The Hunting Wasps 



it usually arrives at the moment when he is 

 least expecting it, nothing is in readiness for 

 making the most of it. He must then and 

 there improvise his little stock of experiment- 

 ing-material, contrive his plans, evolve his 

 tactics, devise his tricks; and he can think 

 himself lucky if inspiration comes fast enough 

 to allow him to profit by the chance offered. 

 This chance, moreover, hardly ever comes 

 except to those who look for it. You must 

 watch for it patiently for days and days, now 

 on sandy slopes exposed to the full glare of 

 the sun, now on some path walled in by high 

 banks, where the heat is like that of an oven, 

 or again on some sandstone ledge which is 

 none too steady. If it is in your power to 

 set up your observatory under a meagre olive- 

 tree that pretends to protect you from the 

 rays of a pitiless sun, you may bless the fate 

 that treats you as a sybarite: your lot is an 

 Eden. Above all, keep your eyes open. The 

 spot is a good one ; and who knows ? the 

 opportunity may come at any moment. 



It came, late, it is true; but still it came. 

 Ah, if you could now observe at your ease, in 

 the quiet of your study, with nothing to dis- 

 tract your mind from your subject, far from 

 the profane wayfarer who, seeing you so 

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