Always circling, and always watching what was below by the light of the
lantern, which was of extraordinary power for so small an instrument, we
saw occasionally a curling trunk uplifted above the vegetation, as if its
owner imagined that the strange light playing on the branches was some
delicate prey that could be grasped, and sometimes a gliding form whose
details escaped detection, when, upon passing over a relatively open
place, like that where our adventure had occurred, a blood-curdling sight
met our eyes.
Directly ahead, in the focus of the reflector of the lantern, and not
more than a hundred feet distant, stood a prodigious black creature, on
eight legs, rolling something in its mandibles, which were held close to
what seemed to be its mouth.
"Good Lord!" cried Jack. "It's a tarantula as big as a buffalo!"
"It has caught the missing man!" said Edmund. "Look!"
He pointed to a shred of garment dangling on a thorny branch. I felt sick
at heart, and I heard a groan from Jack. After all, these people were
like us, and our feelings would not have been more keenly agitated if the
victim had been a descendant of Adam.
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