A SWARM OF LOCUSTS.
THE little brown boy has lived, as you know, on a sugar plantation,
where the cane ripens only once a year. You also remember that last
summer a hurricane destroyed the boy's home, and a new one had to be
built. The sugar crop barely escaped ruin, when, alas! another danger
came to it, more fearful even than the great wind. It was a storm of
locusts.
Alila was working in the cane-fields with his loved buffalo one
morning, when, looking up suddenly, he saw something which frightened
him. It was a long distance away, far as his eyes could see, and it
appeared like a dark cloud near the earth.
[Illustration: "SUCH A DIN AND COMMOTION YOU NEVER HEARD"]
The boy was frightened, as I have said, but it was not for himself.
It was on account of the danger threatening the plantation; he knew
very well that what seemed like a cloud was composed of millions and
millions of locusts. Unless something were done at once, all the
sugar-cane would be ruined. For, if that army of insects, perfectly
harmless to animals, should settle down upon the canes, the leaves
would be entirely eaten in a few hours.
Alila ran as fast as his legs could carry him from one part of the
plantation to another, and gave the alarm to the working people as he
passed along.
It was wonderful how quickly men, women, and children armed themselves
to meet the coming enemy. All the bamboo clappers, cocoanut shells, tin
pans, and red flags that could be found were seized and put into use.
Then such a din and commotion you never heard nor saw, even on
the glorious Fourth of July. Locusts are very sensitive to noise, so
between the beating of drums and clappers, the waving of the red flags,
and the smoke from fires of wet wood at the sides of the fields, the
greater part of the army passed on. The people breathed again, since
the danger was over for the present.
When it was all over Alila was not too tired to play for awhile with a
few locusts he had caught in a net. Their bodies looked like those of
large grasshoppers, except that they were of a brownish colour.
They would not sting or bite, and the boy kept his new pets as long as
they lived. That was only a few days, however, as a locust has a very
short life. It is said that food passes through its body as fast as it
is eaten, so it is not nourished, and soon dies for this reason. It
also has an enemy, a small worm that forms in its body and gradually
eats it up.
The mother locust has a queer way of making a nest for her eggs. She
extends the end of her body till it is like an auger, and with this
she bores a deep hole in the earth. She chooses spots near fields of
ripening rice or sugar cane, so the young locusts, as they hatch out,
will be near a good supply of food; for at first they have no wings and
cannot go in search of it.
After the visit of the locusts, Alila went carefully around the edges
of the fields with the other workmen. They wished to see if any signs
of young locusts could be found. But they found none and felt that the
crops were free from danger for this year, at least. But Alila's father
said to himself:
"How many risks there are in working on a sugar plantation! I have been
here now many years. I never know whether the crop will be a failure
or not. I believe I will go somewhere else. Up on the side of the
mountain, not far from here, is a large hemp plantation; I will seek
work there. Besides, there is fine hunting near by and Alila can see
new sights."
When he told his family, they were all pleased, for Tagals dearly love
a change and often move from place to place merely for the sake of
change. Alila was the most delighted of all. He said:
"Now, father, I can hunt with you and go bat shooting in the deep
forests. You know I can sell their beautiful soft skins to travellers."
Alila's grandmother and mother were pleased, too. They liked the idea
because the hemp is gathered throughout the year and can be sold from
time to time, whenever there is need of money. But when the women
thought of the bands of brigands who hide in the mountain passes, they
began to fear.
Many were the stories they had heard of these robbers and their sudden
attacks in the night-time on people in lonely houses.
"You need not worry," said Alila's father, "for these wild robbers
seldom harm poor people; and they never kill unless they are obliged to
do so. I believe they are not as terrible as they are often described."