The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-11-02

|
fiotsam of the river. So they said the
cave was the entrance to hell, and bot
tomless.
And one day a white man, profess
sor of that same university of Bierund-
wurst, and mighty hunter of beetles
before the lord, who lived with the In
dams in friendship, went up the back
water, right up to the entrance, and
set afloat inside the cave a little raft,
heaped up with touchwood and knots
of the oil tree, which he set fire to,
and he saw the raft go creeping along.
all ablaze, for an hour or more, light
ing up the wet walls of the cave as it
went on either side. And then it was
put out.
1t did not "go'' out suddenly, as if it
had upset or had foated over the edge
of waterfall, but just as if it had
| been beaten out.
For the burning fragments were
flung to one side and the other, and
the pieces, still alight, g1owed for
long time on the lodges and points of
rock where they fell, and the cave was
| filled with the sound of a sudden wind
and tine echoes OF the noise of great
wings Tapping.
And at last, one day, the professor
went into the cave himself.
Il took" he wrote, "a large canoe.
| and from the bows L built out brazier
of stout cask hoops, and behind it L
set 2 gold-washing tin dish for a re-
| fector, and loaded the canoe with
roots of the resin tree, and oil wood
and vans and dried meat. And I took
! spears with me, some tipped with the
wooraH poison, that numbs, but does
not kill And lit my fire, and with
my pole / guided my canoe very eau
tiously through the tunnel, and be-
| fore long it widened out, and creeping
along one wall l suddenly became
aware of a moving of something on
the opposite side.
$50 turned the light fair upon it,
and there, upon kind of a ledge, sat a
beast with head like large gray
| dog. Its eyes were as large as a cows.
What its shape was / could not see.
! But as looked l began gradually to
: make out two huge bat!ike wings, and
! these were spread out to their utmost,
! as if the beast were on tiptoe and
ready to fly. And SO it was For just
as | had realized that | beheld before
me some great bat-reptile of a kind
unknown to science, except as predi-
! luvian, and the shock had thrilled
! through me at the thought that was
actually in the presence of living
specimen of the so-called extinct fly
/ ing lizards of the food, the thing
! launched itself upon the air, and the
next instant it was upon me.
"Clutching OF to the canoe, it beat
! with its wings at the flame SO furiously
| that it was all could do to keep from
capsizing, and, taken by surprise, /
was nearly stunned by the strength
and rapidity of the blows before | at
tempted to defend myself.
by that time-scarcely half min
ute had elapsed-the brazier had been
nearly emptied by the powerful brute,
and the vampire, installing me, no
doubt, for victim of sacrifice, had
taken hold of me. The next instant 1
had driven spear clean through his
body, and with prodigious tumult Of
wings. the thing loosed its claws from
my clothes and dropped off into the
stream.
''As quickly as possible rekindled
my light and now saw the arinchi,
with wings outstretched upon the wa
ter, drifting down on the current. l
| followed it.
Hour after hour, with my reflector
turned full upon that gray dogs head
with cow-lilze eyes, / passed along
! down the dark and silent waterway. l
ate a-d drank as l went along. but did
not dare TO sleep. a day must nave
passed and two nights, and then, as
had long expected. l saw right ahead
pale, eye-shaped glimmer, and knew
that was coming out into daylight
again.
The opening came nearer, and it
was with intense eagerneSs that l
gazed upon my trophy, the floating
arinchi, the last of the winged reptiles.
Already, in imagination, / saw my
self the foremost of travellers in Eu-
ropean fame. the hero of the day.
What were Banks kangaroos, or Du
Chaillu's gorilla to my discovery of
the last survivor of the pterodactyles,
of the creatures of the flood, the flying
saurian of the preNoachin epoch of
catastrophe and mud.
Full of these thoughts, / had not
noticed that the vampire was no longer
moving, and suddenly the bow
of the canoe bumped against it.
In an instant it had climbed up on to
the boat. Its great bat-like wings
once more beat me and scattered the
flaming brands, and the thing made a
desperate effort to get past me back in
TO the gloom 1t had seen the daylight
approaching, and rather than face the
sun. preferred to fight.
Its ferocity was that of maddened
dog, but kept it off with my pole,
and seeing my opportunity as it chung,
1apping its wings upon the bow, gave
II such thrust as made it drop off It
began to swim II then for the first
time noticed its long neck, but with
my pole | struck it on the head and
stunned 1t, and once more saw it 90
drifting on the current into DAYLIGHT
What relief it was to be out il
the open air! 1t was noon. and as we
passed out from under the entrance Of /
the cave, the river blazed so in the /
sunlight that after the two days of al
most total darkness ! was blinded for
time. | turned my canoe to the shore.
10 the shade Of trees, and throwing a
moose over the floating body, let it tow
behind