HOW A SPIDER DID IT.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XV, Issue IV, 27 July 1895, Page 119

HOW A SPIDER DID IT.

A prisoner in Holland was lying on the wretched heap of straw in a corner of his cell, which was the nearest approach to a bed that could be seen there. The man who was a Frenchman, bad been imprisoned for talking of liberty and equal rights to the subjects of the Stadtholder of Holland, and for months he had pined in this dismal prison. He was not asleep now, but sat propped up on bis elbow, intently watching a black spider busy with his web. When the prisoner, whose name was Dis Jonval,first saw the spider at work in that dark corner, he felt glad of even so insignificant and silent a companion. He was quite interesting, too, on longer acquaintance, and by studying his habits the prisoner gained a great deal of information. The spider never appeared during bad weather, and Dis Jonval was able to predict frost at least a week before it came simply by watching the spider’s movements and noting his own feelings. When the spider kept securely housed, the Frenchman was almost sure to have a bad headache.

Meanwhile the French General Pichegru, with a large force, advanced suddenly into Holland. But this did not trouble the Stadtholder, who could rely upon his * waterworks ’in all such emergencies. He simply retired, and when the French army was well in the centre of the country he adopted against the invaders the old-time tactics that years before had baffled Spanish Alva, and had cost a French King’s brother a splendid army. The word was given, and the dykes were cut. A flat country, the greater part of it below the level of the sea, Pichegru found in the Holland seas a far greater foe than the Holland armies. The Dutchland was all a swamp. The Frenchman could not advance, could hardly retreat. The fate of Anjou and his gallant army seemed in store for him. He had waited until the winter set in before be had given the command for the forward movement, for the wily General had anticipated the tactics of the Stadtholder. But the weather had suddenly shifted, until it was almost as mild as summer. The next day no spider appeared, the Frenchman felt very lonely. Three days passed without seeing him, and Die Jonval thought his head bad nev« r ached so before. He talked to the gaoler when he brought in bis meal*, and found him more friendly than he had expected. From him he heard of the advance of Pichegru’s army and the trap laid for its destruction. ‘You see, mynheer,’added the man, * your countryman depended upon hard water. If a frost had come, he certainly would have taken the city ; but as it is, he will soon have to retreat to Belgium.* A sudden light dished upon Dis Jonval, and, thanks to the spider and his headache, he began to see his way out of prison. *lf a frost had come 1’ It was coming now ! The army would be saved, Utrecht would be taken, and he— He pleaded with the gaoler,* as a man pleads for life and freedom, to bring him pen, ink, and paper, and smuggle a note for him through the line to the French General, who would probably exchange a Dutch prisoner for him with the Stadtholder ; and finally the man agreed to do hie errand.

All that the note contained was a simple explanation about the spider who had not appeared for three days, and the writer’s headache. He predicted a bard frost within a week, and begged Pichegru not to fall back. The General knew Dis Jonval, and resolved to wait a week ; and then there came the hardest frost that Holland had known for a hundred vears. The waters were bound with icy fetters The French advanced triumphantly, Utrecht fell, and the prisoner was released. But the spider who had done it all knew nothing about it, and went on spinning as usual.