THIRD BATTLE WITH EYELESS ROBBERS 239 



could be reached. Several times I saw our ants drag out 

 a Robber and bite it through the big nerve under the 

 shoulders until the enemy was stone dead. 



ALBERT. Yes. I saw some of ours kill a Robber single- 

 handed. Ours didn't lose an ant this evening, and the 

 Robbers didn't lose one in the battle this morning. The 

 enemy numbered five to one against ours this morning, 

 and ours numbered five to one against theirs this evening. 

 It makes a difference. 



CECIL. The enemy killed ours this morning mainly by 

 clipping off feelers, and ours killed the enemy this evening 

 by crushing the bodies near the front legs. But the deaths 

 stood 250 to 50 (48) against us for the day. 



DOROTHY. I see ours have laid the 48 dead Robbers 

 around the cave door, following their practice as seen after 

 the battle a month ago. 



FLORENCE. Say, I wonder if there is room in that 

 little cave for 12,000 loads of grain along with the 2,000 

 ants. 



KENNETH. I guess my 8-gallon Turkish bath this 

 morning must have killed some of the enemy if only 48 

 were left this evening. 



FLORENCE. We'll not worry any more about our ants 

 starving. From your figures, they like wild oats and salt- 

 grass best, and just look at the wild oats around here. 

 You won't have to sow any, will you, boys? 



DOROTHY. Twelve thousand seed kernels, six for each 

 of our workers. I hope that hot water didn't wet the 

 grain or cook it. 



ALBERT. Each ant has about four times its weight in 

 grain flour. This is enough to last some time if it takes 

 me a month to eat my own weight. 



