10 Hold Your Breath!

Chapter 10 HOLD YOUR BREATH! While they watched, a dinosaur-sized spider crept out from behind the shower curtain fold. It looked like a monster cement mixer. Its body was yellow- brown and its head was bullet-shaped and furry. Its legs were long and hairy with brown and yellow stripes. The spider let go of the shower curtain and swung away on a thread attached to its rear end. When the spider stopped swinging, it was hanging right below the Umbubble! meep… "Spider make dragline," said Thudd. "Special silk thread for escape. Spider swing away when sponge attack. Look!" Thudd pointed toward the ceiling. "End of dragline stuck to web."

The spider started to scurry up the dragline. They could see its furry face coming up toward them. Two fangs stuck out at the bottom. At the top of its head were two rows of black eyes.

meep… "Spider got eight eyes," said Thudd. "But spider not see much. See hairs on spider? Hairs feel web move. Tell spider what caught in web. Tell spider where to find it. If spider touch our thread, spider feel us move. Feel us talk!" Now the spider was right across from them on its dragline. They could see the hairy underside of it. Judy pointed to finger-shaped nozzles on the rear end of the spider. "What are those?" she whispered. meep… "That where spider silk come from," said Thudd softly. The spider moved up past them on its dragline. Then it paused. It reached out with two of its long, hairy yellow-and-brown legs and pawed the air. Then the spider crossed over to the thread the Umbubble was hanging from! Andrew looked at Judy. He put his finger up to his lips. Judy nodded. They stayed as still as they could. They barely breathed.

Andrew looked over at Thudd. His eyes were closing. Oh no! thought Andrew. He's going to start snoring! "Schnurm…" Thudd snored. It was so loud, the Umbubble trembled! "Schnurm… schnurm… schnurm…" Andrew looked at Judy. Judy looked at Andrew. Her eyes were round and her mouth was saying a silent "Eeek!" The spider stopped in its tracks. It turned and started scrambling down toward the Umbubble. It was no use being quiet anymore. "We've got to get out of here!" Andrew said. "If we bounce up and down, maybe we can get the Umbubble to pull away from the spider silk," said Judy. She started to bounce. Andrew looked down. "Even if we end up in the drain, it's better than being eaten by a spider," he said. He started bouncing, too. meep… "Whazzit? What happen?" said Thudd, waking up.

"Uh, nothing, Thudd," said Andrew. He didn't want to make Thudd feel bad about attracting the spider's attention. "But the spider is coming at us, so we're trying to get loose from this thread." The spider's hairy face was just outside the Umbubble. It was like a huge cat staring into a tiny fishbowl. "Eeeeyyyiiiiiii!" came a yell from below. Andrew and Judy turned to see a wall of tree trunks speeding toward them!