CHAPTER X 



THE COMMON WASP 



TN September, with my little son Paul, who 

 *■• lends me his good sight and his artless 

 attention, undisturbed as yet by anxious 

 thoughts, I sally forth at a venture, quest- 

 ioning the edges of the foot-paths with my 

 glance. At twenty yards' distance my com- 

 panion has just seen rising from the ground, 

 shooting up and flying away, now one and 

 now another swiftly moving object, as though 

 some tiny crater in eruption in the grass were 

 hurling forth projectiles. 



11 Wasps'-nest! " he cries. " Sure as any- 

 thing, a Wasps'-nest ! " 



We approach discreetly, fearing to attract 

 the attention of the fierce community. It is 

 indeed a Wasps'-nest. At the entrance to the 

 vestibule, a round opening large enough to 

 admit a man's thumb, the inmates come and 

 go, busily passing one another in opposite di- 

 rections. Brrr! A shudder runs through 

 me at the thought of the unpleasant time 

 which we should have were we to draw the 

 attack of the irascible soldiery by too close an 

 240 



