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 suc-
ceed.
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