"We shall have to try the canoes again, Hugh," said he.
"It would be all very good fun," said Gerald, "if it was not such hard work. And it's little use hoisting a sail, for ten to one we shall have a contrary wind."
"I hardly think the odds are so great as that against a fair wind my boy," answered Arthur; "but at all events hard work is better than hard fare. So we must just get such a night's rest as the mosquitos will permit us, and then try a bit of coasting in the morning. We can hardly come on a more cheerless coast than this."
"What in the world is that before us, Arthur?" exclaimed Hugh. "This coast must be inhabited, for this erection is certainly the work of man's hand. It is one of the pyramids of Egypt in miniature."
"No, Hugh, man's hand has never meddled with this structure," replied Arthur. "I recognize it from description as one of the marvels of insect industry—an ant-hill. Observe the skill and ingenuity that must have been displayed to construct this huge abode for a countless nation. This firm yellow clay is now so hardened that without some tools we could scarcely overthrow it."
"I see no entrance," said Hugh, "is it possible that it is inhabited?"
"Look here, close to the ground," answered Arthur, "at this tiny speck of an aperture, from which I have just seen a diminutive insect emerge! and it has been remarked, that these creatures, the smallest of their species, erect themselves the most lofty abodes. This must be eight feet in height, and wonderful as it appears externally as the work of that minute creature, the interior, we read, is still more astonishing—a miracle of perfection in art."
"Let us open it, Arthur, and have a peep at the curious little nation," said Gerald.
"And thus destroy the labor of thousands!" answered Arthur. "No, Gerald, you would surely never wish to be so wantonly destructive. We had better remember the advice of Solomon, 'Consider its ways, and be wise.'"
"Margaret will laugh at our exploits as foragers," said Hugh. "We have certainly seen an ant-hill, but we have not even found an egg to carry home. I wish we could pick up any token of life or vegetation in this desert. Let us make a little tour, Arthur. I have my eye on our land-mark, that tall, bare, spectral mangrove."