ilent! Were they dead? Surely so, thought Leon.

He stood gazing at them for some minutes. Not a motion of their bodies
could be perceived. Surely they no longer lived! But, then, what could
have killed them? There was no snake to be seen; no animal of any kind
except themselves! Had they been taken with some sudden disease,--some
kind of convulsions that had ended fatally? This seemed the most
probable thing, judging from the odd manner in which they had acted.
Maybe they had eaten some sort of plant that had poisoned them!

These conjectures passed rapidly through the mind of Leon. Of course,
he resolved to satisfy himself as to the cause of their death, if dead
they actually were. He began to draw nearer, making his advances with
stealth and caution--as he was still apprehensive about the snake.

After he had made a few paces in a forward direction, he began to
perceive something moving around the bodies of the animals. Snakes?
No. What then? A few paces nearer. See! the whole ground is in
motion. The bodies of the ais, though dead, are covered with living,
moving objects! Ha! _it is a "chacu" of the white ants_.

Leon now comprehended the whole affair. The ground was literally alive
with the terrible _termites_. They had made their foray, or "chacu," as
it is called, from the neighbouring cones; they had attacked the
helpless ais, and put them to death, with their poisonous stings!
Already they were tearing them to pieces, and bearing them off to their
dark caves! So thick were they on the bodies of the animals, that the
latter had suddenly changed their colour, and now appeared to be nothing
more than living heaps of crawling insects!

It was a hideous sight to behold, and Leon felt his flesh creep as he
looked upon it. Still he felt a curiosity to witness the result, and he
stood watching the busy crowd that had gathered about the ais. He had
heard strange accounts of these white ants; how that, in a few minutes,
they will tear the carcasses of large animals to pieces, and carry them
away to their dens; and he was determined to prove the truth of this by
observation. He did not go any nearer, for he was not without some
dread of these ugly creatures; but, happening to find himself beside a
small tree, with low horizontal branches, he climbed up, and sat down
upon one of the branches, resting his feet upon another. He was
inclined to take the thing as easily as possible. His perch command