It was, Martin commented, hard to see the wreck for the Algerines: the ship looked more like a floating log covered with busy ants.

The cart stood there, while Consecrated and soldiers dashed about like busy ants, doing a hundred and one last-minute things.

Men were rushing about like busy ants at work.

I am lying in the grass dazed by the sun and the busy ants, by the myriad humming galore of a river on a summer afternoon.

Cars looked like busy ants moving purposefully down their trails.

A wet loaf of bread, with busy ants crawling all over it.

Nathaniel and Micah went back and forth like busy ants until the seats were piled high with pillows, and there were still plenty left on the bed.

Now, instead of leaving, the Chinese were running about like an army of busy ants, all seemingly occupied with incomprehensible tasks.

Six engineers scuttled out to attend to the Drake, looking for all the world like busy ants.

But the nerves remained, jumping like trout in her stomach, crawling over the back of her neck like busy ants.