150 THE SPIDER’S STRONGHOLD. 
Then, at last, came the chance of a lifetime. 
A small water-snail, climbing slowly up the 
stem of the water-lily, failed by just the 
twenty-fifth of a second to see the spider 
creeping stealthily upon him. 
There was a rush, a squirm, and in a moment 
it was all over. The snail was dead. 
To-day, if you look for the spider in his 
open web, you will not find him. He lives 
now in a castle of stone cement, a fortress of 
his own conquest, where he is safe even from 
the fish. He keeps it full of air brought down 
fresh from the surface, and he spreads his 
snare outside. 
That spider’s fortress, by the way, is the 
empty shell of the snail. 
