which was a
hole. As he stood looking at the delicate thing, finer than any woven
silk, a fly struck against it and got his feet tangled, so that he
could not escape. Instantly a great black spider ran out of the hole
at the bottom of the web, and seizing the poor fly dragged him out of
sight and made his dinner off of him.

Neddy dropped a piece of dry bark about the size of his thumb nail
into the web, and it slipped down and covered the hole through which
the spider had to come for his prey. Instantly the piece of bark was
pushed up by the spider, who came out of his den and ran around on the
slender cords of his web in a troubled kind of way. Then he tried to
get back into his hidden chamber, but the piece of bark covered the
entrance like a shut door. And now Mr. Spider was in a terrible
flurry. He ran wildly up one side of his web and down another; then he
tugged at the piece of bark, trying to drag it out, but its rough
edges took hold of the fine silken threads and tore them.

"You'll catch no more flies in that web, old chap," said Neddy as he
stood watching the spider.

But Neddy was mistaken. Spider did not belong to the give-up class. If
the thing could not be done in one way, it might in another. He did
not reason about things like human beings, but then he had instinct,
as it is called, and that teaches animals how to get their food, how
to build their houses or make their nests, and how to meet the dangers
and difficulties that overtake them in life. After sitting still for a
little while, spider went to work again, and this time in a surprising
way. He cut a circle close around the piece of bark as neatly as you
could have done with a pair of sharp scissors, and lo! it dropped to
the ground, leaving a hole in the web about the size of a ten-cent
piece.

"Rather hard on the web, Mr. Landpirate," said Neddy, laughing. "Flies
can go through there as well as chips."

When he called the spider a land-pirate, Neddy was wrong. He was no
more a pirate--that is, one who robs and murders--than is the
woodpecker or swallow, for they feed on worms and insects. The spider
was just as blameless in his work of catching and eating flies as was
Neddy's white bantam when she went off into the fields after
grasshoppers.

But Neddy's laugh at the spider was soon cut short. The most difficult
part of his work was done when he got rid of the piece of bark. As
soon as that was out of his way he began moving backward a