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Having
once got hold they never let go, but struggled and wrestled and rolled
on the chips incessantly. Looking farther, I was surprised to find that
the chips were covered with such combatants, that it was not a
_duellum_, but a _bellum_, a war between two races of ants, the red
always pitted against the black, and frequently two red ones to one
black. The legions of these Myrmidons covered all the hills and vales in
my wood-yard, and the ground was already strewn with the dead and dying,
both red and black. It was the only battle which I have ever witnessed,
the only battlefield I ever trod while the battle was raging;
internecine war; the red republicans on the one hand, and the black
imperialists on the other. On every side they were engaged in deadly
combat, yet without any noise that I could hear, and human soldiers
never fought so resolutely. I watched a couple that were fast locked in
each other's embraces, in a little sunny valley amid the chips, now at
noon-day prepared to fight till the sun went down, or life went out.


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