"Come back again!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless
my skin! I hope not! I've had enough of bats--
and mosquitoes," he added, as he slapped at his
face and neck.
Indeed the party of whites were set upon by
the night insects to such an extent that it was
necessary to hurry back to the protection of the
nets.
Tom and Ned kicked outside the bat the former
had killed in their tent, and then both went back
to their cots. But it was some little time
before they fell asleep. And they did not have
much time to rest, for an early start must be
made to avoid the terrible heat of the middle of
the day.
"Whew!" whistled Ned, as he and Tom arose
in the gray dawn of the morning when Jacinto
announced the breakfast which the Indian cook
had prepared. "That was some night! If this
is a sample of the wilds of Honduras, give me
the tameness of Shopton."
"Oh, we've gone through with worse than
this," laughed Tom. "It's all in the day's work.
We've only got started. I guess we're a bit
soft, Ned, though we had hard enough work in
that tunnel-digging."
After breakfast, while the Indians were making
ready the canoes, Professor Bumper, who,
in a previous visit to Central America, had
become interested in the subject, made a brief
examination of some of the dead bats. They were
exceptionally large, some almost as big as hawks.
and were of the sub-family _Desmodidae_, the scientist
said.
"This is a true blood-sucking bat," went on
the professor.
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