Four other Necrophori, buried here and there under a little sand, comrades and acquaintances, helpers of the day before, were occupying the same cage; and not one of those concerned thought of summoning them to give assistance.

Despite their extreme embarrassment, the owners of the Mouse accomplished their task to the end, without the least help, though this could have been so easily requisitioned.
Being three, one might say, they considered themselves sufficiently strong; they needed no one else to lend them a hand.

The objection does not hold good.

On many occasions and under conditions even more difficult than those presented by a stony soil, I have again and again seen isolated Necrophori exhausting themselves in striving against my artifices; yet not once did they leave their work to recruit helpers.
Collaborators, it is true, did often arrive, but they were convoked by their sense of smell, not by the first possessor.

They were fortuitous helpers; they were never called in.