Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 34, Number 172, 29 April 1909 — Page 6

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E1TH was walking along he Strand when be ran late Too arms of bis uncle. o:a Jsine Horn? wan an outlandish figure, with an enormous bat, a green umbrella, acd spectacles rimmed with tortoise hell. "Hui'o, Uecle! ' Where have you turned u from:' Kel.b. had not seen h!s eccentric relatlvs for years.' "I've Just landej from Java, my boy." Hornlaaac beamed through his archaic spectacle!. "Tb trip has cott a fortune. But I'd have gone on. Into bankruptcy, if need be, to get what I've got." ''What have you got?" Keith queried. Old Hornlman put his hand in his pocket, and casting another cautious glance at the waitress, ho drew forth a largish oblong box with a glass lid. Ha put it on the, tabic reverently. "Look In this. ho whispered. Keith looked, and at first saw nothing particularly notable. A rather thick sheet of soma filmy tuff - silvery and semltranslucent stretched cross the Interior of the box from one side to the other It resembled a spider's web, but was thicker and firmer-looking. Its color, though whitish, occasionally changed, irldescantly. like pale shot silk. A crature of some sort came from beneath, it, and '. ran across tha box a creature about, the size of ' a filbert nut; and. in fact, fantastically nutlike in its general aspec. had it not been for its long clawe-t legs. Keith withdrew his gaze 'hastily. "A spider?" he asked "They look weird beasts." "Weird isn't the word." said his uncle. "No naturalist has ever caught one before and I hav cavgV. five. Of course we knew of their existence. Th'r webs are found in millions in Java. But tbo little beggars themselves could . never be netted. Coeped up in this box they can't show their paces, but in the open they move like lightning. They've gone before they've got there." He chuckled and drank his tea. v "What's the spider called?" asked Keith. ' "It isn't called anything in English yet, but It will be called the Hornlman Spider after its discoverer."': "What does the Hornlman Spider eat?" "Flies, bees anything it can catch which has blood to suck. The web is so tough that it can snare a bird in it and the bird Is a shriveled skin with nothing but bones inside, two minutes afterwards." "Nasty beasts." said Keith. "Nasty? Not at all!" His uncle smiled indulgently. "They'd be nasty, though, if they were allowed to breed without check. You've heard about the fecundity of Insects, I dare say? The Hornlman Spider is a regular record beater. A single Hornlman lays thirty thousand female eggs a month and the eggs hatch in twenty-four hours. Think of each of those thirty thousand laying another thirty thousand, and tell me what would happen In aix months If even one spider started to populate this o? any other country, eh? But nature has provided for the possible deletion of Java by a plague of Hornimans. There's a bird there, called the ' Haramerbill. that lives on Hornimans'. Centuries of evolution have trained it In a special knack of catching Hornimans. and digesting them aben caught; and Its wings are so strong that it an break through yards of web. Hammerhills are is common in Java as sparrows in England otherwise Java would be in a bad way. I brought a Hammerbill home part of the way, but it died on the voyage. I've preserved its skin, though, and I'll show it you some day; and you'll be astonished at the extraordinary strength of its bill and jf the muscles of its wings." , Keith was not much interested. "Didn't you lave to feed your Hammerbill on these - precious Hornimans?" he suggested vaguely. "No. I gave it meat. Hammerbills will take bits of dried meat if they can't get their usual iplder diet but they won't touch meat if there's t spider to be had." Keith glanced at his watch. "I'm afraid I must be oft. I ought to be at my desk by now. Take sare you don't lose the spiders!" Work at the Morning Newa office had been lrktome, and Keith often cast a longing glance at the ;lock, whose fingers crawled so slowly toward midilght. He therefore groaned audibly when a meg-, tag came up from the editor's room to say that he iraa wanted below. To be "wanted," generally neant an overtime Job. . "You know old Hornlman, the naturalist?" asked . ;he editor, as Keith entered hlsroom. "He's my uncle." "Indeed? I've bad news for you, then. He was . un over and killed in Knightsbridge this afternoon ibout five o'clock. They didn't identify him at trat. so the 'story of his death has only just cached us."

