Argosy, Vol. 122, No. 1 — page 65: what you’re looking at

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

THE MAD PLANET. Burl did not know what creature or crea- tures might be in combat. He waited for a long time, and the noise gradually died away. Presently Burl’s breath came more slowly, and his courage returned. He stole from his hiding-place, and would have made away, but something held him back. Instead of creeping from the scene, he crept cautiously over toward the source of the noise. He peered between two cream-colored toadstool stalks and saw the cause of the noise. A wide, funnel-shaped snare of silk was spread out before him, some twenty yards across and as many deep. The indi- vidual threads could be plainly seen, but in the mass~it seemed a fabric of sheerest, finest texture. Held up by the tall mush- rooms, it was anchored to the ground be- low, and drew away to a tiny point through which a hole gave on some yet unknown recess. And all the space of the wide snare was hung with threads, fine, twisted threads no more than half the thickness of Burl’s finger. . This was the trap of a labyrinth spider. Not one of the interlacing threads was strong enough to hold the feeblest of prey, but the threads were there by thousands. A great cricket had become entangled in the maze of sticky lines. Its limbs thrashed out, smashing the snare-lines at every stroke, but at every stroke meeting and becoming entangled with a dozen more. It thrashed about mightily, emitting at in- tervals the horrible, deep bass cry that the chirping voice of the cricket had become with its increase in size. | Burl breathed more easily, and watched with a fascinated curiosity. Mere death— even tragic death—as among insects held no great interest for him. It was a matter of such common and matter-of-fact occur- rence that he was not greatly stirred. But a spider and his prey was another matter. There were few insects that deliberately sought man. Most insects have their al- lotted victims, and will touch no others, but spiders have a terrifying impartiality. One great beetle devouring another was a matter of indifference to Burl. A spider de- vouring some luckless insect was but an example of what might happen to him. & 55 He watched alertly, his gaze traveling from the enmeshed cricket to the strange orifice at the rear of the funnel-shaped snare. The opening darkened. Two shining, glistening eyes had been watching from the rear of the funnel. It drew itself into a tunnel there, in which the spider had been waiting. Now it swung out lightly and came toward the cricket. It was a gray spider (Agelena labyrinthica), with twin black ribbons upon its thorax, next the head, and with two stripes of curiously speckled brown and white upon its abdo- men. Burl saw, too, two curious appen- dages like a tail. It came nimbly out of its tunnel-like hiding-place and approached the cricket. The cricket was struggling only feebly now, and the cries it uttered were but feeble, because of the confining threads that fet- tered its limbs. Burl saw the spider throw itself upon the cricket and saw the final, convulsive shudder of the insect. as the spider’s fangs pierced its tough armor. The sting lasted a long time, and finally Burl saw that the spider was really feeding. All the succulent juices of the now dead cricket were being sucked from its body By the spider. It had stung the cricket wpon the haunch, and presently it went to the other leg and drained that, too, by means of its powerful internal suction- pump. When the second haunch had been sucked dry, the spider pawed the lifeless creature for a few moments and left it. Food was plentiful, and the spider could afford to be dainty in its feeding. The two choicest titbits had been consumed. The remainder could be discarded. A sudden thought came to Burl and quite took his breath away. For a second his knees knocked together in self-induced pan- ic. He watched the gray spider carefully, with growing determination in his eyes. He, Burl, had killed a hunting-spider upon the red-clay cliff. True, the killing had been an accident, and had nearly cost him his own life a few minutes later in the web- spider’s snare, but he had killed a spider, and of the most deadly kind. Now, a great ambition was growing in Burl’s heart. His tribe had always feared spiders teo much to know much of ¢heir cComiclbooks.com