AN UNFORTUNATE SHOT 



all if it had not moved slightly. I was on the point of turn- 

 ing it over with a small grass stem to see what was beneath 

 it, when it was suddenly raised on its edge, and a smallish 

 dark -coloured spider appeared. I suppose some sudden 

 movement on my part alarmed it, for it immediately darted 

 back again and clapped the door down, so that there was 

 nothing to be seen but the little patch which I had mistaken 

 for a fragment of bark, but which was really, of course, the 

 lid of a nest. At the moment the incident was as startling 

 as the opening of one of those toys known as " Jack-in-the- 

 box, 11 for trap-door spiders are not, so far as I was able to 

 discover, very common in Morocco, and I had not the least 

 expectation of coming upon one certainly not at that 

 particular time. After a while the spider again ventured 

 into the open, and I was careful to remain quite still until 

 it had proceeded to some little distance from its nest, 

 when I managed to secure it, intending to take it home to 

 examine at leisure, for by that time the light was failing. 

 But a difficulty presented itself: I had no box to put it in, 

 and not even a scrap of paper out of which I might make a 

 small bag; however, the spider was not large not more 

 than half an inch in length excluding the legs, and I 

 managed with some difficulty to introduce it into the barrel 

 of my *380 bore Colt, making all snug by screwing a leaf into 

 the muzzle, whereupon I started upon my way rejoicing over 

 an interesting capture. But " theiVs many a slip, 11 etc., 

 and so it proved in this case, for on the road some half- 

 dozen mongrels, of the sort that are known in Egypt as 

 pariah dogs, which were disturbed while snarling over a 

 loathsome supper of dead mule, made themselves objection- 

 able, and as stones proved of no avail I thoughtlessly fired 

 my revolver to frighten them away, and thus, to my lasting 

 regret, made a living projectile of my prize. What species 



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