It was funny -- wasn't it,
Diamond?"
"No," said Diamond. He was going to say that that was very
much the sort of thing at the back of the north wind; but he
checked himself and only added, "All right. I don't see it. I
don't see why the inside should depend on the outside. It ain't
so with the crabs. They creep out of their outsides and make new
ones. Mr. Raymond told me so."
"I don't see what that has got to do with it," said Nanny.
"Then go on with your story, please," said Diamond. "What
did you come to, after going through all those winding passages
into the heart of the moon?"
"I didn't say they were winding passages. I said they were
long and narrow. They didn't wind. They went by corners."
"That's worth knowing," remarked Diamond. "For who knows
how soon he may have to go there? But the main thing is, what
did you come to at last?"
"We came to a small box against the wall of a tiny room.
The little man told me to put my ear against it. I did so, and
heard a noise something like the purring of a cat, only not so
loud, and much sweeter. 'What is it?' I asked. 'Don't you know
the sound?' returned the little man. 'No,' I answered. 'Don't
you know the sound of bees?' he said. I had never heard bees,
and could not know the sound of them.
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