The Black Stallion and Flame by Walter Farley

Author:Walter Farley [Farley, Walter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-80498-3
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2011-08-16T16:00:00+00:00

BAT CAVE

10

It was the middle of the morning when the small group entered the jungle, the veterinarian carrying a longhandled net and machete. All four hikers wore leather boots and gloves, and they walked in single file through a green maze of dangling lianas as thick as a man’s arm.

The veterinarian led the way, using twisted roots for footholds and seldom looking back. Alec was behind him, even when they went splashing through a fast-flowing stream of jade-colored water. He jumped the water plants and hurried around a dark labyrinth of mangrove roots and giant fronds before entering the dark green wall of jungle again. Sandflies nipped his face and he brushed them off angrily. The jungle was broiling with heat and insects.

At a small clearing in a coconut grove the veterinarian stopped the party for a rest.

Henry sat down tiredly and said, “No horse came this way.”

“No, he used the beach,” the veterinarian replied. “This is shorter if not as easy.” He opened a coconut with a blow of his machete and handed it to Henry. “Here, this will make you feel better,” he said, smiling.

Henry drank some of the liquid and passed the coconut on to Alec. “Does the vampire sleep only in caves?” he asked the veterinarian.

“No, he’ll use rooftops, hollow trees and drains if necessary.”

“Are there many bats in the cave we’re going to?” Alec asked.

“Perhaps a hundred of various species,” the veterinarian replied.

“How can you be sure the vampire returned to this one?” Henry asked.

“He prefers living in large communities and his homing instinct is very strong. He’ll be there, all right.”

Alec stood up. “You say there’s never been a vampire on Antago before to your knowledge. What makes you so sure?”

The police officer answered for the veterinarian. “The bite of the vampire is not easily mistaken. Sooner or later we would have found it on some of our livestock.

“I worked in Trinidad during one of its worst outbreaks of bat rabies,” the officer went on. “We had a trained squad for the destruction of bats alone. We used to travel like this looking for their sleeping places during the daytime. It was our most effective way of control. We used nets, poison dust, clubs and cages when we found them.”

“What time do they usually leave their caves?” Alec asked.

“About dusk, and on into the night,” the veterinarian answered, rising to his feet.

“The expression ‘blind as a bat’ must fall short of the truth if they live in caves and hunt at night,” Henry said thoughtfully.

“That’s so,” the veterinarian said. “Actually their eyes, although small, are very well developed.”

“You mean they can see in the dark?” Alec asked.

“Not exactly, but they can get around as well as if they could see. They have an acute sense of hearing and sensitive nerve endings in the wings. While flying they emit shrill, high-pitched cries which serve to guide their flight by means of reflected sound waves.”

“Don’t they fly during the day?” Henry asked.

“Only when disturbed or sick. Strangely enough they don’t seem to be dazzled by the sun and they fly very accurately.

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