The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1910-02-09


The mono tilted alarmingly as it swung round
again, the searcnlight thrustng into the
darkness in vain search 1t found the mon
Oplane for the second time as it came flying back
ward to the attack
"Zip-zip!"
LIE Brun felt something slap the side of his head,
and shook it like dog. He felt something warm
his face.
Now" yelled Peletier and LIE brun slipped
catch and dropped the bomb.
zip! Zp
The searchight was on them but the "Mignon-
cite" flying at hurricane speed to safety.
Away, away she few lower and lower until,
looking backward, lie Brun saw the big body of
the drigble above him, and two hundred
metres in
We've failed!' he whispered and cursed-man-
ly he cursed human stupidity that put it's faith
in boat with wings.
"If it struck the bag it will hold" Peetier
shouted; we've got about ten more seconds to
They out of danger now, for the search
light had gone out, but there the risk of wind
from the explosion.
"Crash!"
The very heavens seemed to burst into flame
and fall, mighty wind swept the monoplane
to its sde lifted it and threw it through
space.
Hold ont" yelled Pelleter.
IT ALT an hour later he paned down before the
II generals tent, white-faced dsheveed youth
with lines about his eyes.
Finished" he said sleepy, and tumbed out of
his seat like log. LIE Brun descended slowly
after him. He seemed to be considering
thing then as Pelletier turned to direct the sol
diers who were handling the airship he said:
Monsieur, it is due to you to say that nothing
but monoplane could have turned two somer-
saults in the air. and righted itself at the end.
would add" he said, seepily reflective, that the
biplane would not have turned the somersaut
but that is beside the point
ter to pebbles the size of marble, and without
employing either mortar cement and that this
structure should withstand winds and storms,
and winter, for years, should call him
insane or idiot Yet precisely the same feat
is performed every day by ants, using proportion
ately smaller building stones.
On the sparsely grassed "campos,' as the tree
less sandy which lie at intervals along both
banks of the Amazon river called, often
grassess mounds of sand, rising from foot
to four feet above the general level of the plain,
and from one to twenty-five feet in diameter. Each
of these is the home of colony of ants, and
their population must into the millions. The
builders rather small variety, similar in size
and general appearance to the little makers OF
the tiny, volcanoshaped ant hills by the
roadside in all countries. The larger ones, how
ever less pointed than the smaller nests
sembling inverted saucer with a smoothly
rounded top.
An examination of one of these smaller hills
shows that the bottom is bowl shaped and
tends about twice as far below the general level
of the plain, as the mound rises above it, and in
stead of entrance, like the small ant hills
there are hundreds perhaps thousands, scattered
about the entire summit. l made many efforts to
examine the interior construction of these mounds,
but they collapsed under the slightest disturbance.
stone dropped upon one sank into it as it would
in mud, and yet they firm enough to withstand
the torrential rains of the wet season for years
Some of these mounds must contain fifty
cubic yards of sand. and nearly, if not
greater number of tons weight, and yet they stand
unchanged, save to grow in size, for years. No
who is acquainted with their treacherous
ture crosses one of the larger
Frightened or frolicking young cattle sometimes
plunge into ore. and are lost for escape is as diff
fcult as it would be from quagmire. was wit
ness to one such tragedy, or rather to its sequel,
on a plantation where l was staying. valuable
yearling having been lost in of these hills
went to its aid On our way we cut
pole, armed at end with sort of
hook, to examine the mound without climbing up
on it. At the first thrust the pole encountered the
object of our search few dexterous efforts, and