Bill Barrett's Leg

YfUST how Bill Barrett lost a leg 1 immaterial. II Even his own testimony on that point was far from satisfactory , . j .The leg was missing when Bill came to JF Wausauka, and he wore a wooden peg in place of It. A man with a peg leg is somewhat restricted as to occupation, so Bill took to the , ' water. Beginning with a single rowboat. Bill gradually acquired a dote a or more; hi expense were light, V ; and ha prospered. In fact, it was currently reported -that, in addition to owning his, house, lot, boats, 1 "i boathouses and piers, he had a good sum of money : In the bank, so something in the way of luxury was - far from being beyond him. There came to Wausauka one summer, on his ' vacation, a salesman for a surgical supply house, i and tho firm represented by this man made a specialty of artificial legs. The first time he saw Bin he began to figure . tbe profit. - He promptly engaged Bil! for a day's fishing. but his mind and gaze were so constantly on the 1 leg that it made Bill nervous. "That there peg o mine's no fishpole. growled ; Bin. - . "I bag your pardon," returned Cassidy, the sales- - man. "but how did you lose your leg?" "It was bit off by a car." answered Bill. "I didn't mean my question to b Impertinent," explained Cassidy. "That's 1 right.' said Bill. "That leg'a one ". o the show plac oa the lake, aa I'm al'ays wttlia to ll what happened to it." ' ;' 1 sae vou ate." laughed Cassidy. "So It was , ttlien by a cat." Oaly oa Tueaday," corrected Bin. "On Wedaeefsrar, to an Mowed by a heavy w

"Goad heavens' He came back from Java tolay, with some new spiders he'd found " Keith paused. A curious and rather startling conjecture had flashed across his mind. "Look here," he wont on; "I think I'd better go and see after the bod7." The official at the morgue allowed him to enter. "A relative? All right, sir. No, we didn't find any property of value on him. A box with a class lid? Yes, there was one; but the glass was broken. Here it is." Keith snatched up the box. The lid had been shattered in the accident. Within was the web and nothing more. He tore at the web, and it came away, in a tough and sticky sheet. There was nothing underneath it. The spiders had vanished. "You're sure there were no no insects inside this box?" . The official was quite aure."They tell me the box

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JUMPED FROM HIS POST was lying in the road with the lid smashed when they picked the gentleman up." "The accident happened in Knightsbridge?" "Just beyond Hyde Park Corner, sir." . "Ah." Keith slipped a coin into his hand, and departed to make arrangements for the removal of the body. . It was late before he returned to his lodgings; but he did not go to bed. An idea an insistent idea kept him awake. Only when dawn came did he throw off his clothes and try to obtain a little sleep; he was disturbed by strange dreams. He awoke unrefreshed, and was astir by noon. When he reached the Morning News office he had already 'had a busy day. Having polished off the first pressure of the night's work, he reached for the telephone and spoke to his friend, Wakefield, a briefless barrister in the Temple. When Wakefield appeared in But Cassidy was not easily discouraged, and he had set out to sell Bill an artificial leg. He let the matter rest for that day and engaged Bill for the next. Then he casually mentioned the advantage of an artificial leg. "Don't need none," declared Bill. "You don't know," argued Cassidy, "until you've tried." "I'm doin' all right with a peg," . maintained Bill. "Wouldn't it be worth something to you to have a leg that would stop all the impertinent questionings?" - "Yes." admitted Bill reluctantly. "Well, you can get one." "Can't be told from a real leg?" Bill seemed to ' be wavering. "Work like a real one?" . "You can't tell the difference." "Wouldn't do for me." sighed Bill. "Might save me from strangers that come here, but the folks that live here would have me crazy thowin' how it works." i "That would be merely a temporary Inconvenience that would pass away," persisted Cassidy. "and then you would have one real leg and one . that was better. After you've had one good artificial leg awhile you'll be complaining that your real leg isn't good enough." "Yon in the business?" demanded Bill. "Yes," admitted Cassidy. "Then, said Bill. "I sh'd think you'd have the best things In legs there waa. Them you're wearIn' ain't artificial, is they?" "No." "Then what makes you satisfied with 'em?" "I'm not," asserted Cassidy. "I could get a pair out of stock that would suit me a lot better, but I haven't gat the nerve to cut these off. That's the way with everybody. If there waa only more nerve In the world all the rich peosl would bo wearing artificial leg tram choice.

