Wasps and Ants 5 1 



when it came to cutting the gallery, and hol- 

 lowing the nest proper, they crawled with the 

 big bits to the mouth of the nest and dropped 

 them outside, then set their wings buzzing so 

 strongly the fine dust was fanned out. 



They were black and gold like humble bees, 

 only smaller. They lined their wooden walls 

 with bits cut from flower-petals, most gener- 

 ally roses — at least Joe believed so, he had 

 found bits of rose-petals dropped below the 

 nest. And when he had split up one of the 

 condemned rails, he had found some wooden 

 chambers empty, others full of darkish sticky 

 stuffs something like bee-bread, meant no 

 doubt for the nourishing of another season's 

 sweat-bees. 



He was very curious about the death- 

 watches that lived inside the house, hollow- 

 ing out winding homes for themselves in the 

 oak logs of the big dining room. But all he 

 was ever permitted to find out was that the 

 insects looked like yellow-jackets, only stouter. 

 His mother hated to hear the creatures named 

 — her black mammy had told her in child- 

 hood that they " knew when death was ridin' 

 and would keep it away from houses where 

 they were let alone." 



So when he grew tired of lying upon the 

 piazza floor beside his baby brother, Billy-Boy, 

 his head on Billy-Boy's sheepskin, his eyes fast 



