The Raid on the Termites

ng Brow

continued to come steadily toward them, carried by its two faithful slaves; and the grotesq

strosity, that they did not hear the slight clashing of horn that

force, and looked down to find a pair of hard, jointed forelegs coiled about their bodies. In answer to some voic

at the repellent touch of that livin

, muscles standing in knots on his heavy arms, he nearly succeeded in breaking free. Denny felt th

gled partly around in the thing's grip. He raised the sp

ose of any humble worker in the mound. The spear tore into it for two-thirds its length. There was a squeak-the first sound they had heard-from th

into the loathsome body. Jim, meanwhile, had leaped towa

monsters had stepped out of line with the start of the short stru

end's aid. The dying termite, with a last burst of

had drenched Jim with a brown, thick liquid that covered him fr

He straightened, poised his spear, and with a strength born

The steel bar glanced harmlessly from the heavy horn breastplate. In answ

floor, his body constricted in a sheath that tightened as it dried

fluid that contracted about them. But they were as impotent as two flies that

f the ruler-termite. The team of workers moved, bearing their bu

ahead of the monarch-and were laid in one of the lines of paral

termite with the conical head. In the true insect world there was no such phenomenon as those glittering st

nt. They squatted close to the floor, and the staring eyes examined the spears at close range. Then the owner of the eyes apparen

unched shut, with a nerve-rasping grind. They made, naturally, no i

order, its two bearers picked up the spear and carried it, and their physically h

abdomen filled with the unknown red liquid. The spear was withdrawn, with about a foot of its

wnish and flaked away, almost entirely consumed. The acid-if that was what

were now a matter of indifference to the bloated bra

xt. The thing will probably have us dipped int

osity was interrupted while

r a moment. Jim and Dennis struggled to turn their heads-all of them

sect hulks, and sank their mandibles into a garden slug. They tugged at this until t

onto the inert slug, till it was well sprinkled. The

f-liquid puddle of decomposed protoplasm on the floor. One of the main functions-if not the main function-of the red acid, it seemed, wa

w, under the huge globe of the brain, Jim and Denny saw exposed a small, soft mouth fringed by the

rker. It looked as though the mass of the dead slug were as large as the total bulk of

ir interrupted jaw-clashing, which seemed senseless now: the captives, though not paralyzed as were the othe

rged with food as to render almost inactive the grotesquely exaggerated brain. The stony eyes bec

opportunity to whisper to Denny, "and get at my spear-I t

nerable thing. Soft and boneless and formless, contained only by the dirty-white, membranous skin, it did app

on with h

k at those two guards at the door, for instance. There's no earthly need for them to keep guard as eternally as they do. We can't even move, let alone try to es

tle, big-headed thing, we might have a chance. There'd be nothing left to guide

thousands of these horrible things on

cted in every move by this master brain," urged Jim, "they mi

med so improbable as to be hardly worth ta

ken finall

d suddenly, "can

turned his head. "

can move my left k

Maybe it was never intended to be more than a temporary bond, to hold an enemy helpless just long

e ruler's withered little legs hera

nt stir of awakening. "Don't let the thing get an idea of what we

human flesh beneath it. Whether Jim's guess that it was only a temporary bond was correct, or whether it had been developed to harden relentlessly only over unyielding surfaces of horn such as the termites' dea

here was no expression of any kind to be read in the stony, dull eyes, its actions seemed once more to in

lose to Denny. One of the team began chipping at the brown shell

accurately, the worker's normal-sized but powerful mandibles edge

see, out of the corners of his eyes, wh

halk, and great drops of perspiration stood out on hi

th received it; the worker nuzzled with its mandibles for another finger. The monar

al now thoroughly dried sections of the brown substance cracked loose. The termite

had followed the pain of his mutilated hand. There was less blood flow than might have been expected, due,

stuff burst from Jim's straining chest. But

t room toward them. Simultaneously, a second of the syringe-h

l held, in a measure, in spite of his utmost efforts to free them of the clinging brown stuff. But he could, and did, run away from t

m, directed by the agitated termite-ruler, squirted toward him, he leaped alertly aside-leaped ag

tion, the monstrosities with the bung- and syringe-heads closed in more tightly around their mon

om the doorway, mandibles reaching fiercely toward the fugitive, followed. A