due courss, Keith greeted him by asking him how much capital he could raise at a day's notice. Wakefield's face fell. "My dear chap, you know I haven't a cent except what I live on. Two hundred and fifty a year Is my little all." "In other words, you have about five thousand pounds. I have about the same and it's also my little all. Yet I'm going to risk it and in the rsost romantic gamble you ever struck. You're going to plunge, too, my lad, when you've heard what I have to say." Keith spoke rapidly, and , Wakefield listened in silence. Once he whistled, as the stupendousness of Keith's proposition dawned on him; but sot until Keith halted his recital did bespeak. "Sc you want rae to go to Java?" "Yes at once. Pack tonight, if there's a steamer tomorrow. I suppose you aim for Singapore first -you must find out. Of coarse, the whole bust-

INTO A SEA OF WEB. ness may fall fiat; but I'm inclined to back tbe opinion of my Uncle James. He was mad but not mad about natural history. I shall watch things here, and I'll cable after you, saying how events are developing. If nothing happens, you'll have to come back and we'll simply be out of pocket to the extent of your passage money. But If I cable to you to go ahead, then you must organize an expedition and spend our capital like water to get what we want and get it quickly; and charter a special "steamer home again, if need be. I tell you. it seems to me there may be a big pile In this thing for both of us." "It's lovely, I admit;" said Wakefield. "But is it quite fair to the public?" "I have done everything I could. I've been to Scotland Yard and they think me a lunatic. And I've been to every authority I know of, and they all look at me as though I ought to be in Bedlam." "Anyhow," said Cassidy, when leaving, "let me send you a catalogue." The arrival of the catalogue marked the real beginning of Bill's interest in artificial legs. - He read it through three times, and then he began to talk about it. Looks to me like I better get one," he ventured finally to his wife."v "You're pretty spry on that old peg leg," his wife suggested. "There ain't anybody of my age that's any apryer." he declared with some pride. "Then I -don't see what you want any new leg for," she said. "Think of me, if that patent leg can't be told from real. Then I'd have a two-legged husband some days and a one-legged husband other days. How would that look?" But opposition only made Bill the more determined. "I ain't had many lux'ries," he said desperately, "an' it looks to me like I got a right to have this. I don't really need no patent leg. but I want it as a lux'ry." "Oh, welL'V returned his wife, "if It's a luxury, go ahead. You've got the money, and you've got a right to it as a luxury. Only remember, I won't have any changing legs; you've got to be a one-legged man all the time or a two-legged man all ' the time. Now. which leg are you going to get?" "I ain't decided." answered Bill. "I got to look into it some more, for I'm bound to have the beat leg in the market no cheap thing for me." "This here." he said, indicating, on the occasion of one of the gatherings of his friends to discuss the matter, "is the best leg in some ways, but It ain't got the room." - "Room?" repeated one of his visitors. "That's what I said," declared BUL "The room Inside is mostly took up with the work, as you might say. an it don't leave no room for storin things. - Now, there's : other legs that has room where a man that's goln to be gone all day c'n put away a bag o tobaccy an a pipe an a bit o' lunch an' some bait. These thing has got to be considered." They all saw the reasonableness of this, and the mention of bait suggested a really startling idea to one of the others. "Say, Bfll," he exclaimed, "why couldn't tho Inside of one o those leg be rigged up to hold a bottle an a glass?" , lfa wortla coastderteY BIU decided. The and other suggestions so complicated mattars that St gaeiaed skslr tTsal SOI would ever

