The Sacred Beetle and Others 



Meanwhile her helpful legs are working with 

 a will, scratching around the yawning 

 aperture to obtain the wherewithal to stop it. 

 But the materials, half-dried this time, are 

 hard and unyielding. They are slow in 

 coming; and the quantity is too small for 

 so big a hole. No matter: what with the 

 grub continuing to shoot forth its putty and 

 the other mixing It with her own scrapings, 

 to give it consistency, and afterwards spread- 

 ing it, the opening closes up. 



The thankless task has taken a whole 

 afternoon. It is a good lesson for me. I 

 shall be more careful In future. I shall 

 choose softer pills and, Instead of opening 

 them by removing the materials, I shall 

 simply lift the wall by shreds until the grub is 

 laid bare. The mother will only have to 

 flatten down those shreds and solder them to- 

 gether. 



I act accordingly with a third pill, which 

 is very neatly repaired In a short time. Not 

 a trace remains of the ravages caused by my 

 penknife. I continue In the same way with 

 a fourth, a fifth and so on, at intervals long 

 enough to give the mother a rest. I stop 

 when the receptacle Is full, looking like a pot 

 of plums. The contents amount to twelve 

 pieces, of which ten have come from the out- 

 230 



