"This stuff is all very interesting," he said perfunctorily, "but what has it to do with practical living? How will the study of bugs, no matter how remarkable the bug, be of benefit to the average man? What I mean is, your burning zeal--your really bitter disappointment a minute ago--seem a bit out of place. A bit--well, exaggerated don't you know." * * * * * Denny halted; and Jim, perforce, stopped, too. Denny's dark eyes burned into Jim's blue ones. "How does it affect practical living? You, who have been in the tropics many times on your lion-spearing and snake-hunting jaunts, ask such a thing? Haven't you ever seen the damage these infernal things can do?" Jim shook his head. "I've never happened to be in termite country, though I've heard tales about them." "If you've heard stories, you have at least in idea of their deadliness when they're allowed to multiply. You must have heard how they literally eat up houses and the furnishings within, how they consume telegraph poles, railroad ties, anything wooden within reach. The termite is a ghastly menace. When they move in--men eventually move out! And their appearance here in California has got many a nationally famous man half crazy. That's what they mean to the average person!" Jim, scratched his head. "I didn't think of that angle of it," he admitted. "Well, it's time you thought of something besides fantastic ways of risking your life. The termite has been kept in place, till now, by only two things: ants, which are its bitterest enemies, and constantly attack and hamper its development; and climatic conditions, which bar it from the temperate zones. Now suppose, with all their intelligence and force of organization--not to mention that mysterious and terrible unknown intelligence that leads them--they find a way to whip the ants once for all, and to immunize themselves to climatic changes? Mankind will probably be doomed." "Gosh," said Jim, with exaggerated terror. * * * * * "Laugh if you want to," said Dennis, "but I tell you the termite is a very real menace. Even in its present stage of development. And the maddening thing is that we can't observe them and so discover how best to fight them.