The Clot ho Spider 337 



and are fixed to the stone. In between these 

 straps is the same number of spacious inverted 

 arches. The whole represents the Ishmaelite's 

 camel-hair tent, but upside down. A flat roof, 

 stretched between the straps, closes the top of 

 the dwelling. 



Then where is the entrance ? All the arches 

 of the edge open upon the roof ; not one leads 

 to the interior. The eye seeks in vain ; there is 

 nothing to point to a passage between the inside 

 and the outside. Yet the owner of the house 

 must go out from time to time, were it only in 

 search of food ; on returning from her expedi- 

 tion, she must go in again. How does she make 

 her exits and her entrances ? A straw will tell 

 us the secret. 



Pass it over the threshold of the various 

 arches. Everywhere, the searching straw en- 

 counters resistance ; everywhere, it finds the 

 place rigorously closed. But one of the scallops, 

 differing in nowise from the others in appearance, 

 if cleverly coaxed, opens at the edge into two 

 lips and stands slightly ajar. This is the door, 

 which at once shuts again of its own elasticity. 

 Nor is this all : the Spider, when she returns 



