grass. But that web was not spun to catch flies; the
meshes were from two to four inches wide; and although the thread was so
fine as to be invisible in the subdued light, until closely looked for,
it was enormously strong; so strong indeed that it required quite a
powerful tug on my part to disengage my cap. My efforts to do so caused
the web to vibrate strongly, and that, I suppose, irritated the owner,
for while I was still tugging, the brute suddenly appeared from nowhere
in particular, running swiftly over the web in the direction of the
still entangled cap. And that spider was in perfect keeping with the
web that he had spun. There are home-staying people who, in their
wonderful wisdom, will doubtless shake their heads and smile
incredulously at what I am about to say, but possibly there may be among
my more widely travelled readers one or two who will know, from
experience, that I am not exaggerating when I say that the body of the
creature--of a deep ruby colour--was as big as the head of an average-
sized man! Its head was about the size of an orange; it had a pair of
wicked-looking eyes that fairly blazed with fury as, catching sight of
me, it suddenly halted, glaring at me, emitting a low, angry, hissing
sound, and clashing its formidable jaws together in what looked like an
access of perfectly demoniac ferocity. Struck motionless for the
moment, in sheer amazement, I quickly recovered myself and, believing
that the thing was about to spring at my face and inflict a possibly
fatal bite, I raised my cutlass and, with a slashing blow, clove the
creature through.

Leaving the severed parts of the body still clinging tenaciously to the
web, I next turned my attention to the screaming, frantically struggling
creature at my feet. A single glance sufficed to show that it was
obviously feline, about as big as a full-grown cat; and it had somehow
become entangled in the bottom meshes of the web. It was fighting
desperately but ineffectually to free itself; indeed its struggles
seemed to have but the more hopelessly involved it, for although it had
torn a hole several feet long in the bottom of the web it was still held
fast by a dozen or more of the threads, while its body was completely
enveloped in layer upon layer of the tough, tenaciously glutinous web.
The unfortunate animal was evidently near to the point of exhaustion
from its violent efforts to break loose, and when I bent over it the
poor thing looked