Dick Sand now longed for day to return, that he might explore the surroundings of this termite village.  He must find a tributary of the Atlantic with a rapid course to transport all his little troop.  He had a presentiment that this watercourse could not be far distant.  Above all, they must avoid an encounter with the natives, perhaps already sent in pursuit of them under Harris’s and Negoro’s direction.

But it was not day yet.  No light made its way into the cone through the lower orifice.  Rumblings, rendered low by the thickness of the walls, indicated that the storm still raged.  Listening, Dick Sand also heard the rain falling with violence at the base of the ant-hill.  As the large drops no longer struck a hard soil, he must conclude that the whole plain was inundated.

It must have been about eleven o’clock.  Dick Sand then felt that a kind of torpor, if not a true sleep, was going to overcome him.  It would, however, be rest.  But, just as he was yielding to it, the thought came to him that, by the settling of the clay, washed in, the lower orifice was likely to be obstructed.  All passage for the outer air would be closed.  Within, the respiration of ten persons would soon vitiate the air by loading it with carbonic acid.

Dick Sand then slipped to the ground, which had been raised by the clay from the first floor of cells.

That cushion was still perfectly dry, and the orifice entirely free.  The air penetrated freely to the interior of the cone, and with it some flashes of lightning, and the loud noises of that storm, that a diluvian rain could not extinguish.

Dick Sand saw that all was well.  No immediate danger seemed to menace these human termites, substituted for the colony of newroptera.  The young novice then thought of refreshing himself by a few hours’ sleep, as he already felt its influence.  Only with supreme precaution Dick Sand lay on that bed of clay, at the bottom of the cone, near the narrow edifice.

By this means, if any accident happened outside, he would be the first to remark it.  The rising day would also awaken him, and he would be ready to begin the exploration of the plain.

Dick Sand lay down then, his head against the wall, his gun under his hand, and almost immediately he was asleep.

How long this drowsiness lasted he could not tell, when he was awakened by a lively sensation of coolness.

He rose and recognized, not without great anxiety, that the water was invading the ant hill, and even so rapidly, that in a few seconds it would reach the story of cells occupied by Tom and Hercules.

The latter, awakened by Dick Sand, were told about this new complication.

The lighted lantern soon showed the interior of the cone.

The water had stopped at a height of about five feet, and remained stationary.

“What is the matter, Dick?” asked Mrs. Weldon.

“It is nothing,” replied the young novice.  “The lower part of the cone has been inundated.  It is probably that during this storm a neighboring river has overflowed on this plain.”