before her she pushed it to one side with
her hind feet and then returned to her digging. In five minutes she had
an opening big enough to get into; every time she appeared she backed up
out of it pushing a huge load of sand as big as herself behind her. Soon
all around the hole was a high bank of earth, and she found it necessary
to make a path across it, and push her loads over that. Two hours' hard
work, and the house was finished. It was very simply planned, and had
only one room down at the end of a long, narrow passage. But simple as
it was, this little creature had done more work in the two hours than a
man could do in a day. That is, of course, taking her size into
consideration. And she did not even now stop to rest. Not she! With one
last look into the house, to make sure she was leaving all as it should
be, she flew away. In a moment her strong wings had taken her quite out
of sight but it was not long before she re-appeared. Back and forth she
hastened, at one moment flying through the grape-arbor, at the next
wheeling above the cabbage-bed. All this time the object of her search,
a fat young locust, was quietly sitting on a gate-post, quite
forgetting, as even locusts sometimes will, that he had an enemy in the
world.

A moment later and the wasp's sharp eyes had found him out; and then,
quick as lightning, she darted down upon him, and pierced him with her
sting. When the locust lay perfectly still, the wasp seized him and flew
off. Arrived at her hole, she tumbled him head foremost in at the door,
expecting him, of course, to fall quite to the bottom. But her
calculations had been slightly at fault; the locust was too fat to go
in, and there he stuck with his head and shoulders in the hole and his
body in the air. Here was a dilemma! But my wasp friend was evidently
not one to be overcome by difficulties of this sort. She flew off again,
and this time returned with two other wasps; they crowded round the
hole, and began digging away the earth which pressed close about the
locust. In a short time they seemed satisfied, for they stood up and
pushed at the object of their toils. Slowly he slid down out of sight,
and she who had brought him hurried after. She laid an egg close to him
in her house; then, hurrying up, began to carry back the earth she had
before taken out, and in a short time the door was securely closed. Then
she scraped away, and patted down all the loose earth, till she had made
it quite imp