NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



Amid this seething mass the slaves are moving. They 

 are the glossy blacks that Huber's Amazons most af- 

 fect for servitude — the Fuscous ants of a close Ameri- 

 can variety {Formica suhsericea). Some of these are 

 placidly at work on the daily round of duty. They 

 carry out earth pellets and bring in supplies, apparently 

 as separate from the warlike commotion around them 

 as if they were a sect of protesting non-combatants. 

 Others run about under the feverish agitation that stirs 

 the mustering combatants, whom they frequently salute. 

 Indeed, they seem at times to be egging them on, like 

 women of a martial kraal or clan cheering their fighting 

 kindred to foray and fray. 



At last the muster is complete. Mysteriously but 

 effectively the signal ''Forward!" is given, and the 

 column moves from the hill. There is no regular align- 

 ment, but a show of solidarity, a holding of the ranks 

 within close compass and touch — a "route-step," in fact. 

 There is no general; there are no subordinate officers; 

 but such is the sympathetic unity that they seem to 

 move in response to one will and command. If every 

 warrior is a law unto himself, the law so binds and ani- 

 mates and compels all alike that the ends of an organized 

 cohort are served. This enunet army actualizes the pro- 

 verbial picture of military absurdity — an army wherein 

 all are brigadiers! The function of commander lodges 

 in the whole column. It owns a corporate leadership, a 

 telepathic control. Here, also, Solomon's description of 

 ant operations is accurate: there is no guide, ruler, or 

 overseer. And this comnumal generalship has therein 

 no note of anarchy. Without discord or division it 

 guides directly and steadily to the common weal. A 

 few Fuscans may accompany the column or escort it 



72 



