182 EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 



a pair of hands, and long, mobile arms, which 

 could quickly and skilfully pluck an attacking 

 ant from any part of their anatomy. 



The strangest of all the tenants were the tiny, 

 amber-colored roaches which clung frantically to 

 the heads of the great soldier ants, or scurried 

 over the tumultuous mounds, searching for a 

 crevice sanctuary. They were funny, fat little 

 beings, wholly blind, yet supremely conscious of 

 the danger that threatened, and with only the 

 single thought of getting below the surface as 

 quickly as possible. The Attas had very few 

 insect guests, but this cockroach is one which 

 had made himself perfectly at home. Through 

 century upon century he had become more and 

 more specialized and adapted to Atta life, eyes 

 slipping until they were no more than faint 

 specks, legs and antennas changing, gait becom- 

 ing altered to whatever speed and carriage best 

 suited little guests in big underground halls and 

 galleries. He and his race had evolved unseen 

 and unnoticed even by the ]Maxim policemen. 

 But when nineteen hundred humanly historical 

 years had passed, a man with a keen sense of 

 fitness named him Little Friend of the Attas; 

 and so for a few more years, until scientists give 



