They had come in one straight valley-filling line in the van, and they terminated at the rear in the same rigid form, with no stragglers dragging up behind. As the last rank filed slowly past, all uttered a glad cry of relief. Cocoeni pointed silently to the trail which this army had left, and our heroes no longer dared to doubt his assertion. Where the black snake had been was a gleaming necklace of white vertebrae, and a flat grinning skull, and shining fangs. Scattered over the ground were specks of varied sizes and shades. These were the excavated and polished shells of insects and reptiles that had not been so prudent and lucky as were Ned and his followers. The devastating bashikonay had passed along that way, and, like the Grand Army of France, had cleaned out thoroughly their line of march. It was some time after the last of these resistless conquerors had disappeared before any of Ned's band dared to venture out of their sanctuary. These might only be the advance guard; the main body might be coming on behind. Therefore, uncomfortable as it was to have to stand passive for hours in the centre of a stream of running water, this was infinitely to be preferred to being caught between two such formidable hosts. At length, even Cocoeni appeared satisfied that there were no more of the bashikonay hosts coming down this particular glen on that occasion. He therefore suggested that they might once more venture on terra firma, and place some decent space between themselves and the common enemy. This prudent advice they hastily acted upon. Each man grasped his load firmly, and set off as fast as he could travel up the gorge, without standing upon the order of his going. Traces of these awful ants were seen at every turn of the way. Beautifully polished and bran-new skeletons, large and small, were scattered about in every contorted attitude of the most excruciating agony. Serpents with the tail-ends of their vertebrae in their jaws firmly clenched; centipedes, scorpions, and other creeping and venomous things exquisitely manipulated and polished of every fragment of corruptible matter lay about, perfectly cleaned, yet undisturbed, and not a joint out of place. Splendid museum specimens these were, going to waste. Ned, even in his haste, could not help stooping and picking up a few of these as he ran along. He was astonished at the deadly dexterity and skill of those voracious workers. Not the most minute fragment of flesh, marrow, or sinew remained on any of those highly burnished bones. It was amazing and blood curdling. They had done all this without disturbing the order of their march. Each insect had snatched his bit in the passing, masticating it as he rushed onwards, while those following after had finished the gruesome task. It was numbers, with a fixed unity of purpose, which made the work compatible with speed. This was, as Ned said, the biggest co-operative concern that he had ever seen or read about.