts to haul us out." "Right."

"Beelzebub" went out to coach his men in the details and finish off the flies. As the other sat still musing, he thought of the feelings of those whose work was going to be so suddenly destroyed, and he had a fellow-feeling of sympathy for them.

curious-looking erections drawn up behind the cow-shed increased. Each was supported by a sort of dwarf bicycle and tied down. They were skeletons, with great flat awnings of membranous material and queer shape stretched taut on light frames stayed with wire. In their spidery appearance they had a remote semblance to reaping-machines. This semblance was borne out by the gaudy fancy of the artist who had painted them, for he had run amuck with his vermilion and blue in a manner usually confined to agricultural machines or toy locomotives. All the metal was painted, and there was no such bright brass or burnished steel about the machinery as might have been expected. Each carried a small silk national flag at one end, and had its name painted on.

"Good heavens! what gingerbreadlooking things!" had been the somewhat uncomplimentary remark of the officer commanding raiders, when he first saw them rigged up.

"Shades of Icarus, Lilienthal, Pilcher, and all others! What d'you expect?" retorted the pseudo-naval man, somewhat nettled. "D'you want tractionengines or the winged bulls of Assurbani-pal?"

It took the foxy one at least five minutes to smooth matters over, and he had to suffer a long technical lecture before he succeeded.

With that the assistants gave the machine a running shove forward, the