A TOUR THROUGH A TEXAS ANT-HILL. 253 



Two men were detailed for the digging, one to the 

 work of brushing olf the ants with leafy branches and 

 wisps of grass. Two trenches were made ; one ten 

 feet long and five feet deep, and a second at right 

 angles to it, and wide enough to allow free entrance for 

 purposes of study. We were not disappointed in our 

 calculation as to the reception which the ants would 

 give us. The swift use of the spade and the general 

 convulsion of their emmet world did, indeed, daze thexn 

 for a little while , but they were not long in rallying. 

 Hundreds — thousands — hundreds of thousands poured 

 out of the excavations. I never saw anything like it. 

 I was amazed at the extraordinary number of creatures 

 inhabiting that one hill. The knight of the whisk was 

 overwhelmed with the duty of keeping the assailing 

 legions from his comrades of the spade. I came to his 

 help. We were both driven to our utmost. The dig- 

 gers were literally covered with ants ; and when the 

 insects liad mounted as far as their necks, they were 

 compelled to leap from the trench, and join their own 

 labors with ours in freeing them from the attacking 

 hordes." 



"It does seem too bad," exclaimed Aunt Hannah, 

 " that thee should have felt bound so to destroy the 

 poor creatures ! Didn't thy conscience hurt thee some 

 for such wholesale spoliation and killing ?" 



" Not in the least— certainly in the case of cutting- 

 ants, who are fearful pests to the farmers, as we shall 

 see by-and-by. Do you feel any scruples at your hus- 

 band's slaughter of the potato-beetles?" 