"Couldn't you publish an article in your paper, warning " "The editor wouldn't hear of it. Moreover. I've anticipated that. Here is the manuscript of an article I've written a prophecy of the coming summer. I am going to seal it up in the presence of two witnesses you can be one of them and the editor can be the other and then when things begin to hum the envelope can be opened, and the public will see that I'm talking sense. By that time you'll be on your way home and well, our scoop comes off." Thus that grimy sub-editorial den in the Morning News building saw the inception of one of the greatest sensations of modern times. It was early in March when Keith descried the first small sign that events were moving. An evening paper had a paragraph headed "Curious Discovery in Hyde Park." It stated that one of the park keepers had come across a remarkable spider's ' web in a clump of bushes near the Serpentine. The web was so much stronger than the average that a small bird had stuck in it. The keeper had been attracted by tbe bird's cries, No sign of the spider had been seen. The paragraph attracted little attention. Keith himself was perhaps the only journalist who took the trouble to interview the keeper and verify its accuracy. The keeper said that the paragraph was correct, and added that he had found a number of similar webs since. "Never saw such webs in my life, sir." he said. "They're so blooming strong I can hardly break them down with my stick; and never a sign do I see of the spider that spun them." "A bird was caught in the web?" "That It was. I heard it screeching: but by the time I got there it was dead. Aye, and more than dead. I lugged It out of the web, and it was nothing but a bag of bones, I give you my word. You'd have said it had been sucked but I suppose that's impossible sutked like a fly, you know, which has been ate up by a spider," Keith made no comment. A fortnight later the papers were full of what they called "The Plague . of Spiders Webs in the Park." Keith went to the cable office, and along the wires a message flashed to Wakefield, who was now half way across the globe. "Go ahead," it ran. . "And be quick about it!" ' April and May passed, and by now all Englandall the world was ringing with the extraordinary phenomena to be seen in Hyde Park. Hardly a . yard of the area of the park could be said to be untainted by web. It spread, every night; and in the morning special gangs of men, armed with all sorts of brooms and squilgees. had to clear the paths. In a single night the whole width of Rotten Row was paved with web, and an early horseman, who tried to brave this strange pavement, was compelled to withdraw because his steed would not face it. Yet never a spider was found. Their agility, in evading detection was amazing. The speed of their movements must have been literally faster than any eye could follow. Obviously, spiders were there in millions yet no human eye had seen them. On every side the park glittered and shone wih gossamer tissue. And over all there brooded a vast, an ominous silence. The birds had quitted their accustomed haunts. June came, and there was an outbreak of web at Barnes Common, and in nearly every garden in Kensington and Bays water. The park was now practically impenetrable. Steam rollers were supposed to keep its roadways free of web; but a steam roller had scarcely gone a dozen yards before its wake began to fill with web again. A day came v when the web was so thick that one of the steam rollers jammed in it. The driver got frightened, and jumped from his post into a sea of web a yard deep. He struggled to the edge of it, shrieking, spectators saw the abandoned steam roller , swiftly wound in semi-transparent filaments. In two hours it had vanished from view under a pyramid of white.

