WILDWOOD WAYS 



roar of his machinery, even at slowest 

 speed, must have given them ample warn- 

 ing. It was like a freighter seeking to 

 capture torpedo boats. They could turn 

 in a circle of a third the radius of his and 

 could fly three miles to his one, yet he 

 was never a minute in getting one. 



I think they simply took him for an en- 

 larged edition of their own kind and never 

 knew the difference until his mandibles 

 gripped them; He used to go bumbling 

 and butting about the tent in a near- 

 sighted excitement that was humorous to 

 the onlooker. He did n't know a fly from 

 a hole in the tentpole, and there was a 

 tack in the ridgepole whose head he cap- 

 tured in exultation and let go in a sort of 

 slow wonder every time he came in. He 

 got to know me as part of the scenery and 

 did n't mind lighting on top of my head 

 in his quest, and he never thought of 

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