ght at Dorothy, opening the claws in
his legs as if to grab and pinch her with the sharp points. But the
girl was wearing her Magic Belt and was not harmed. The Spider King
could not even touch her. He turned swiftly and made a dash at Ozma,
but she held her Magic Wand over his head and the monster recoiled as
if it had been struck.

"You'd better let us go," Dorothy advised him, "for you see you can't
hurt us."

"So I see," returned the Spider King angrily. "Your magic is greater
than mine. But I'll not help you to escape. If you can break the magic
web my people have woven you may go; if not you must stay here and
starve." With that the Spider King uttered a peculiar whistle and all
the spiders disappeared.

"There is more magic in my fairyland than I dreamed of," remarked the
beautiful Ozma, with a sigh of regret. "It seems that my laws have not
been obeyed, for even these monstrous spiders defy me by means of
Magic."

"Never mind that now," said Dorothy; "let's see what we can do to get
out of this trap."

They now examined the web with great care and were amazed at its
strength. Although finer than the finest silken hairs, it resisted all
their efforts to work through, even though both girls threw all their
weight against it.

"We must find some instrument which will cut the threads of the web,"
said Ozma, finally. "Let us look about for such a tool."

So they wandered among the bushes and finally came to a shallow pool of
water, formed by a small bubbling spring. Dorothy stooped to get a
drink and discovered in the water a green crab, about as big as her
hand. The crab had two big, sharp claws, and as soon as Dorothy saw
them she had an idea that those claws could save them.

"Come out of the water," she called to the crab; "I want to talk to
you."

Rather lazily the crab rose to the surface and caught hold of a bit of
rock. With his head above the water he said in a cross voice:

"What do you want?"

"We want you to cut the web of the purple spiders with your claws, so
we can get through it," answered Dorothy. "You can do that, can't you?"

"I suppose so," replied the crab. "But if I do what will you give me?"

"What do you wish?" Ozma inquired.

"I wish to be white, instead of green," said the crab. "Green crabs are
very common, and white ones are rare; besides the purple spiders, which
infest this hillside, are afraid of white crabs. Could you make me
white if I should agree to cut the web fo