The Van Buren press., 1894-12-01

the boat. its great bat-like wings
once more beat me and scattered the
flaming brands, and the thing made
desperate effort to get past me back IN
to the gloom. 1t had seen tho daylight
approaching, and rather than face the
sun, preferred to fight :.
ITS ferocity was that OF rnaddened
dog, but l kept it off with my pole,
and seeing my opportunity as 1t chung,
Tapping its wings upon the bow, gave
II such thrust as made it drop of. IT
began to swim Il then for the first
time noticed its long neck), but with
my pole struck it on the head and
stunned it, and once more saw 1t go
drifting on the current into daylight
what relief it was to be out in
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
a time. / turned my canoe to the shore,
to the shade of trees, and .hrowing
moose over the floating body, let it tow
behind
"Once more on firm land-and in pos
session of the vampire!
"a dragged it out of the water. What
a hideous beast it looked, this winged
kangaroo with a python's neck! twas
not dead; so l made muzzle with
strip of skin,0 then firmly bound its
wings together round its body. l lay
down and slept When | awoke, the
next day was breaking, SO, having
breakfasted, l dragged my captive in
to the canoe and went on down the
river. Where / was had no idea; but
I knew that l was going to the sea;
going to Germany, and that was
enough.
For two months l have been drift
ing with the current down this never
ending river. Of my adventures, of
hostile natives, CT rapids, of alligators
and jaguars need say nothing. They
are the common property of all trav-
elers. But my vampire! It is alive.
And now l am devoured by only one
ambition-to keep it alive; to let Eu-
rope actually gaze upon the living,
breathing survivor of the great rep
tiles known to the human race before
the days of Noah-the missing link be-
tween the reptile and the bird. To
this end denied myself food; denied
myself even precious medicine. In
spite of itself gave it all my quinine
and when the miasma crept up the
river at night covered it with my rug
and lay exposed myself. If the black
fever should seize me!
"Three months, and still upon this
hateful river! Will it never end?
have been ill-so i'll that for two days
could not feed it. l had not the
strength to go ashore to find food, and
fear that will die; die before can
get it home.
''Been i'll again--the black fever!
But it is alive. l caught vicuna
swimming in the river, and it sucked
it dry-gallons of blood. 1t had been
unfed three days. In its hungry
haste it broke its muzzle. l was al
most too feeble to put it on again. A
horrible thought possesses me. Sup
pose it breaks its muzzle again, when
am lying i'll, delirious, and it is raw
enous? Oh. the horror Of it! To see II
eating is terrible. 1t links the claws
of it's wings together and covers over
the body, its head under the wings out
of sight. But the victim never moves
As soon as the vampire touches it there
seems to be paralysis. Once those
wings are linked there is absolute
quiet Only the grating of teeth upon
bone. Horrible! horrible! But in
Germany l shall be famous. In Ger
many with my vampire!
"Am very feeble. 1t broke it's muz
zle again, but it was in the daylight
when it is blind. Its great eyes are
blind in the sunlight. 1t was long
struggle. This black fever and the
horror of this thing! l am too veal
to kill 1t II | would. l must get i
home alive. Soon-surely soon-tht
river will end. Oh, God! does it nevel
reach the sea, reach white men, reacf
home? But if it attacks me l will
throttle it. If we cannot go back t.
Germany alive, we will go together
dead. l will throttle it with my two
hands and fix my teeth in its horrible
neck and our bones shall lie togethe,
on the bank of this accursed river"
This is nearly all that was recovered
of the professors diary. But it il
enough to tell us of the final tragedy
The two skeletons were found to
gether on the very edge of the rive
bank Half of each, in the lapse o
years, had been washed away at sue
cessive flood tides. The rest, whel
put together, made up the man reptile
that, to use Rabelaisan phrase
'metagrobolized all to nothing" thu
University of Bierundwurst. = Con
temporary Review.
Two Kinds of blondes,