THE MINERS 277 



she brought a quantity of fine grains of dirt 

 to the spot, and picking up a small pebble 

 in her mandibles, used it as a hammer in 

 pounding them down with rapid strokes, 

 thus making this spot as hard and firm as 

 the surrounding surface. Before we could 

 recover from our astonishment at this per- 

 formance, she had dropped her stone and 

 was bringing more earth. 

 We then threw ourselves 

 down on the ground that 

 not a motion might be lost, 

 and in a moment we saw 

 her pick up the pebble, and again pound 

 the earth into place with it, hammering 

 now here and now there, until all was level. 

 Once more the whole process was repeated, 

 and then the little creature, all unconscious 

 of the commotion that she had aroused in 

 our minds, unconscious, indeed, of our very 

 existence, and intent only on doing her 

 work and doing it well, gave one final com- 

 prehensive glance around and flew away." 



