The Sacred Beetle 



summit of the ball. Will the Scarab rouse 

 him? Will he talk to him like this : 



"What are you doing there, lazybones? 

 Come and look at the thing: it's broken 

 down! " 



Nothing proves that he does anything of 

 the kind, for I see him steadily shaking the 

 unshakable, inspecting his stationary ma- 

 chine on every side, while all this time his 

 companion sits resting. At long last, how- 

 ever, the latter becomes aware that some- 

 thing unusual is happening; he is apprised 

 of it by his mate's restless tramping and by 

 the immobility of the ball. He comes down, 

 therefore, and in his turn examines the ma- 

 chine. Double harness does no better than 

 single harness. This is beginning to look 

 serious. The little fans of the Beetles' an- 

 tennae open and shut, open again, betraying 

 by their agitation acute anxiety. Then a 

 stroke of genius ends the perplexity: 



" Who knows what's underneath? " 



They now start exploring below the ball; 

 and a little digging soon reveals the presence 

 of the pin. They recognize at once that the 

 trouble is there. 



If I had had a voice in their deliberations, 

 I should have said: 



"We must make a hole in the ball and 

 27 



