288 NATURE’S CRAFTSMEN 
For it would be as easy to find a needle in a hay¬ 
stack as it would to spot the lowly door again un¬ 
aided! Her tunnel is a well, about three inches 
in depth, sunk straight down into the bank along 
the creek, where there is a sufficient mixture of 
clay and sand to make drilling easy. . . . 
Ah! Go carefully. This is better fortune than I 
really expected.” 
And it was providential surely! For as they 
rounded the bend, behold! a large wasp rose from 
her labors and sailed away. They had come 
straight upon Mrs. Hairy at work in the excava¬ 
tion of another cell, and it needed but a moment 
for them to drop carefully down within range. 
Finding everything quiet, the little driller soon 
returned to her task, and with her jaws for a 
pick, and her sturdy feet for both rake and shovel, 
how the dirt did fly! Soon she was quite lost to 
sight, but there was no abatement in her zeal, 
and presently as they waited in almost absolute 
stillness, there arose from the depths of the well 
a curious faint humming sound—the noise made 
by her little drill as she ground around some ob¬ 
stacle. “ A bit of stone likely,” Uncle John ex¬ 
plained, and shortly the truth of this supposition 
was proved, when Mrs. Hairy appeared at the 
mouth of the excavation and tossed out a bit of 
quartz. 
From time to time thereafter other bits were 
