The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-28

4 MANS FtAaeUt sA7Tie WITH AN
ARMY OF ANTS. y y {,

ARMY OF ANTS. &.
It Locked Fer . Tinae ~ Though HSs
DsoM Wss sealed, when . Happy
Inspiration Delivered Him From
the HORRIBLE Fate That Threatened.
Walter whitestons, tho explorer, mar
r6w1y escaped horrible fate, that Of be-
ing devoured alive by an army Of ants In
South america. He said:
II had heard much Of the ant. army
from the natives, and ! always received
their statements cum grano sails. 1t
sounded 90 very remarkable that ants In
however largo numbers, could attack and
devour gorged snakes Of large size and
overpower forest creatures possessing the
strength Of hundreds Of ants But I
found alt this to bo true a. also the state
nent that ants parade through tho forest
In regular military formation.
II had bsoa exploring q forest I'm
South America and had established my
glade about so feet wids when I became
aware Of the approach Of moving mass
Of insects whose nature could not at hrst
determine, but which spread from side to
side Of tho open space In which stood and
whose tanks were lost in the bush. At
FIRST watched tho oncoining army with
lazy indifference. Only when the insects
were close 10 me did thu stories Of the na-
tives regarding the terrible power Of the
ant army fash into my recollection. Then
jumped up In hurry, gathered together
my travelling equipments and prepared to
decamp. At the same instant I became
aware, from sharp nipping pains In the
lower extremities, that the vanguard OF
the army had reached my outstretched
limbs and begun the attack. glanced
hastily around me and, horror Of horrors,
found that tho devilish insects had me in
circle, cutting of all chance Of escape
except through their ranks With the
skill Of expert tacticians they had delayed
attack from the front until tho wings had
had time to march ahead and meet Ia the
rear. The cleverness Of tho little fiends
struck me even in that dreadful moment
when the danger Of my position became
every moment more apparent and the
creeping regiments were mounting up my
limbs, sinking nhmberlcss hungry beaks
into my skin and biting like myriad Of
tiny demons.
II danced madly with the pain, crush
ing hundreds Of the ants ct every step, but
there were q thousand to take the place of
every hundred killed / rolled up my
trousers and tried TO get at the ANTS. I
brushed them off In clusters, but while
swept them from one side they climbed up
the other, biting furiously, until the blood
ran down my limbs, providing feast Of
which the terrible insects greedily availed
themselves. Desperate and half crazed by
tho pain and my own helplessness, tried
to rid myself of the insects by scooping
them off with both hands. 1t was the
worst move could have made, for the
ants settled ON my hands in hundreds, and
I found that my condition was worse than
ever.
"Have you ever heard of the Hindoo
manner OF capturing tigers by strewing
around his lair leaves saturated with o
sticky mixtures The tiger gets the sticky
leaves on his paws, tries to wipe them of
by rubbing his paws across his face, gets
the sticky leaves in his eyes and mouth
and rolls over to rid his eyes Of the leaves,
gets covered with them from nose to tail
and finally, blinded and exhausted by his
struggles falls an easy victim to the ma
tivcs 1t began to look as though death
was coming to me In an equally dramatic
manner. My efforts to rid myself Of the
army of creeping things only resulted in
making matters worse for me. They be-
gan to mount up my arms, and it seemed
only question of time when the attack
ing forces would reach my body, form
junction and continue their terrible on
slaught until sank exhausted, to be at
the mercy Of the entire army then wait
ing for the advance guard to pull me
down. What a fats! To be devoured alive
in the heart Of q tropical forest by horde
Of insects which I could crush by hum
dreds; to have my skeleton found years
later with only my pack to disclose my
identity. Was there no help?
inspiration comes quickly to the man
who Is being devoured alive by ants.
had in my camp outfit bottle of kerosene
that carried always for a small lamp
that used at night. Kerosene knew to
be death to insects With hurried hand
tore open the fastening Of my knapsack
and took out the oil bottle, the demon
army all the while marching relentlessly
up the red track they had made on my
limbs. A dash of the kerosene on my
tingling arms and my enemies dropped in
writhing masses, ceased struggling and
lay still as they struck the ground. That
bottle Of common kerosene oil was to save
my life. poured some in the hollow of
my hand and rubbed it on my tortured
limbs. Wherever the kerosene touched it
left dead ants. What mattered it that
numberless punctures smarted as though
ten thousand redhot needles were pierre
ing my skim was routing the enemy.
"My efforts redoubled. poured the
oil down my ankles and joyously watched
the head of the columns that were mount
ing my shoes turn tail and scuttle of,
leaving thousands of dead ants in their
trail. The insects left on my body were
quickly disposed of, but while l was con-
centrating MY attention on those the army
had been pushing on to renew the attack.
Evidently they had been only driven back,
not routed, and those affair off were not
aware Of the formidable nature of the de-
Tense. Half tho contents of my bottle OF
oil had been used 1t was necessary to
settle the ants with what remained.
"Quickly spread my rubber blanket
on the ground at my feet and, standing
in the center, emptied the contents Of the
bottle around my shoes. In this charmed
circle was absolutely safe. The ant army
charged again and again, only to fall back
baffled and terrified from the fatal oil in
which stood. The terrible insects fell
squirining and dying at my feet by squads
and regiments, but pass the kerosene bar
rier they could not, and at last the mass
moved off, beaten. was saved But that
encounter with the ant army in the South
American forest will always count as the
most thrilling and dreadful of not un-
adventurous life. Washington Post.
He Was Posted.
"You ought to be more careful, WILLIE"
A., t,~