The Life of the Spider 



ceived by the nimble motion of their legs. 

 Moreover, the road is visible behind the 

 climber, it is of double thickness, thanks to an 

 added thread. Then, at a certain height, in- 

 dividual movement ceases. The tiny animal 

 soars in space and shines, lit up by the sun. 

 Softly it sways, then suddenly takes flight. 



What has happened? There is a slight 

 breeze outside. The floating cable has 

 snapped and the creature has gone off, borne 

 on its parachute. I see it drifting away, 

 showing, like a spot of light, against the dark 

 foliage of the near cypresses, some forty feet 

 distant. It rises higher, it crosses over the 

 cypress-screen, it disappears. Others follow, 

 some higher, some lower, hither and thither. 



But the throng has finished its preparations; 

 the hour has come to disperse in swarms. 

 We now see, from the crest of the brushwood, 

 a continuous spray of starters, who shoot up 

 like microscopic projectiles and mount in a 

 spreading cluster. In the end, it is like the 

 bouquet at the finish of a pyrotechnic display, 

 the sheaf of rockets fired simultaneously. The 

 comparison is correct down to the dazzling 

 light itself. Flaming in the sun like so many 

 gleaming points, the little Spiders are the 



226 