Parliament appointed a Royal Commission to examine into the plague of spiders and one of the Royal Commissioners, who lived In a house overlooking St. James's Park, could not get out of the door one morning because it was glued up with web. He escaped from an upper window. Geometrical progression that was the secret of , the speed at which this horror grew. Five days after Hyde Park was finally closed and abandoned, both Piccadilly and the Bayswater , Road were Impassible with web; and two days later a child was killed by the spiders in Fulham. The details of its death were . unspeakable. Onlookers saw it quite distinctly and for the . first time saw the spiders, too nutlike,, hairy beasts, which, when they had done their hideous -task, seemed to evaporate. The river was now the one safe thoroughfare in central London; and Parliament still sat. Mem reach a decision. But, fortunately, his many letters of inquiry and requests for catalogues brought the matter to the attention of the dealers In artificial legs and they undertook to expedite the business. He was. apparently, going to buy an expensive leg, and tbe order was one worth sending after, r .. ,-'. The first salesman to arrive was somewhat stag-. gered by an inquiry as to the possibility of making a cupboard of the leg. "Why, say!" he exclaimed, "I'm sellings legs, not pantries." "Oh, all right." retorted Bill, offended. "I don't much care for your leg anyhow." "Of course," the salesman hastened to say, "we might put a door in the side of the leg. but I wouldn't advise it; It might rattle." , "What's that!" ejaculated BilL I "Would you like people to hear the clink-clink of your private barroom as you walked along tho street?" "I wouldn't want Sarah to hear it. remarked Bill thoughtfully. "Of course not." pursued the salesman. . "What you want is just a leg the best leg possible a leg that will do everything that any other leg will "I guess that's right." conceded Bill. "Now. we have a leg that's equal to the real thing in fact, it's better "Come easy," advised BilL "Another man told me all that." "Well. It's just as good. Yon can do anything with it that you can do with any leg." "Swim?" asked Bill, in reply. "Nb-o." admitted the salesman reluctantly: "no, I'm afraid not. Water would be bad for it." "An you're tryin' to sell that kind of a leg to a man that fives on the water!" exploded BIU. "I'm celling legs for human ; beings, not for fiahea." retorted the salesman. There followed several other salesmen, and each one ran np against the same troublesome proposition. : , r-... The swimming detail seemed to have taken entire possession of Bill's mind. Then Cassidy, hearing something of what was happening, came' hurrying back. Casaidy had the resource fulness to settle tho swimming-leg question promptly. "We don't regularly make legs for porpoise any more than we do for birds, he explained, "but we can do it So 2art be ccctlnnsd, "su Iia.m't guxcd oa air

