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THE WEB OF THE GOLDEN SPIDER

by

FREDERICK ORIN BARTLETT

Author of "Joan of the Alley," etc.

Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Charles M. Relyea







[Illustration: "_With pretty art and a woman's instinctive desire to
please, she had placed the candle on a chair and assumed something of a
pose._" [Page 20]]



New York
Grosset & Dunlap
Publishers

Copyright, 1909
by Small, Maynard & Company
(Incorporated)

Entered at Stationers' Hall

The University Press, Cambridge, U.S.A.




  TO
  MY WIFE




CONTENTS

  CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
        I THE CLOSED DOOR OPENS                                      1
       II CHANCE PROVIDES                                           13
      III A STRANGER ARRIVES                                        28
       IV THE GOLDEN GOD SPEAKS                                     40
        V IN THE DARK                                               53
       VI BLIND MAN'S BUFF                                          63
      VII THE GAME CONTINUES                                        75
     VIII OF GOLD AND JEWELS LONG HIDDEN                            89
       IX A STERN CHASE                                            100
        X STRANGE FISHING                                          113
       XI WHAT WAS CAUGHT                                          124
      XII OF LOVE AND QUEENS                                       136
     XIII OF POWDER AND BULLETS                                    149
      XIV IN THE SHADOW OF THE ANDES                               164
       XV GOOD NEWS AND BAD                                        172
      XVI THE PRIEST TAKES A HAND                                  185
     XVII 'TWIXT CUP AND LIP                                       200
    XVIII BLIND ALLEYS                                             214
      XIX THE SPIDER AND THE FLY                                   225
       XX IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF QUESADA                              237
      XXI THE HIDDEN CAVE                                          253
     XXII THE TASTE OF ROPE                                        265
    XXIII THE SPIDER SNAPS                                         274
     XXIV THOSE IN THE HUT                                         286
      XXV WHAT THE STARS SAW                                       296
     XXVI A LUCKY BAD SHOT                                         308
    XXVII DANGEROUS SHADOWS                                        320
   XXVIII A DASH FOR PORT                                          330
     XXIX THE OPEN DOOR CLOSES                                     