Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1890-09-03
The Devils Army

The Devils Army
I have just returned from an expedition
into ,he Interior Of Yncetan, during which
met with so adventure SO awful and IN.
usuel tba. think my friends will be it,
teresled ia an account of 1t.
Ii the latter part of May last I came to
Central America to investigate The ancient
ruins VIII ch cover this country, with view
Of ob;sinlog, il possible, soma cue to the
period 10 which they belong. | Lad as e
guide an intelligent half breed, Manuel
Bessro, and hs Informed me that there weie
some ruins OF still greater Antiquity some
40 miles 20 the northwara, near the RIO
Seca. thinking thet l might hnd sou
relics OF the los: race, l started accompanied
by yny guide. 1t wac very hard travelling
.hrougE the jung!es, and the difficulties
were multiplied by Inc enormous number OF
snakes and poisonous insec that iniest this
section.
On the afternoon OF the fourth Gay we
c.ppgd in q little opening, clear except for
grass Tais we burned uf. We bad just
finished supper. aud ] vas sitting ST the
base af tres smoking my pipe, when az
onormous tarantula came out OF tho grass
icfo the ceared circle. He was positively
no largest specimen l had ever seen, and as
,he rays of the SUE caught him l noticed
duil, reddish ina down Ills back. regret
led that | had not the means TO preserve 1t,
out ManQel settled my regrets by cIu:hlng
IL with billet of wood. 1t had hardly
ceased inoviDg wien another and equally as
isrge ore appeared ct the other end of the
bnraed patch. did net fear them much %
wore heavy leather ieggiuss reaching TO
my hips.
While I killed the secood unWelcome Wis
!iof Manuel began to pcke around 10 tue
yrass with long branch. He uncovered
iaore Of the great spiders and killed them,
bu. when he turned around there we're fully
ha!f dozen of them In the clea. space. They
fastened or 10 the dead ones and seemed to
sock their Blood. I'VE must get out of THE, "
screamed the Indian.
At this moment our remaining mule be-
gan to struggle He soon broke his picket
Toos and disappeared. Then I became
aware of = steady rustlng in the grass. i
aaye heard Of is from the Iadisns," cried
my guids 1T is devils army. They say
that the people whc lived il 10 dead cities
we're killed uy them, and that no enc can
i've there Cow. They come bY thousands,
lie red ants, and leave nothing alive where
they pass.n He sezed flaming brand from
he camp fire and yelled to me 10 do like
| wise. We .ried 10 fire the grass on ell sides
OF us, but II was tOo rank snu vet. Mean
while the sp;der5 became more and more
numerous. I crushed one OF them every
step l took. Many OF them BIT at ny leg
eings and hung there By their faD&s They
seemed 10 come thicker than we could drive
tnem of
+ ,L-o
passed hin my flask AID dropping my
stick | started 10 run, but they seemed
| everywhere. Goticed that they were In
the bushes and en- The grsss, SO high that my
| le2gings would not protect me. and present
ly found myself back at the camp. There
| ct least they could not reach me without
climbing up. The ground was perfectly
| black With them. Poor Manuel WAS down
or his kaees and the greet insects we're all
over him. 1 knew that would soon be ex-
haustcd If remained among the black
| beasts, aud 10 moment / mad my arms
about small tree crushed the Insects
that c!uDg 10 my egs IS scrsmbled up. A
dCzsp feet from the ground, l pulled myself
up on to branch, and almost fell off 81 the
| ho.!id s'ght balow me. My Indian was now
fairly on the ground. l could not see him
fortbe poisonous things that covered him,
| but the Irregular black msss wriggled and
| squirmed, aid l kYaw 10 @cs not get cut Of
bis ag1ny. On uvery side wore more taran-
tu!as hungriiy seaichng for more victims
Their crueusd fellows were almost torn TO
pieces sc fierce wero they in their hunger
| They wers ali enormous; come of them
gsere as big az turtles They fought for G
spot Of flesh Whsre they could strike, and
| eyery movement Of the still living man
seemed TO make them yet more fierce.
TIE insects bsgsn TO crawl up the tree
though not 10 sns Considerable numbers a
iist. brushed them down wish small
branch, aud those that were hurt at ali were
immediately sat upon By their fel'ows
There were about two hours Of daylight lef
me, aDd wondered what could do in hi
dark. The light wss fading when l noticed
a CT mmotion among the ;arsntuias. At the
same time observed d number of blue BLACK
wasps daring about. l recognized hem 8;
the tar .n;uig hawke Of which | had read
In ten minutes the aYasps bad become hun
dreds and 6ve ainutes later there Was mol
a lsrs-tula 10 be seen, except tho numerous
desc ones al the foot of the tree. Manuel
body, swo len Gnd discoiored by the venom
OF the epders, stared up at me. WAITED al
hour and then came down. It took mt
eighl days 10 reach Nevada, ard on the way
l did no. see single tsrantuls.-Dr
DdUis IN San francisco Eraminer.