The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1899-07-13
ANTS AS FIGHTERS.
the my WARRIORS ARE @ERoc,ous
IN BATTLE.

LaTges1 Animals Dare Not Meet
Them I'm Oombat-A Man WAom
TAearsDttse Anae = Ras1ns aaanass.
II was one Of SIX American miners
who wesS routed from their camp 81 .
Venezuflsn. ant army. satd 4 ,rdnans
expert NAo htely arrived from ven&
susla NE refreaked before ther IL
vadess N1kho1k making . dghf, aAdsfbr
tw08pDd rea1n1ls Ia tf,e sarsk place
we peld have gpt the izs.orst Of the
encoein4er, and secondly, I've; knalsv
that 1--we 1T them alone hey woud
do as good service.
'3hcre1y after dawn oae SUNDAY oar
native cook burst In upon us wfthdhe
news that we were about to be attack.
ed by an army Of ants. We had heard
enough about ant armies to know
what to dos We arose hastily, and ey-
cry ounce Of prpyfsions that was not
scaled 10 cans OF IN lars Was hurseliy
Piled on a table. the four legs Of which
were Immersed IN "a many basins OF
water. Every manerver that Is known
10 the afmies Of Civilized humans you
may safely expect from an ant taxmy,
but the little black warriors haze newer
learned 70 swim. Our provisions thus
protected, we left the camp to itself
and went out to reconnoiter for the in-
vadefs and to watch their assault
from q distance. The army was maxi
ing fair time. An irregular patch OF
black 10 feet wide and double as long
was swarming steadily toward our
camp. As. the, army was In no way
disturbed by our presence 1t was pos
sibie to approach It's lines closely.
There must have been millions upon
millions OF little soldiers marching hip
to hip. At the head marched the lead
er. On went the army. up the posts
Of the camp and then within RA
"Once within. the army spread itself
IN all directions, forming hundreds Of
little attacking parties. The camp was
an old palm matched affair and so In
Tested with scorpions. cenupeds and
spiders that we had been on the point
Of destroying It Now. however. the
ants had come and would clean house
for US, and therefore they were well
come. The ants swarmed up.the joists
and the dry leafV walls, and wherever
there was spider or bug there was
brief tuSsle and dead foe. But
there was bigger game in store for the
invaders
'aThe star battle was with an I'm
mense centiped. one of the blush
gray kind. about seven inches long and
as big around as your middle finger
He darted out of hole like a blue
streak, evidently trusting to his speed
and superior strength to run through
the enemy's ranks. But he didn't go
three feet before he was stopped. Ants
literally covered him. He turned on
himself and swept them from his back.
but before he had gone another three
feet he was buried beneath another
swarm Of his pluoky assailants. And
then began fight to the death. Again
and again he swept his tormentors
from his back while from all sides
hurried streams Of ants to take the
place Of fallen comrades The wrig-
Cling Of the big fellow became less vio-
lent as the fight progressed, and final
ly, after an effort, which / well knew
was desperate last one, he remained
quiet while what little life was left in ]
him was bitten out Of him. Later, when
the army had retreated and when we
had swept UP the centipeds and sscor-v
pions, and lizards and q tarantula
which the ant army had -yanquished.
we put the hero Of the star battle un-
der a quartz magnifying glass. The
bodies Of dead ants still chung to their
foe. From his back. from his legs,
from wherever there was chance for
a hold. the bodies Of ants dangled. hold
ing on, suppose. BY their teeth. @ze5
Perhaps you wonder what would
happen to q man who would under
takesto fight an army OF ants, assum-
ing. Of course, that the man relies on
his natural means OF defense his
hands and feet can best illustrate
that by the rare story OF an unfortu-
nate who was brought to b Hospital In
Caracas shortly before my return
home. The man was cooiie who had
worked on cocoa plantation IN a creek
not Tar from Caracas Following
habit OF some OF his cpuntrymen. the 1
cooIe, owing to the heat. had left his
camp and stretched himself on the
ground to sleep outdoors. Exactly
what followed no one can say with GER
tainty. Presumably he was surrounded
and covered by an army Of ants be-
fore he,awakened. At dawn the shrieks
and cries of man in agony aroused
the inmates of the camp. who ran our
to learn the cause.
'9The man was gesticulating wildly
and calling for help. whiled he squirm-
ed and writhed and slapped his face
and neck and chest and legs in a mad
effort to slap himself all ever at once
He was standing in the midst Of an
army Of ants and was too distracted
with pain to run away. Then he did
exactly what panther or leopard does
when he is being overcome. The man
threw himself to the4ground to roll his
tormentor to death. A single active
white man could have saved the poor
wretch, but the stupefied, barelegged
coolies dared not, or thought not, Of
rescue, while the victim himself was
too crazed with agony to seek other
than instant relief From slight per-
sonal experience know the poor fell
low was burning In fire which would