130 The Hitntmg PVasps 



before it presents itself again. And, as 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 im- 

 provise his little stock of experimenting 

 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 busily 



