Urged on by their leaders, the ant soldiers dashed upon meek, frightened Daddy Longlegs. On all sides they crowded about him. And as he looked down at his swarming enemies and saw how fiercely they rushed at him, his knees began to tremble just as they did when a strong wind was blowing.
Poor Daddy stood helplessly waiting for the worst to happen. He expected any moment to feel himself pulled down and thrown upon the ground. But strange to say, in spite of the uproar and the mad[p. 86] charge of Daddy's enemies, nothing of the kind occurred. Soon it became clear that the ant army was in some sort of trouble. Although the leaders drove the soldiers at Daddy Longlegs with frantic cries, the army merely surged backwards and forwards around him.
And Daddy had not received as much as a slap on the wrist from a single one of the attacking party.
Seeing that his forces were making no headway against the enemy, General Antenna, who commanded the entire army, called to one of the captains.
"What's the trouble, Captain Kidd?" the General demanded. "Our soldiers don't seem to be doing any damage."
Of course, you must click your heels together when a General speaks to you. And naturally that took Captain Kidd some time to do, because it is no easy[p. 87] matter to click your heels together when you have six feet.
Perhaps it was only to be expected that General Antenna should quickly become impatient.
"Why don't you answer?" the General shouted. "We'll lose the battle if we're not careful!"
Then Captain Kidd had to stop and salute the General. And that took time, too. For how could anyone touch his cap when he had lost it somewhere?
Luckily, General Antenna soon saw what was the matter, and said: