233 
A BAND OF PIRATES 
creatures, all of an inch and a half in length, were 
diving like schoolboys into the depths of the pool. 
“Water beetles!” exclaimed Uncle John 
briefly. “ See the little bubbles of oxygen at the 
edge of their chests, shining like little silver 
breastplates? That’s what makes them so agile 
in the water. Now watch! ” 
His good baseball arm sent the little caddis 
boat spinning lightly along on the top of the 
water to sink just short of the busy little divers. 
Instantly one and all were at attention, and they 
waited with a tenseness which failed to detect the 
watchers alongshore. Nor were they kept long 
in suspense. Evidently the caddis worm was 
puzzled at such a strange procedure, and in due 
course it came laboriously up a weed stalk near 
at hand to reconnoiter. A trifle dazed it must 
have been; for, ere it was aware, it had launched 
out into the very midst of its enemies. Quick as 
they were to seize him, the caddis worm was even 
quicker; indeed he jerked back into his house so 
quickly that, as Alice observed, they almost heard 
the door slam! 
But the pirates were in no wise daunted; 
plainly they had often met with just such a re¬ 
buff. All of them bent to the task of breaking 
the small boat in pieces, pulling viciously this 
way and that, and striving desperately until there 
was a sharp rending, and the tiny shells which 
