I debate for a long time whether or not I should kill a huge ant. It doesn't move much. Perhaps it is the only member of its species left--apart from its five tiny young. Finally I kill the big ant with a spade but, by then, two or three of its young have escaped. I am afraid that when they grow up they will come back and revenge the death of their parent ant.

I use the spade again to turn the beautiful sedge, soil, sand and water where the ants were living. I can see their tunnels and tombs. I search desperately for eggs but can't see any.