At the sight of the village, the wasp was delighted, and said: “Surely I shall find in some of the houses a wall spider or two.”
Soon after, she was in the street, and began to enter house after house, though the human beings that were there drove her away. But in some there were no people, and she could fly all over without being molested.
At last she entered the house where the house spider was who had devoured the cockroach. She flew around. She caught sight of a spider. Its dull gray color could not escape her.
The acute hearing of the spider soon told him that a wasp, his most dreaded enemy, was in the house, and he was seized with great fear, for he knew his life was in danger. He lay as flat as he could on the wall and did not move, hoping not to be discovered.
But his efforts were of no avail. In a flash the wasp was right over the spider, almost touching his body,—all her efforts and intelligence concentrated in the capture and destruction of her victim. She darted her legs at their full length between the legs of the spider, striking them incessantly to prevent him from moving, and so rapidly that they could hardly be seen, while at the same time she gave constant bites in the back of his neck. Faster and faster moved her legs.
When the wasp thought she had crippled the spider enough, she drew backward, her head moving down, and her nippers cut his right leg near its junction with his body. She moved forward again, and bit the neck once more, and after this cut his left front leg. The eight legs were cut off, one after the other, in this way. During the whole fight the spider seemed benumbed, and after the last leg had dropped the wasp flew away with the body to devour it at her ease.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE TWO NKENGOS, OR PALE-FACED APES
In the midst of the dark foliage of a group of trees stood two pale yellow-faced nkengos (men of the woods). Strange, indeed, looked their yellow, wrinkled, parchment-like faces, in the midst of the green leaves that surrounded them. They were almost like the faces of white human beings after a long illness, but darker.
They had met toward evening near their two bowers, as was their habit, when they had to separate to seek food during the day. Suddenly the smaller one said to his mate: “I saw a strange being to-day, the like of whom you and I have never seen during our lives. He had a pale face like ours, and very long, black, shaggy hair, as black as ours, fell from his head low down on his back. He walked quite erect, had long legs, much longer than ours, and a shorter body; his arms were also much shorter than ours. All I could see was his pale face and his short white hands, and his whole body was unlike these in color. I cannot explain what this was, for I have never seen the like of it before. Strange to say, his feet were black and not of the color of his face, and he had no toes. He carried something like a stick. He looked at me with such peculiar eyes that I was dreadfully frightened, and I fled. Then I heard coming from him a terrible noise like a clap of thunder, and something whistled by like a sharp insect, and made a gash in a tree ahead of me. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, and escaped him, and I am safe by your side.”