She was no sooner married than she
slew her husband--a timid thing smaller than she--and ate him at
one meal. You know the ants are a busy people. This road was
probably a thoroughfare for their freight,--eggs and cattle and
wild rice. I'll warrant she used to lie and wait for them; and woe
to the little traveller if she caught him unawares, for she could
nip him in two with a single thrust of her knives. Then she, would
seize the egg he bore and make off with it. Now the ants are
cunning. They found her downstairs and cut her off from her home
and drove her away into the grass jungle. I've no doubt she faced
a score of them, but, being a swift climber, with lots of rope in
her pocket, was able to get away. The soldier ants began to beat
the jangle. They separated, content to meet her singly, knowing
she would refuse to fight if confronted by more than one. And you
know what happened to her."
All that afternoon they spent in the city of the field. The life
of the birds in the great maple interested them most of all. In
the evening he played checkers with Polly and told her of school
life in the village of Hillsborough--the work and play of the
students.
"Oh! I do wish I could go," said she, presently, with a deep sigh.
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