THE MASONS 195 



with brown wasps standing on their heads 

 and waving their tails in the air. 



The uninitiated observer might imagine 

 this to be some strange wasp-rite, but it 

 is merely Madam Pelopaeus getting a load 

 of mortar with which to build her walls. 



Often she spends considerable time run- 

 ning up and down the bank 

 looking for just the right spot 

 from which to gather her load. 

 And sometimes she starts to 

 dig it out from several differ- 

 ent places, abandoning them 1_ 

 one by one until she finds mud -^ '- 

 of a consistency quite to her liking. 



Occasionally she strikes a large grain of 

 sand or a little pebble, and this causes her 

 to use what one fears is rather strong wasp 

 language. She flirts her wings, buzzes 

 vehemently, and flings the obstruction 

 away in a manner that well expresses her 

 feelings, if wasp gestures mean anything 

 at all. 



