68 EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 



Now that I had the opportunity of quietly 

 watching the long, hurrying columns, I came 

 hour by hour to feel a greater intimacy, a deeper 

 enthusiasm for their vigor of existence, their un- 

 faihng life at the highest point of possibility of 

 achievement. In every direction my former des- 

 ultory observations were discounted by still 

 greater accomplishments. Elsewhere I have re- 

 corded the average speed as two and a half feet 

 in ten seconds, estimating this as a mile in three 

 and a half hours. An observant colonel in the 

 American army has laid bare my congenitally 

 hopeless mathematical inaccuracy, and corrected 

 this to five hours and fifty-two seconds. Now, 

 however, I established a wholly new record for 

 the straight-away dash for home of the army ants. 

 With the handicap of gravity pulling them down, 

 the ants, both laden and unburdened, averaged 

 ten feet in twenty seconds, as they raced up the 

 post. I have now called in an artist and an 

 astronomer to verify my results, these two being 

 the only living beings within hailing distance as I 

 write, except a baby red howling monkey curled 

 up in my lap, and a toucan, sloth, and green boa, 

 beyond my laboratory table. Our results are 

 identical, and I can safely announce that the 



