The mogara watched for a while, but as no prey came in sight, he left his burrow and prowled around in search of food. He ran across a dead mogara, and carried it to his burrow and devoured it in the darkness. But this was not sufficient for him, so he went foraging again, and saw an ozoni ant. The ozonis were also prowling everywhere for prey. They are smaller than the mogaras, but are terribly voracious.
This ozoni said: “I am famished, and if I find no prey I must attack one of my own kind and eat him,” for the ozonis are cannibals, feeding often on one another. Upon this, looking around, he saw an ozoni smaller than himself not far off, and he ran after him. The fight was fierce. The weaker one realized that he was fighting for his life. He succeeded in escaping from the clutches of his enemy, and ran as fast as he could; but he had been somewhat disabled in the fight, and was recaptured. “Oh!” said the victorious ozoni, “you thought you would escape from me, but you cannot, and now I am going to eat you up!” which he speedily proceeded to do.
Meanwhile the spider was unaware of what was taking place among the mogara and ozoni ants, while he was shut up in his burrow. When he thought the wasp must have got a long way off, he once more raised the trap-door. Seeing a grasshopper passing by, he attacked the creature with great fury, and after a stubborn fight carried him into his abode.
Having made an excellent meal of his last victim, and not being hungry any more, the spider said: “Now I am going to shut my door and have a good sleep.”
After his sleep, he again opened his door and watched. In the distance he saw a big mogara ant and also an ozoni ant. They were looking for prey, and for trap-door spiders. They were going in another direction, away from the burrow of the spider, who accordingly was not frightened, but watched until they were out of sight.
“How I hate the ants!” thought the spider, “especially these horrid mogara and ozoni ants; they are quite as fierce as the wasps, and almost as dangerous. If we spiders had our own way, we would kill them all.” He did not reflect that they had to live in the way the spiders did,—that is, by killing other creatures. The spiders have their own point of view in regard to wasps, ants, and other enemies; but these latter had also a different point of view in regard to spiders, and no wonder, for their interests differ.
Weeks passed away in this round of hunting and sleeping. One day the spider had gone out of his burrow and was in a good place to watch for prey. Suddenly there appeared behind him at some distance upon an eminence three mogara ants that were out foraging. They saw the spider at once, and made for him, for they were hungry.
They walked as lightly as they could, for fear that their intended victim would hear them, for they knew how well trap-door spiders can hear.
Soon the spider was surrounded, and then his enemies attacked him immediately. One of the mogara ants gave him a fierce bite that laid open his abdomen and disabled him; the others joined in the fight, which was soon over, and then they make a good feast of him. Such was the end of the spider who had, in his time, killed so many insects during his adventurous life.