148 THE SPIDERS STRONGHOLD. 
bird came up and upset things; but there was 
no spider, nor any signs of one. 
It was as if he had, without hesitation, 
calmly sauntered into spookland—or had been 
sucked under by a fish. 
Possibly the bird thought the latter. Then, 
as the pond smoothed her face, one saw that 
there was a movement among the water-plants 
beneath the surface; some aquatic haunter of 
the shadows was crawling there — calmly, 
coolly, quite naturally crawling there. 
Then it let go. It swam. Its eight legs 
paddled vigorously. It rose strongly, quickly, 
as one who is to the manner born. It came 
to the surface, and once on the surface, it 
revealed itself—the spider. 
For a moment he paused, hanging head 
down, his abdomen above the surface, and a 
passing late swallow, flying low, made shift to 
dip at him. Then he went down, paddling 
quickly, looking just like a silver bead, for his 
abdomen was enveloped in an air-bubble, 
which he kept in place with his hindlegs, 
and was taking down, apparently, for wonder- 
ful purposes of his own. 
Beneath the shadow of the water-lily stem 
he turned and swam up to a cluster of weeds, 
and here stopped at a web. Bell-shaped it 
was, and finely spun, with the mouth of the 
