termitary

There were termites in that vast storeroom, too; but they were specialized creatures, such as termitary life abounds in, that were so distorted as to be hardly recognizable as termites.

The Raid on the Termites Paul Ernst

Majesty had been with them all along -- a four-foot, irregular sphere of grayish-white nerve matter and intricately wrinkled cortex dependent for movement on borrowed backs and legs -- and was now peering at them out of the only pair of eyes in the termitary as though in doubt as to what to do first with his helpless-seeming captives.

The Raid on the Termites Paul Ernst

Armed with splinters of steel, two ant-sized men dare the formidable mysteries of a termitary.

The Raid on the Termites Paul Ernst

They left their little haven and moved along the main tunnel toward the heart of the termitary, walking easily upright in this tunnel which was only one of many hundreds in the vast, hollowed mountain -- which loomed into the outer sunshine to almost a height of a yard.

The Raid on the Termites Paul Ernst

However, even the termite-paste, and the fact that the termitary citizens were blind, didn't seem enough to account for the immunity granted the two men as they began to come presently to more crowded passages and tunnels near the center of the mound.

The Raid on the Termites Paul Ernst

He had thought that the two of them might simply enter the termitary, mingle -- perilously, but with at least a margin of safety -- with the blind race it housed, and walk out again whenever they pleased.

The Raid on the Termites Paul Ernst

If you try to penetrate to the depths of the mystery, yards underground, by blowing up the termitary with gun powder, the only way of getting to the heart of things -- you destroy the termites.

The Raid on the Termites Paul Ernst

Majestic and aloof it soared, dwarfing all near it -- the termitary which, yesterday, had been but waist-high.

The Raid on the Termites Paul Ernst

To Jim Holden, Denny was simply fussing fruitlessly and absurdly with an ordinary "ant-hill," as he persisted in miscalling a termitary.

The Raid on the Termites Paul Ernst

"Take us out to Morton's Grove, to the big termitary you'll find about a quarter of a mile off the road," said Denny.

The Raid on the Termites Paul Ernst