The Great Ant Attack Read online

  “Yes, my dear,” said Dr. Smythe-Jones. “But they’re kicking their last.”

  “What’s happening?” asked Chief Bruno. “What’s the explanation for all this? One minute we’re looking at the worst disaster that ever struck the Earth, and the next minute we’re looking at a dying army. Do you have any idea what all this is about?”

  “Sorry to interrupt, Dad,” said Babs. “But I think you better tell Crop Duster Joe that the crisis is over. His engine is starting to sputter.”

  “Good grief,” cried the chief. “I forgot all about Joe. I’d better go tell him to head for home.” The chief ran to the chopper and radioed Joe that the crisis had passed.

  “Look over there!” said Brother. “The ants never did get to our tree house. It looks fine.”

  “Thank goodness for that,” said Sister.

  The group waved to Crop Duster Joe, who waggled his wings as he headed for his airstrip on the other side of town.

  “Doctor,” said the chief when he returned from the chopper, “I was asking if you had any idea what happened here.”

  “As a matter of fact, I think I do. But I think my good friend Professor Actual Factual does, too. I even think Ferdy might have an explanation for the strange collapse of the super-ant. Would you like to give it a try, Ferdy?”

  “Happy to, Doctor,” said Ferdy. He turned to the cubs. “Remember our short course in ant science back at the laboratory?”

  “We remember,” said Cousin Fred.

  “Well, the main thing to remember,” continued Ferdy, “is that Antus maximus was a hybrid. And you can’t always predict how hybrids are going to turn out. One of the things that’s hard to predict is how fast they’ll reproduce. Well, as we saw, Antus maximus produced many, many colonies in an amazingly short time. But as sometimes happens with hybrids, they just sort of ran out of reproductive power.”

  “Very good, Ferdy,” said Dr. Smythe-Jones. “Very good indeed! I think that’s very likely what happened. But there could be another explanation. Hybrids catch certain diseases more easily than ‘natural’ creatures. Of course, we won’t know for sure until I look at some of these specimens under a microscope back at the university.”

  “Well, it’s been quite an adventure,” said the chief. “Let’s head back to the helicopter and call it a day.”

  “Oh, dear,” said Sister, looking back at the ruins of Ben’s farm as they rose. “What’s going to happen to our friends Farmer and Mrs. Ben? They’ve worked all their lives to build their beautiful farm. Now it’s ruined.”

  “Maybe they’ve got some kind of insurance,” said Brother.

  “That would be very nice,” said Dr. Smythe-Jones. “Unfortunately, I don’t think you can buy insurance against the likes of Antus maximus. But I’m thinking about Farmer and Mrs. Ben, too. And I think the farm department back at the university may be able to help.”

  And that’s what happened. Dr. Smythe-Jones explained the situation to the farm scientists at the university, and they arranged for Ben’s farm to become an experimental farm. They had the ants plowed under and added chemicals to thin out the formic acid. The results were excellent. Ben had fine stands of corn, wheat, and barley that year. As for his livestock, they had escaped into the neighboring forest, and they all came home wagging their tails behind them. And while Ben never got to like corn borers, wheat worms, and barley moths, he didn’t mind them nearly as much as he had before.

  A week or so after the great ant attack, the Bear family was sitting around in the tree house living room relaxing when a little spider let itself down on a strand of silk right in front of Sister’s face. She hardly jumped at all.

  Excerpt from The Berenstain Bears Ride Like the Wind

  When Sister Bear saw Ms. Toni’s horses, she fell in love.

  Head over spurs.

  It was love at first sight.

  Sister had seen horses before. There was Farmer Ben’s big wagon horse. And they had pony rides at the church fair.

  But Ms. Toni’s horses were something else. They were tall and slim. They had long, silky manes and tails.

  Then Sister saw the sign on Ms. Toni’s fence. It said MS. TONI’S RIDING SCHOOL AND STABLE.

  Sister knew what she had to do.

  She begged to be allowed to take riding lessons.

  Mama and Papa thought about it. They saw the light in Sister’s eyes. Sister was in heaven when they said yes.

  Sister took to riding like a fish to water. She loved the lessons. But they weren’t easy. In fact, they were hard. They made her legs hurt. They made her backside hurt.

  The first time she was up on a horse, she was scared. It was so high. You could fall off. You could be hurt. You could even break something!

  But she didn’t fall off. After a while, she began to feel safe.

  “Okay, Sister,” said Ms. Toni. “I’m going to walk Old Bess around the ring. You just sit easy.”

  Old Bess was a mare. That is what you call a female horse.

  It was Sister’s first lesson.

  Ms. Toni was holding the reins. She was leading Old Bess around the riding ring.

  “How do you feel up there?” asked Ms. Toni.

  “Kinda wobbly,” said Sister.

  “Why are you holding on to the saddle?” asked Ms. Toni.

  “So I won’t fall off,” said Sister.

  Ms. Toni laughed.

  “You won’t fall off,” she said. “Just keep your feet in the stirrups.” The stirrups were the foot-holders that hung from the saddle.

  “Let go of the saddle and take hold of these,” said Ms. Toni. She handed the reins to Sister.

  Holding the reins made Sister nervous at first.

  But after a while, it was fun. There she was, sitting on a giant horse. It was exciting. She felt like the queen of the world. Old Bess kept walking slowly around the riding ring.

  Ms. Toni picked up something.

  What was it?

  It looked like a long, thin black snake. It was a whip!

  Sister got frightened. “You’re not going to whip Old Bess,” she said.

  Ms. Toni laughed again. “Of course not,” she said. “This isn’t that kind of whip. This is a training whip. I use it to tell a horse what to do. I’m going to tell Old Bess to trot.”

  Sister knew what a trot was. It was a slow run. She had read a lot of books about horses. That’s how she got interested in horses. Now here she was, sitting on top of one about to trot. She was nervous and worried again. It was so high. She kept hold of the reins with one hand. She took hold of the saddle with the other.

  “No, Sister,” said Ms. Toni. “You must always hold the reins with two hands. That’s how Old Bess knows you’re in charge.”

  In charge, thought Sister. In charge of a giant horse that weighs a zillion pounds. That’ll be the day!

  Ms. Toni didn’t even touch Old Bess with the whip. She flicked it in the air. Old Bess started to trot.

  Sister went from wobble-wobble to bouncy-bouncy.

  Was it ever exciting!

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  About the Authors

  Stan and Jan Berenstain began writing the Berenstain Bears series in 1962, with The Big Honey Hunt. Since then, more than 250 Berenstain Bears books have been published and sales of the series are nearing 300 million. Stan and Jan have left behind a legacy of arguably the best-selling children’s book series ever. Making the books has long been a family affair, with son Mike Berenstain writing and illustrating new stories about everyone’s favorite Bear family. You can visit the Berenstains online at www.berenstainbears.com.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

  Copyright

  THE BERENSTAIN BEARS AND THE GREAT ANT ATTACK

  Copyright © 2000 by Berenstain Publishing, Inc.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transf
erable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.

  EPub Edition © 2013

  ISBN 978-0-06-218891-5

  EPub Edition © FEBRUARY 2013 ISBN: 9780062188915

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  FIRST EDITION

  Originally published in 2000 by Random House, Inc.

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