But the increasing
lights, and the attacks made by the Indians and
the white travelers turned the tide of battle, and,
with silent flappings of their soft, velvety wings,
the bats flew back to the jungle whence they had emerged.
"We are safe--for the present!" exclaimed
Jacinto with a sigh of relief.
"Do you think they will come back?" asked Tom.
"They may--there is no telling."
"Bless my speedometer!" cried Mr. Damon,
"If those beasts or birds--whatever they are--
come back I'll go and hide in the river and take
my chances with the alligators!"
"The alligators aren't much worse," asserted
Jacinto with a visible shiver. "These vampire
bats sometimes depopulate a whole village."
"Bless my shoe laces!" cried Mr. Damon. "You
don't mean to say that the creatures can eat up a
whole village?"
"Not quite. Though they might if they got
the chance," was the answer of the Spanish
guide. "These vampire bats fly from place to
place in great swarms, and they are so large and
blood-thirsty that a few of them can kill a horse
or an ox in a short time by sucking its blood. So
when the villagers find they are visited by a
colony of these vampires they get out, taking
their live stock with them, and stay in caves or in
densely wooded places until the bats fly on.
Then the villagers come back.
"It was only a small colony that visited us to-
night or we would have had more trouble. I do
not think this lot will come back. We have
killed too many of them," and he looked about
on the ground where many of the uncanny creatures
were still twitching in the death struggle.
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