The ants had not said a word to Daddy as he passed their home and climbed up the cherry tree. They allowed him to go unharmed. But while he was high up in the tree chatting with Rusty Wren, ants hurried back to their stronghold from every direction. And in a surprisingly short time the whole army was ready and waiting—waiting for Daddy Longlegs to descend to the ground.
When he had finished his call, Daddy Longlegs left the cherry tree and started homeward. But he had not gone more than a few inches when the ant army sprang out of the ground as if by magic.
The soldiers were all around Daddy before he realized what was happening. And then he saw that it was too late for[p. 84] him to turn back and try to escape by climbing the tree again.
Being a timid person, he took fright at once. And looking up toward Rusty Wren's house he cried, "Help! help!" in a terror-stricken voice.
But Daddy's shrieks brought no answer. Rusty Wren had flown away to find food for his hungry children. The ant sentinels had seen him leave. And they knew that they had nothing to fear from that quarter.
As the army closed in around him, Daddy Longlegs thought that he had never been in such danger in all his life before. The army was so near him that he could have seen the whites of the soldier's eyes—if they had had any whites.