144 WAYS OF THE SIX-FOOTED 



of nearly two feet. He is now as industrious as he was 

 shiftless before, and it takes him only a few weeks to 

 climb out of the depths into which he had fallen 

 through nearly seventeen years of inertia. If it should 

 chance that he reaches the siirface of the ground before 

 he is ready to enjoy life, he hits upon a device for con- 

 tinuing his way upward without danger to himself. 

 Sometimes his fellows have been known to crawl out of 

 their burrows and seek safety under logs and stakes 

 until the time came to gain their wiags. But this is a 

 very dangerous proceeding, since there are many watch- 

 ful eyes in forests which belong to creatures who are 

 very fond of bits of soft white meat. So our cicada, still 

 a hermit, may build him a tall cell out of mud above 

 ground. How he builds this " hut," " cone," or " tur- 

 ret," as it is variously called, we do not know, but it is 

 often two inches in height, and he keeps himself in the 

 top of it. Under ordinary circumstances our cicada 

 would not build a hut but remain in his burrow. 



Finally there comes a fateful evening when, as soon as 

 the sun has set, he claws his way through the top of his 

 mud turret or out of his burrow and looks about him 

 for further means of gratifying his ambitions to climb. 

 A bush, a tree, the highest thing within his range of vis- 

 ion, attracts his attention, and he hurries toward it. It 

 may be he finds himself in company with many of his 



