THE RED ANT. 
189 
they were thickest. Never in my life have I seen any- 
thing like the frenzy of passion which followed the first 
few puffs. To be attacked by an enemy of which they 
could not lay hold seemed to be really too much for 
them. In their rage they laid hold of each other, and as 
a Red Ant never lets go, they were soon linked together 
by head, legs and antennae into one horrible, red, quivering 
mass. I left these, and going to another place, offered 
the end of my cheroot with about an inch of ash on it. 
Several seized it instantly. The heat killed them, but 
others laid hold of their charred limbs, and by their united 
strength they positively wrenched off the ash, which 
remained hanging from the tent rope by their jaws, 
while scores hurried from both sides, with fiendish fury, 
to help in worrying it. I then presented the hot end. 
The foremost ant offered battle without a moment’s 
hesitation and perished with a fizz, but another and 
another followed, and I saw plainly that I was beaten 
again, for the cheroot was going out, while their fury 
only burned the more fiercely. I retired, and a fte taking 
counsel with the captain of my guard, made a torch of 
straw and patiently smoked them to death all along the 
rope Then I attacked the root of the tree, where they 
