66 
NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 
laughed Uncle John. “At any rate, no other 
spider uses a signature just like it. Madam Mi¬ 
randa, the orange garden spider, runs an odd 
staircase a little way straight up and straight 
down from the center of her large upright web. 
That is her signature. Other orb weavers also 
have their special way of signing their work. 
I- Wait a minute, Tommy! What is that 
you have? ” 
“A grasshopper, sir. It’s all right to offer to 
the banded lady for refreshments, isn’t it? ” 
“ By all means. Toss it squarely into the 
meshes toward the top of the net, and let us see 
what happens.” 
Seated motionless in the center of the web, 
with her eight legs widespread to feel even the 
tiniest vibration of her silken lines, the keeper 
was calmly waiting what Fortune might send, 
apparently entirely oblivious of the party a little 
way down the path. When the big grasshopper 
went whizzing dizzily from Tommy’s good base¬ 
ball arm, and landed with a resounding kerplunk 
that must have jangled her telegraph wires furi¬ 
ously, she started up with lightning-like agility 
and made for the scene of action at a great rate. 
But, ere she had quite reached the frantic, strug¬ 
gling grasshopper, which seemed to know full 
well its peril, she paused and promptly whirled 
about. What was the matter? Was she afraid 
