Argosy, Vol. 122, No. 1 — page 59: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE MAD PLANET. for as many men—and was placidly ancher- ing itself in preparation for the spinning of ‘a cocoon in which to sleep the sleep of metamorphosis. A mile away, the great black tide of army ants was advancing relentlessly. The great cabbage, the huge grasshopper, and all the stupid caterpillars upon the wide leaves would soon be covered with the tiny, biting insects. The cabbage would be re- duced to a chewed and destroyed stump, the colossal, furry grubs would be torn into a myriad mouthfuls and devoured by the black army ants, and the grasshopper would strike out with terrific, unguided strength, crushing its assailants by blows of its powerful hind-legs and bites of its great jaws. But it would die, making terrible sounds of torment as the vicious mandibles of the army ants found crevices in its armor. The clicking roar of the ants’ advance overshadowed all other sounds, now. Burl was running madly, his breath coming in great gasps, his eyes wide with panic. Alone of all the world about him, he knew the danger behind. The insects he passed were going about their business with that terrifying efficiency found only in the insect world. There is something strangely daunting in the actions of an insect. It moves so directly, with such uncanny precision, with such utter indifference to anything but the end in view. Cannibalism is a rule, almost without exception. The paralysis of prey, so it may remain alive and fresh—though in agony—for weeks on end, is a common practice. The eating piecemeal of still- living victims is a matter of course. Absolute mercilessness, utter callousness, -incredible inhumanity beyond anything . known in the animal world is the natural and commonplace practise of the insects. And these vast cruelties are performed by armored, machine-like creatures -with an abstraction and a routine air that suggests a horrible Nature behind them all. Burl nearly stumbled upon a tragedy. He passed within a dozen yards of a space where a female dung-beetle was devouring the mate whose honeymoon had begun that same day and ended in that gruesome 4 ARGOSY chaos. 49 fashion. Hidden behind a clump of mush- rooms, a great yellow-banded spider was .coyly threatening a smaller male of her own species. He was discreetly ardent, but if he won the faver of the gruesome creature he was wooing, he would furnish an appe- tizing meal for her some time within twenty-four hours. Burl’s heart was pounding madly. The breath whistled in his nostrils——and behind him, the wave of army ants was drawing nearer. They came upon the feasting flies. Some took to the air and escaped, but others were too engrossed in their deli- _ cious meal. stranded upon the earth by the scattering The twitching little maggots, of their soupy broth, were torn in pieces. The flies who were seized vanished into tiny maws. The serried ranks of black insects went on. The tiny clickings of their limbs, the perpetual challenges and cross-challenges of crossed antennz, the stridulations of the creatures, all combined to make a high- pitched but deafening din. Now and then another sound pierced the noises made by the ants themselves. A cricket, seized by a thousand tiny jaws, uttered cries of agony. The shrill note of the crickets had grown deeply bass with the increase in size of the organs that uttered it. There was a strange contrast between the ground before the advancing horde and that immediately behind it. Before, a busy world, teeming with life. Butterflies float- ing overhead on lazy wings, grubs waxing fat and huge upon the giant cabbages, crickets eating, great spiders sitting quietly in their lairs waiting with invincible \pa- tience for prey to draw near their trap-doors or fall into their webs, colossal beetles Jum- bering heavily through the mushroom for- ests, seeking food, making love in mon- strous, tragic fashion. And behind the wide belt of army ants— The edible mushrooms gone. The giant cabbages left as mere stumps of un- appetizing pulp, the busy life of the insect world completely wiped out save for the. flying creatures that fluttered helplessly over an utter changed landscape. Here and there little hands of stragglers moved busily over the denuded earth, searching cComiclbooks.com