mpted by an earnest desire to warn my fellow-men against the errors of
nervous and muscular education, which, in my case, led to the weak
conduct of which I had been guilty that day--I may wind up this
digression, I say, by remarking that the boys who are most loved in this
world are those who are lambs, _almost_ muffs, in the drawing-room, but
lions in the field.

How long I should have gone on pondering this subject I know not, but
Peterkin somewhat rudely interrupted me by uttering a wild scream, and
beginning to caper as if he were a madman. I was much alarmed as well
as surprised at this course of conduct; for although my friend was an
inveterate joker, he was the very reverse of what is termed a buffoon,
and never indulged in personally grotesque actions with a view to make
people laugh--such as making faces, a practice which, in ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred, causes the face-makers to look idiotical rather
than funny, and induces beholders to pity them, and to feel very
uncomfortable sensations.

Peterkin's yells, instead of ceasing, continued and increased.

"Why, what's wrong?" I cried, in much alarm.

Instead of answering, Peterkin darted away through the wood like a
maniac, tearing off his clothes as he went. At the same moment Jack
began to roar like a bull, and became similarly distracted. It now
flashed across me that they must have been attacked by an army of the
Bashikouay ant, a species of ant which is so ferocious as to prove a
perfect scourge to the parts of the country over which it travels. The
thought had scarcely occurred to me when I was painfully convinced of
its accuracy. The ants suddenly came to me, and in an instant I was
covered from head to foot by the passionate creatures, which hit me so
severely that I also began to scream and to tear off my garments; for I
had been told by the trader who accompanied us to this part of the
country that this was the quickest method of getting rid of them.

We all three fled, and soon left the army of Bashikouay ants behind us,
undressing, as we ran, in the best way we could; and when we at length
came to a halt we found ourselves almost in a state of nudity. Hastily
divesting ourselves of the remainder of our apparel, we assisted each
other to clear away the ants, though we could not rid ourselves of the
painful effects of the bites with which we were covered.

"What dreadful villains!" gasped Peterkin, as he busied himself in
hastily p