The two hind-legs, with a quick alternate action, draw it from the wallet and let it go.
On returning to her starting-point, at a height of six feet or more, the Spider is now in possession of a double line, bent into a loop and floating loosely in a current of air.

She fixes her end where it suits her and waits until the other end, wafted by the wind, has fastened its loop to the adjacent twigs.
Feeling her thread fixed, the Epeira runs along it repeatedly, from end to end, adding a fibre to it on each journey.

Whether I help or not, this forms the "suspension cable," the main piece of the framework.

I call it a cable, in spite of its extreme thinness, because of its structure.

It looks as though it were single, but, at the two ends, it is seen to divide and spread, tuft-wise, into numerous constituent parts, which are the product of as many crossings.