OUR ANTS. ENEMIES 253 



from home. The workers would pull and push them, run 

 over them, and bite their feet until they would fly away. 



ALBERT. Some were willing to go, some refused and 

 forced themselves back into the nest, others couldn't fly 

 and were teased almost to death, and some ran away. The 

 branch colonies had all moved into the main nest to help 

 get the kings and queens off. 



FLORENCE. What did you boys learn when you visited 

 the man that lives down the canyon? 



ALBERT. He asked me how ants get under a plate that 

 sits on a flat surface, and I couldn't tell him. Then I asked 

 him if he wasn't afraid and didn't need a watch dog. He 

 said he had two of them crickets. 



FLORENCE. Crickets? 



ALBERT. Yes. He says that one cricket at the front 

 steps, and one at the back, sing all night, but always stop 

 vhen anything comes near. He says if he had an airedale 

 it would depend on the crickets. 



CECIL. You know that rabbits skip out when the birds 

 fly, and they say the moose runs when the moose bird rises 

 from the brush. 



ALBERT. The man said he put some kerosene on some 

 plant lice, and they swelled up. Of course I didn't know 

 why. 



FLORENCE. When, according to the books, do robber 

 ants make their raids? 



CECIL. In the late summer or early autumn, and 

 usually begin about four o'clock in the evening. The last 

 raid made on our ants began in the morning, or else it 

 lasted all night. 



KENNETH. Our colony is not a large one, and it has 

 been having such hard luck; it's not increased in numbers 



