HAMMOCK NIGHTS 227 
in my direction. Their appraisal was brief; 
with no more than a second’s delay they started 
toward me. I waited until they were well on 
their way, then vigorously twanged the cords 
under them harpwise, sending all the scouts into 
mid-air and headlong down among their fellows. 
So far as I know, this was a revolutionary ma- 
neuver in military tactics, comparable only to the 
explosion of a set mine. But even so, when the 
Jast of this brigade had gone on their menacing, 
pitiless way, and the danger had passed to a new 
province, I could not help thinking of the certain, 
inexorable fate of a man who, unable to move 
from his hammock or to make any defense, should 
be thus exposed to their attack. There could 
be no help for him if but one of this great host 
should scent him out and carry the word back 
to the rank and file. 
It was after this army had been lost in the 
black shadows of the forest floor, that I remem- 
bered those others who had come with them— 
those attendant birds of prey who profit by the 
evil work of this legion. For, hovering over 
them, sometimes a little in advance, there had 
been a flying squadron of ant-birds and others 
which had come to feed, not on the ants, but on 
