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 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.

XVIII

THE ANT ARMY

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 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 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 l