e was not a blade of
grass behind which to find shelter. I therefore clung to my rude raft,
which swayed up and down, and turned round and round so that I had hard
work to keep my hold. Still, treading water, I followed with the leaf
until it reached a spot where some driftwood had lodged.

"'This is my chance!' I thought.

"I crawled up on the sand and lay down behind and beneath the flotsam.
The warmth of the sun was pleasant, for I was chilled by the water, and
was so exhausted that, would you believe it? I fell asleep! But my nap
was a brief one. It was broken by the sound of voices, and starting up
in a daze, I attracted the attention of the Pixie guard boat crew
engaged in patrolling the Lake. They turned the boat to the shore, with
a hurrah, and several leaped overboard and dashed toward me upon the
water.

[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Sergeant Clearview Takes Refuge in Argiope's
Nest.]

"There was nothing for it but to run, and that I did; over the level,
sandy bank, on, on--toward the tall grass beyond. The boat's crew were
soon on my track; the shore sentinels joined them, and away we all sped
pell-mell. Affairs seemed blue enough, it is true; but I had already
escaped so wonderfully that I had high hope that I should yet reach camp
and tell my story. At last--it seemed an age!--the grass was reached. I
plunged into the thicket, but the Pixies were close at my heels, too
close to admit of escape, for they were all fresh and I quite worn out.
As I passed a tall clump of grasses, I caught sight of a great pear
shaped egg-nest of the huge Argiope Pixie. I knew it well, for it was an
abandoned nest of the past autumn, built there during one of the
successful raids of our enemy. A happy thought came to me. I rushed into
the grasses beyond the nest, then turned, and doubled sharply upon my
track, ran back, sprang into the clump of grass and weeds upon which the
nest hangs, and swung myself toward it. There is an opening in the side,
a sort of door or window for the escape of the young. Into this I
dropped, and lodged safely upon the flossy paddock inside. I had barely
got in when my pursuers dashed by at full speed into the jungle which
they had seen me enter. The whir and clatter of their rush I could hear,
as many of the crew passed just beneath me. On they sped; the noise grew
faint, fainter, and died away. Then I knew that once more I was saved.
The bed upon which I lay was a soft one; it was made, in fact, of p