In the Desert : In the Desert (9780307496126) Read Free

eyes like a visor.
    With the heat and the wind, their wet, muddy clothes dried quickly. Soon they were meltingly hot again. Sweat trickled down their foreheads and dripped into their eyes. But they kept on trudging toward Uluru.
    After what seemed like hours, they came to a place where the tall grass didn’t block their view of the distance.
    “Look!” hollered Judy. “There’s a patch of blue ahead! It’s a lake! We can tell Uncle Al to meet us there!”
    “Noop! Noop! Noop!” said Thudd. “Oody not see lake. Oody see mirage!
    “In the desert, air near the ground super-hot. High up, air is cool, air is heavy.
    “Light travel, light bounce. When light from ground hit cool air up high, it bounce back down to ground.
    “What look like blue lake is reflection of blue sky.”
    “Darn!” said Judy. “It’s not real!”
    meep
… “Can take picture of mirage,” saidThudd. “Stuff is real. Just not in place Oody see it. Like stuff in mirror.”

    “Neato mosquito!” said Andrew.
    “Stupid, stupid mirage,” complained Judy.
    They were coming close to one of the mysterious tall mounds that loomed above the grass.
    “Looks like a weird sand castle ahead,” said Andrew.
    meep
… “Castle for termites,” said Thudd. “Home of termite colony. Termites mix spit with dirt. Make stuff hard as cement to build mound. A million termites in colony, maybe.
    “Got all kindsa rooms inside. Garden rooms. Nursery rooms for babies. Rooms for queen termite.
    “Termites even got way to make breeze come through. Keep rooms cool!”
    Judy frowned. “I thought termites were supposed to eat wood,” she said. “There’s hardly any wood in this stupid desert. Just a few scrawny trees and bushes.”

    meep
… “Desert termites eat poop and dead plants,” said Thudd.
    “Yuck-a-roony!” said Judy
    As they came closer to the termite mound, they saw dark streams spilling away from it. These weren’t streams of water, they were rivers of insects—thousands of ants!
    meep
… “Meat ants!” said Thudd. “Eat up any dead animal. Even dead cow.”
    One of the ant streams was heading toward Andrew and Judy. The ants skittered on their skinny, stick-like legs.
    Some ants were carrying plump, white wormy things in their jaws. Others dragged ant-like insects as big as themselves.
    meep
… “Meat ants eat live stuff, too,” said Thudd. “Raiding termite colony now. Steal termite babies to eat. Take big termites, too.”
    “Don’t move,” said Andrew. “Maybe they won’t notice we’re here.”
    But ants swarmed around them. An antenna poked into Andrew’s ear. Antennas were stroking Judy’s hair.
    meep
… “Ants not got noses,” Thudd said softly. “Smell stuff with antennas.”
    Andrew’s knees were shaking. “I hope we don’t smell tasty,” he said.
    Next to Andrew, a pair of ant jaws opened like scissors with jagged edges.
    Andrew tried to back away, but ants were all around him. There was no way to escape them. The ant lunged toward Andrew. Its jaws clamped tight on his shoulder.
    “
Arrrrgh
!” hollered Andrew. The ant lifted him off the ground.
    meep
… “Ant can carry something that weigh fifty times as much as ant!” said Thudd.
    “OH
NOOOOOOO
!” hollered Judy. An ant had snapped its jaws around her middle. She pulled its antennas, but that didn’t stop the ant from carrying her off.
    Holy moly
! thought Andrew.
We’ve been flushed down a toilet. We’ve been pooped out of a whale. We’ve almost been eaten by a Tyrannosaurus rex. But we’re finally gonna end up as ant snacks
!

Suddenly more ants were charging from the opposite direction. These ants were huge. Their long jaws were like jagged saws.
    meep
… “Bulldog ants!” said Thudd. “Fierce fighting ants! Hang on to prey and not let go!”
    Some of the meat ants let go of their captured prey as they battled.
    A bulldog ant lunged toward the meat ant that had captured Andrew. Both ants reared up.
    Andrew looked into the round black