Argosy, Vol. 122, No. 1 — page 51: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE MAD PLANET. to weary himself. It judged the moment propitious. The tarantula and the man were one in its eyes, one struggling thing that had fallen opportunely into its snare. They were moving but feebly now. The spider advanced delicately, swinging its huge bulk nimbly along the web, paying out a cable after it as it came. | Burl’s arms were free, because of the greasy coating they had received. He waved | them wildly, shrieking at the pitiless mon- ster that approached. The spider paused. -Those moving arms suggested mandibles that might wound or slap. Spiders take few hazards. This spider was no exception to the rule. It drew cau- tiously near, then stopped. It’s spinnerets became busy, and with one of its six legs, used like an arm, it flung a sheet of gummy silk impartially over both the tarantula and the man. : Burl fought against the descending shroud. He strove to thrust it away, but in vain. In a matter of minutes he was completely covered in a silken cloth that hid even the light from his eyes. He and his enemy, the giant tarantula, were beneath the same covering, though the tarantula moved but weakly. The shower ceased. The web-spider had decided that they were helpless. Then Burl felt the cables of the web give slightly, as the spider approached to sting and suck the sweet juices from its prey. CHAPTER III. THE ARMY ANTS, ‘THE web yielded gently as the added weight of the black-bellied spider ap- «proached. Burl froze into stillness under his enveloping covering. Beneath the same silken shreud the tarantula writhed in agony - upon the point of Burl’s spear. It clashed its jaws, shuddering upon the horny barb. Burl was quiet in an ecstasy of terror. He waited for the poison-fangs to be thrust into him. He knew the process. He had seen the leisurely fashion in which the giant spiders delicately stung their prey, then withdrew to wait without impatience for the ‘poison to do its work. Al When their victim had ceased to struggle they drew near again, and sucked the sweet juices from the body, first from one point and then another, until what had so recently been a creature vibrant with life became a ~ shrunken, withered husk—to be flung from the web at nightfall. Most spiders are tidy housekeepers, destroying their snares daily to spin anew. . The bloated, evil creature moved medi- tatively about the shining sheet of silk it had cast over the man and the giant tarant- ula when they fell from the cliff above. Now only the tarantula moved feebly. Its body was outlined by a bulge in the con- cealing shroud, throbbing faintly as it still struggled with the spear in its vitals. The irregularly rounded protuberence offered a point of attack for the web-spider. It moved quickly forward, and stung. Galvanized into fresh torment by this new agony, the tarantula writhed in a very hell of pain. Its legs, clustered about the spear still fastened into its body, struck out purposelessly, in horrible gestures of deliri- ous suffering. Burl screamed as one of them touched him and struggled himself. His arms and head were free beneath the © silken sheet because of the grease and oil that coated them. cle clutched at the threads about him and strove to draw him- self away from his deadly neighbor. The threads did not break, but they parted one from another, and a tiny opening appeared. One of the tarantula’s attenuated limbs touched him again. With the strength of utter panic he hauled himself afvay, and the opening enlarged. Another struggle, and Burl’s head emerged into the open air, and he stared down for twenty feet upon an open space almost carpeted with the chitinous remains of his present captor’s former victims. Burl’s head was free, and his breast and arms. The fish slung over his shoulder had shed its oil upon him impartially. But the lower part of his body was held firm by the gummy snare of the web-spider, a snare far more tenacious than any bird- lime ever manufactured by man. He hung in his tiny window for a mo- ment, despairing. Then he saw, at a little distance, the bulk of the monster spider, cComiclbooks.com