In the morning she was still watching and waiting, but at last there was a sound. A deep humming was heard in the air as if a fairy aeroplane were passing. It was so loud that even deaf Emma might have heard it if she had not been too busy. Just then, however, her hairs had received a wireless message to say there was a catch at the far end of her web. Although a spider is much more patient than you, and can sit still a long time, it is a quick mover when there is need for speed. Emma darted out like a flash of lightning and found a fly struggling in her web. It was a very small thin one, and poor hungry Emma was disappointed not to see a larger joint for her larder. She quickly settled it, however, and spun some web round it to wrap it up, for, after all, it was something to eat and so worth taking care of. She was still busy with her parcel when “Buzz, buzz, buzz,” the whole web gave a big jump and there quite close to Emma was a huge, terrible beast. A great angry yellow wasp, making frightful growling noises and struggling desperately to get out of the web. Poor Emma wasn’t very old or daring and she knew the danger she was in, for this savage monster could kill her easily with his sting. He was fighting hard against the sticky meshes of the web and jerking himself nearer to her. She was too frightened to move, and for a minute she hung on to her web limp and motionless looking like a poor little dead spider. Then something happened. The wind blew a little puff, the wasp put out all his strength and gave a twist, the web already torn broke into a big hole and the great yellow beast was free. He glared at Emma and hovered over her, buzzing furiously. He would have liked to kill her, but luckily he was too afraid of getting tangled up again in that sticky, clinging web, so, grumbling loudly, he flew away.
“What did Emma do?”
Well, she quickly got over her fright and I think she had a little lunch off her lean fly; then she looked at her web and was sorry to see it so torn and spoilt. The best thing to do was to mend it then and there, and as a spider always has more silk in her pocket, so to speak, she was able to do it at once. She repaired it so well that it didn’t look a bit as if it had been patched but just as if the new piece had always been there, the pattern was just as perfect.