"We were chasing shadows!" laughed Tom. "At least Ned was. But you look cozy enough in there."
It did, indeed, look cheerful in contrast to the damp and dark jungle all about. Professor b.u.mper, being an experienced traveler, knew how to provide for such comforts as were possible. Folding cots had been opened for himself, Mr. Damon and the guide to sleep on, others, similar, being set up in the tent where Tom and Ned were to sleep. In the middle of the tent the professor had made a table of his own and Mr. Damon"s suit cases, and on this placed a small dry battery electric light. He was making some notes, doubtless for a future book. Jacinto was going about the camp, seeing that the Indians were at their duties, though most of them had gone directly to sleep after supper.
"Better get inside and under the nets," advised Professor b.u.mper to Tom and Ned. "The mosquitoes here are the worst I ever saw."
"We"re beginning to believe that," returned Ned, who was unusually quiet. "Come on, Tom. I can"t stand it any longer. I"m itching in a dozen places now from their bites."
As Tom and Ned had no wish for a light, which would be sure to attract insects, they entered their tent in the dark, and were soon stretched out in comparative comfort. Tom was just on the edge of a deep sleep when he heard Ned murmur:
"I can"t understand it!"
"What"s that?" asked the young inventor.
"I say I can"t understand it."
"Understand what?"
"That shadow. It was real and yet----"
"Oh, go to sleep!" advised Tom, and, turning over, he was soon breathing heavily and regularly, indicating that he, at least, had taken his own advice.
Ned, too, finally succ.u.mbed to the overpowering weariness of the first day of travel, and he, too, slept, though it was an uneasy slumber, disturbed by a feeling as though some one were holding a heavy black quilt over his head, preventing him from breathing.
The feeling, sensation or dream--whatever it was--perhaps a nightmare--became at last so real to Ned that he struggled himself into wakefulness. With an effort he sat up, uttering an inarticulate cry.
To his surprise he was answered. Some one asked:
"What is the matter?"
"Who--who are you?" asked Ned quickly, trying to peer through the darkness.
"This is Jacinto--your guide," was the soft answer. "I was walking about camp and, hearing you murmuring, I came to your tent. Is anything wrong?"
For a moment Ned did not answer. He listened and could tell by the continued heavy and regular breathing of his chum that Tom was still asleep.
"Are you in our tent?" asked Ned, at length:
"Yes," answered Jacinto. "I came in to see what was the matter with you. Are you ill?"
"No, of course not," said Ned, a bit shortly. "I--I had a bad dream, that was all. All right now."
"For that I am glad. Try to get all the sleep you can, for we must start early to avoid the heat of the day," and there was the sound of the guide leaving and arranging the folds of the mosquito net behind him to keep out the night-flying insects.
Once more Ned composed himself to sleep, and this time successfully, for he did not have any more unpleasant dreams. The quiet of the jungle settled down over the camp, at least the comparative quiet of the jungle, for there were always noises of some sort going on, from the fall of some rotten tree limb to the scream or growl of a wild beast, while, now and again, from the river came the pig-like grunts of the alligators.
It was about two o"clock in the morning, as they ascertained later, when the whole camp--white travelers and all--was suddenly awakened by a wild scream. It seemed to come from one of the natives, who called out a certain word ever and over again. To Tom and Ned it sounded like:
"Oshtoo! Oshtoo! Oshtoo!"
"What"s the matter?" cried Professor b.u.mper.
"The vampires!" came the answering voice of Jacinto. "One of the Indians has been attacked by a big vampire bat! Look out, every one!
It may be a raid by the dangerous creatures! Be careful!"
Notwithstanding this warning Ned stuck his head out of the tent. The same instant he was aware of a dark enfolding shadow pa.s.sing over him, and, with a shudder of fear, he jumped back.
CHAPTER XII
A FALSE FRIEND
"What is it? What"s the matter?" cried Tom springing from his cot and hastening to the side of his chum in the tent. "What has happened, Ned?"
"I don"t know, but Jacinto is yelling something about vampires!"
"Vampires?"
"Yes. Big bats. And he"s warning us to be careful. I stuck my head out just now and I felt that same sort of shadow I felt this evening when we were down near the river."
"Nonsense!"
"I tell you I did!"
At that instant Tom flashed a pocket electric lamp he had taken from beneath his pillow and in the gleam of it he and Ned saw fluttering about the tent some dark, shadow-like form, at the sight of which Tom"s chum cried:
"There it is! That"s the shadow! Look out!" and he held up his hands instinctively to shield his face.
"Shadow!" yelled Tom, unconsciously adding to the din that seemed to pervade every part of the camp. "That isn"t a shadow. It"s substance.
It"s a monster bat, and here goes for a strike at it!"
He caught up his camera tripod which was near his cot, and made a swing with it at the creature that had flown into the tent through an opening it had made for itself.
"Look out!" yelled Ned. "If it"s a vampire it"ll----"
"It won"t do anything to me!" shouted Tom, as he struck the creature, knocking it into the corner of the tent with a thud that told it must be completely stunned, if not killed. "But what"s it all about, anyhow?" Tom asked. "What"s the row?"
From without the tent came the Indian cries of:
"Oshtoo! Oshtoo!"
Mingled with them were calls of Jacinto, partly in Spanish, partly in the Indian tongue and partly in English.
"It is a raid by vampire bats!" was all Tom and Ned could distinguish.
"We shall have to light fires to keep them away, if we can succeed.
Every one grab up a club and strike hard!"