Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1918-06-19
y
The Web |
of DESTINY
BY J. v. GlESY 4 J. 3. SMITH Z
Authors of SemiDual Stories :
Copyright, 4
The Frank A. Munsey Co, :
CHAPTER !.
A Fly in a Web,

A Fly in a Web.
l wonder; Dld you ever, out of the
collected experiences OF life, notice
how some incident. seemingly trivial
IN Itself. may take position AS the
basal note of train OF subsequent
happenings? And from that initial
circumstance other things follow in Il
gradually ascending scale like notes
On q musical staye until the grand,
crashing climax is reached and leaves
VI thrilling with the vibration OF its
meaning.
In my work as a newspaperman and
later as a detective, l have. Yet who
could have. suspected that fly caught
In the meshes Of SPIDERS web was
the initial occurrence of drama of
human would strike the key
note Of the things which followed in
unbroken sequence for days to come?
The train had stopped at Salda,
where the road. over Marshall Pass
and the line to Leadville separate to
meet again at Grand Junction. The
mighty grandeur OF the Royal Gorge
Of the Arkansas had been left behind
US, though its influence still fingered
- lesson of mans smallness when
opposed to the forces of nature
At stlida they hook on "A helper en-.
CINE. md there is. usual somc delay
before the rain aaain takes up its
western climb. Connie and Semi Du..l
and had descended from the obser-
syation platform from which we had
viewed the wondrous canon tho river
has cut through the mountain barrier,
and were spending the time of the
wait in walking up ard down tie
platform beside the string OF Pull.
mans.
That was how Connie came to notice
the spiders web in the first place.
The depot building and platform are
of wooden construction, and the sun
was hot on the June day which found
US there
Dual had gone on up the train to-
ward the front, and Connie drew into
the shade cast by the oyerhanging If
the depot's caves. | follow, L, and we
paused close beside window, WHERE
in the upper corner of the frame,
spider had spun its web
Look" said my wife, pointing
Every time | see anything Like that
/ want broom"
l nodded THE hou9ewifely in.
stinct," | responded. THE spider
however, is merely trying to make a
living in the only way he knows
He"
"Oh," cried Connie, hes caught
fly"
He had, While we were talking
one OF several of the insects which
had been buzzing about the platform
had circled and darted squarely into
the outer segment Of the web. where
1t now buzzed and whirred with
areat flutter of wings and Intellectual
efforts at escape. Under its struggles
the web vihrated violently, and pres.
emily small dark body appeared
from the funnel-like opening close up
by the frame of the easing.
!, Spider knows he's g)t bite"
remarked.
The fly ceased to struggle and lay
still. II might have been dead al.
ready save for a faint culver of the
wings One could imagine that it lay
In Its bonds and painted with its eff.
forts and a sort of fright.
Connie touched my arm. "The
poor little thing. Gordon, set 1t
loose" she urged.
Dual spoke. While we had been
absorbed in the minor tragedy being
played out before us he had ap.
preached from his stroll up the plat.
form and now stood directly at. our
backs.
The unwilling fly, Mrs. Glace,'
said he, having manifestly heard her
cutlery He smiled: ION the face of
the thing it Is but a matter of food.
catching by the spider. Looking be.
low the surface 1t is an illustration of
the working out of the laws of the
universe, which SAWS that Ignorance
10 no defense or excuse from the pay.
ing of the penalty of our acts.
THE act must bring its effect with
surety, be it greater or less.
The fly which unwittingly filings 1t.
self into the meshes of the web is as
certainly lost as though It had deljb.
erately cast itself therein. In either
instance the penalty Is death for the
ely--ta2d tof the spider. The advice,
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