GRASSHOPPERS 87 



"What are you going to do; what are you going 

 to do ? Are you planning to dig a well ? " asked Mr. 

 Blake. 



"No/' Willie replied; "we want to dig up some of 

 those grasshopper eggs/' - and then they stopped as 

 if stunned, watching their father laughing. He 

 almost doubled up several times, and the boys won- 

 dered if he would ever get over it. When at last he 

 seemed to conquer his laughing, a glance at the 

 boys, armed with spade and pickaxe, would set him 

 off again, and soon the boys found themselves joining 

 in the laugh, although they did not know what it 

 was about. 



"Boys," their father said at last, "when you want 

 to pick your teeth after dinner, would you take a 

 fence-rail? If you want to shoot a squirrel, would 

 you use a cannon? The only tool you need for 

 finding the grasshopper eggs is the small blade of a 

 pocket knife, because the eggs are not more than a 

 fourth of an inch below the top of the earth. Put 

 those tools back where you got them and don't be 

 borrowing trouble." 



The boys did what he told them. When they had 

 disappeared in the tool-shed, they looked about as 

 sheepish as ever any boys looked. 



"Freddie," said Willie, "we might have known that 

 those eggs could not be very deep, especially when you 

 consider the size of the insects." 



