Hercules, with his ax, crumbled the first story of cells, which was composed of crisp red clay.

He thus raised, more than a foot, the interior part of the swampy earth on which the ant-hill rested, and Dick Sand made sure that the air could freely penetrate to the interior of the cone through the orifice pierced at its base.
It was, certainly, a fortunate circumstance that the ant-hill had been abandoned by the termites.

With a few thousands of these ants, it would have been uninhabitable.

But, had it been evacuated for some time, or had the voracious newroptera but just quitted it?
It was not superfluous to ponder this question.
Cousin Benedict was so much surprised at the abandonment, that he at once considered the reason for it, and he was soon convinced that the emigration had been recent.
In fact, he did not wait, but, descending to the lower part of the cone, and taking the lantern, he commenced to examine the most secret corners of the ant-hill.

He thus discovered what is called the "general store-house" of the termites, that is to say, the place where these industrious insects lay up the provisions of the colony.
It was a cavity hollowed in the wall, not far from the royal cell, which Hercules's labor had destroyed, along with the cells destined for the young larvae.
In this store-room Cousin Benedict collected a certain quantity of particles of gum and the juices of plants, scarcely solidified, which proved that the termites had lately brought them from without.
"Well, no!" cried he.