through the distant entrance.

"The moonlight!" Maya said to herself. She began to creep
cautiously toward the exit, cowering close in the deep shadows
of the walls, until she reached the high, narrow passageway that
led from the hall to the opening through which the light shone.
She heaved a deep sigh. Far, far away glimmered a star.

"Liberty!" she thought.

The passageway was quite bright. Softly, stepping oh so very
softly, Maya crept on. The portal came nearer and nearer.

"If I fly now," she thought, "I'll be out in one dash." Her
heart pounded as if ready to burst.

But there in the shadow of the doorway stood a sentinel leaning
against a column.

Maya stood still, rooted to the spot. Vanished all her hopes.
Gone the chance of escape. There was no getting by that
formidable figure. What was she to do? Best go back where she
had come from. But the sight of the giant in the doorway held
her in a spell. He seemed to be lost in revery. He stood gazing
out upon the moon-washed landscape, his head tilted slightly
forward, his chin propped on his hand. How his golden cuirass
gleamed in the moonlight! Something in the way he stood there
stirred the little bee's emotions.

"He looks so sad," she thought. "How handsome he is, how
superbly he holds himself, how proudly his armor shines! He
never removes it, neither by day nor by night. He is always
ready to rob and fight and die...."

Little Maya quite forgot that this man was her enemy. Ah, how
often the same thing had happened to her--that the goodness of
her heart and her delight in beauty made her lose all sense of
danger.

A golden dart of light shot from the bandit's helmet. He must
have turned his head.

"My God," whispered Maya, "this is the end of me!"

But the sentinel said quietly:

"Just come here, child."

"What!" cried Maya. "You saw me?"

"All the time, child. You bit a hole through the wall, then you
crept along--crept along--tucking yourself very neatly into
the dark places--until you reached the spot where you're
standing. Then you saw me, and you lost heart. Am I right?"

"Yes," said Maya, "quite right." Her whole body shook with
terror. The sentinel, then, had seen her the entire time. She
remembered having heard how keen were the senses of these clever
freebooters.

"What are you doing here?" he asked good-humoredly.

Maya still thought he looked sad. His mind seemed to be far away
and not to concern itself with what was of s