304 Sporting Sketches 



of wings replaced the hairy stumps he had first 

 worn. He could run with astonishing speed, and 

 did not hesitate to follow an insect skip skip 

 skip, though the chase led him yards from his 

 mother. As yet no startling adventure had befallen 

 him, for his brief experience had been one of peace 

 and plenty; but mischief was brewing. It came 

 without warning, and just how it happened he never 

 knew. He had spied an ant crossing a long, narrow 

 strip of dusty, worn ground, and he dashed with 

 electric speed after the prize. The ant trotted into 

 a wee hole, around which lay a ring of sand grains, 

 and Robert at once got busy. Three kicks of his 

 nimble feet scattered the sand in as many directions, 

 and instantly his stout little bill was pickaxing at 

 the hole. He knew that red ants and white eggs 

 lay just below, and so eager in his work was he that 

 he never looked up till he felt the earth tremble 

 under a mighty measured thud-thudding, the like of 

 which he never had heard. 



Out of the corner of an eye he caught a glimpse 

 of an awful shape which towered high in air, and 

 instantly his bent legs straightened and he shot 

 head-first for the grass, which he failed to reach by 

 a few inches. He fell like a frog all stretched out on 

 the bare dust, but once there he remained as motion- 

 less as a dead leaf. As he lay, he heard his mother 

 utter what was to him a new cry and it said " hide," 

 but he already had done his best in that direction, and 

 without her telling he knew the slightest motion 

 would be perilous. His little heart was beating 

 over-fast, and his eyes were wikl with fear, but he 

 never attempted to straighten a toe that was uncom- 



