“’Cause in about ten minutes, if we don’t do something to keep ‘em off, the ants is going to be as thick in this tree as they are below,” was the sharp reply. “Look down there now. They’re coming already. Jack, get down below and lend the professor a hand to keep them off.”
Jack did as he was told. He saw that the captain had conceived some plan of using the insect killer in case of an attack by the ants; and he soon realized that the situation called for quick and decisive action. Within a few minutes of his joining the professor, it was all he could do to brush back the invaders. His hands were stung fearfully; but both he and the professor kept bravely at their task.
“Keep ‘em back! I’ll be thar in a minute,” hailed Captain Sprowl, while a strong smell of chemicals filled the air.
With hands that bled from the tiny, powerful forceps of the invading ants, Jack and the savant kept at their task. But it was growing too much for them. In overwhelming numbers the tiny creatures were swamping them like an approaching tide.
“Hurry up!” cried Jack, “we can’t do much more.”
“Himmel! Dey are gedding vurse undt vurse!” roared the professor. “Ach! mein poor handts!”
“Never mind your hands,” admonished Jack, “we must keep them back.”
But every second the tree trunk grew more thickly covered with the ferocious little creatures. Beneath the circle that Jack and the professor managed to keep clear, they swarmed and surged furiously. Escape was out of the question. The travelers were going through an experience that has befallen many a castaway of the jungle. Bones have been found by searching parties, picked clean of flesh and bleaching, after the passing of an army of the marching ants.