Ant ventures

“Oh, my, but what a lovely dream I had!” cried the Ant the next morning as he woke up bright and early. He thought he was still talking to the August Croaker, but found he was alone after all, as the August Croaker had gone off to take his sleep because he was on night duty, you see, every night.

There was the pass, anyway, Anthony Ant saw as he gathered his things together and came out from under the stone. He took his morning bath in dewdrops, and, smelling sweet from the scent of the Marsh-Mint Dental Cream and the Meadow-Scent Soap, he perched himself on a low grass blade and ate some of the luncheon in his basket. As he intended taking a long tramp on his way that morning, he even ate a small piece of the Bug he had run away with, for, though at home he did not eat meat for breakfast, he knew that for a long, hard tramp there was nothing like meat to give one strength.

Then, when all ready for the march, he looked at the sun to be sure he was starting in the right pathway, and off he went over a blade and under a blade; over a stone and across a plain space; and under a stick; and up a weed; and down a branch of the weed to another weed; and on to a daisy and down the daisy; and along a leaf to the tip; and over to a clover stem; and up the clover stem; and over to a high grass; and along the high grass to a bush; and down the bush to the ground; and along the ground to a rock; and up the rock and over the rock and down the rock; and across a dandelion; and up a burdock; and on to a big bowlder and over the big bowlder and down the big bowlder; and up a high goldenrod to the top; and over to another goldenrod top; and down that goldenrod stem to the ground; and along the ground to a berry bush. My, but that was a long tramp to take without a rest between times!

As long a tramp as that was, he was not too tired to climb the bush when all at once he saw a berry above his head, high up ever so far. Up he went hard and fast, for nothing would taste so good that very minute as some berry juice, he thought. So up the bush went Anthony Ant of Ant-Hill Manor until he came to the branch that had the berry on it—and, oh me, oh my! Sometimes things are better than they seem to be, just as sometimes things are not so bad as they look. Why! Not only was there one berry on that branch, but under some leaves, hidden from his first glance, were more berries—just loads of them—and they were even more juicy than the berry he went up the bush to get!

Well, sir, Anthony Ant danced a jig of joy on a leaf before he tasted a berry at all. Then he sat down—where do you think?—not near a berry—no, sir-ee!—but on it, for the berry was a large, fat blackberry with plenty of room on top for more than one Ant. He was the only one there, so all the room was his. All he had to do was to sit there on the firm, smooth, warm berry heated from the sun to the very core, and bite into one of the pulpy balls that covered the seeds of the berry. So up he climbed to the top of the berry, and, for fear he might lose his things, he strapped them to his belt instead of setting them down anywhere. A lucky thing it was, for no sooner had he begun to bite into the berry, and to think how lovely that juice was, than all at once something pounced down to the bush while he had his nose to the berry and could not look up so well. The next thing he knew, he was being carried through the air at a great rate—berry and all—until he was plumped down upon the wide branch of a great tree ever so far away from the berry bush.

If the Ant had been scared by such a harmless thing as Night, he was about twenty million more times scared now that this thing had happened to him. Besides, whatever it was that had carried him to the tree had so nipped into the berry that the juice had spattered all over poor Anthony Ant, and he was sticky from head to foot. However, he stayed perfectly still without moving the fraction of an inch. He was afraid the thing that had carried him there would eat him if he so much as wiggled a feeler.

After what seemed to him a long time he opened one eye he had closed, and there he saw a large Robin looking at him. Now, Robins like Worms, but they do not care for Ants, and the Robin was wondering what to do about Anthony Ant. Just now berry was the taste he was after, and here was Mr. Ant in the way.

Anthony Ant saw that look in the Robin’s eye, so he knew it was time to move. As fast as he could, he jumped off the berry and ran back under a piece of loose bark on the tree where he was safe from Robins, anyway.

The Robin was now at work on the berry. He pecked it and poked it on that broad flat part of the big branch, and he ate seeds, and all the large pieces of berry he pulled off. But some of the berry slid into a knot hole, and Mr. Robin did not get the whole berry after all. He soon flew away—perhaps back to that same bush where the berry grew and where he hoped to find another.

When Anthony Ant had waited in his safe place a long time and found that the Robin did not come back to the branch, it seemed all right to come out of the bark hiding place for a look at the world from that spot.

Oh, but he was far, far away from the ground now! Even high bushes did not make him dizzy, but this high tree almost did. He shut his eyes a second and then took another look. This time he could keep them open without feeling shivers up and down his spine, so he sat down to think. First of all, though, before he could make any plans, he had to get the sticky juice off, and it seemed to Anthony Ant that he never had done so much scrubbing in his life. A lucky thing it was for him that he had strapped his things on good and tight, for he was glad enough now to have all the things in his little case. As well as he could without any water, he scraped and rubbed and polished himself as he had been taught, and as his wash cloth was still rather wet from the last washing he had taken that morning he managed very well indeed.

There were little drops of juice the Robin had spattered where he poked at the berry. These Anthony Ant drank up right away, and then thought of the knot hole where the remainder of the berry had rolled. He ran to look, and, sure enough, there it was! The Robin’s bill could not possibly have reached it, but nothing was easier than for Anthony Ant to go into the hole after the berry, so into the hole he went.

He tugged and he pulled, and he pulled and he tugged, and by and by he had the berry—all that was left of it—out on the flat part of the branch where he could eat it comfortably. Ho! After all, this was not so bad. It was lovely up in the tree, and almost as good as a picnic to be sitting there with nothing to do but to smell the nice air that mixed with the sweet scent of the berry juice. If only the Ladybug and the small Spider, Size Two could be there also! He opened his lunch basket and took out a piece of plain bread—plain all but its shape, for it was cut in a wild-rose shape. This he dipped into the berry juice and ate it in peace—that is, he ate in peace for awhile, but not for long, for as he glanced along the branch he saw two great eyes looking at him from what looked like a mountain of fur!