bers arrived at Westminster by boat. Evenr n

holder who was able had moved into the suburb or the country. "How long will it be before England is inundated with web?" was the question on everybody's lips; and quite serious politician were talking of a universal emigration scheme. Keith, working at tho newspaper office, which had been transferred to Southend, watched and watted. Wakefield's steamer was about due now. If Uncle James was right, all would be well. If not ! Keith shuddered. ' Already Parliament had offered a reward of fifty thousand pounds to anyone. who could devise a scheme for getting rid of the spiders. Tbe million aire proprietor of the Morning News had doubled the offer. Now it was trebled by another paper. Now Parliament voted a hundred thousand. Bays water Kensington Mayfair they existed no longer. Balloon ists. looking down on them from above; saw them as deserts and hills and valley of hideous opalescent whiteness. Web web web, everywhere. Then suddenly' one day the Morning News cam out with sensational placards: "The Spider Problem Solved." Wakefield had arrived arrived with a special steamer whose decks and alleyways were lined with huge cratelike cages containing thousand of Hammerbllls. The steamer was anchored down tho river, and Keith and Wakefield traveled up to London in a dingey to make term. : As Keith had expected, his proposal was met with skepticism. Whereupon he went to the editor and asked him to open the sealed envelope. Within it was an exact prophecy dated six month previously of what would happen. Old Horniman's spiders had escaped in the metropolis, near Hyde Park. They would make for the shelter of the park. They would breed at tbe rate of thirty thousand a month. And nothing could kill them except their natural enemy, the Hammerbill of Java. There It was, all down in black and white and penned long before a single web had been found! The evidence, read in Keith' presence before the Royal Commission, was effective. When Keith further offered not to claim the award until London was clear of spiders, his plea waa unanswerable. Carefully the crate were brought ashore; and in the presence of practically the whole of Parlia- : ment one of them was opened within a short dls- . tance of the central sea of web and a hundred Hammerbills were set free. Skeptics shrugged their shoulders. But another case was brought and opened, and another hundred birds flew free. Then another, and then another. "When the last was reached, Wakefield was pale. "Keith, old man," he said, "there goe the last penny of our ten thousand pound. This expedition cost the deuce of a lot; and I didn't spare expense. ..I'm a pauper if those Hammerbills don't come up to scratch." - AH the rivals of the Morning New scoffed at its assertion that the spider problem was solved. Day after day they scoffed, for day after day psssed -and the ocean of web waa no smaller. Tho Morning News retaliated by pointing out that It waa lit- " tie, if any bigger. Keith and Wakefield experienced unspeakable anxiety, as time passed and definite ' result still hung fire. Professor Jackson, writing In a rival Journal, deluged them with ridicule. But what was significant the professor had no alternative proposal to propound. At laat! Some idiot, at Putney, had shot a Hammerbill and behold. In It stomach was found a mass of half-decomposed Hornlman Spiders! England rang with the news and Londoner nearly lynched tbe sportsman. Parliament held a special sitting and passed a law making the shooting of Hammerbills a penal offense. After that things moved quickly. The Hammerbills themselves were rarely een but the effect of their work soon became apparent. The ocean of web narrowed, as It fell to bit and died lato rottenness. Whitehall was now free, and the whole of the city; then Plcadllly was cleared, and tho masses of putrescent web taken out to sea la lighters and got rid of; a path was made across St. James's Park, and there was talk of the King re- . turning to Buckingham Palace from Sandrtnghaaa; Hyde Park, black and ugly, came to light again; gardens started work In it; day by day the news throbbed forth of a fresh release. One by one the Hammerbill were found, lying dead -dead of starvation. Not a spider remained, and therefore no food. Finally, one was caught and preserved, on a special meat diet at the Zoo. To this day it cage is a place of pilgrimage for those who remember the havoc .of the web and the awful period when London was enwrapped la it pall of silver. And as for Keith and Wakefield? Their scoop had come off. and water, but we can certainly make a leg that will do for swimming." ; "That's something like." declared BilL "Of course, it's bound to sqnesk some. added Cassidy. ' - , ' "What's that?" demanded BilL , ."You can't make aa artificial leg so that tho joints won't rust np some when It gets wet." "How'd It sound in church if I wss to got interrupted Bill. . "It would be awkward. admitted Cassidy. "To tell the truth, I wouldn't try to get that kind of a leg if I were you; I'd Just get the best possible leg for walking. That's all yon really need." In short. Cassidy finally lured Bill to s plac) where liquid refreshments were sold, seated hint at a.tabl". and after a two-hour session got his order for an artificial leg that, as Bill ruefully remarked, . cost as much as a house and lot. - "But you want the best," argued Cassidy. "and you've got it." . AH of Wausauka that had any knowledge of EBI and his affairs awaited with much Impatience the arrival of the leg. Bill himself was the only on who showed neither Impatience nor excitement; but he seemed to have some gloomy misgivings. The arrival of the leg itself did not entirely dissipate the gloom. Tbe consensus of opinion 7 was that it was fine, and Bfll showed a little or the pride of ownership, but he did not enthuse, as expected. - "Yes." he said. In answer to their eapiesslsiis of admiration and congratulation. "I got the Ta leg there is now. bnt I'm afraid it'll be stole." Then they understood the reason for his glooat, and they hastened to reassure him. Thus reassured Bfll became merely the prowd and haonv noaveseor of one of the finest and valuable legs In existence. "Where'd I better : It?" he asked. "Hang It!" they cried. "Ain't you goln' to ' It?"' ' . ..... "What me!" exclaimed BUL "Me wear on leg that's worth more'n all there fa to moat gtss)! No. sirree! Spose I wss drowned! Spose I get mad an tried to kick somebody. That there leg is nice to have, an the feel in that I got It Is good, but I can't have no such jewI on my mind wfaea I'm workin' an' Sarah won't let me change oft. - I been thinkla it all over while It waa eomin. aa It's too valu-ble to use. I think 111 bang It over: Oe fireplace where folks can see It." And over the fireplace BUI Barrett's las tl much lz gill Zrrslt'fc gratiacatlosv

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