El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-18
LIGHTNING BUGS.
A Strange Sight Seen by an After
Dark Traveller in Mexico.

ST was riding through the Jungle the
Other night on an eighteen-inch trail
All was darkness, and such darknessp
said an American writing to the Min
| neapolis Journal. 81 could feel 1t.
would put my hand up to my face every
few minutes to see If I could see it, but
| the darkness was too intense. It made
me very nervous, for the trails are sc
little used that the brush Is apt to be
lower than a mans height, and one is
| in danger of being brushed from ones
saddle in going along in the dark.
felt as though my head might be
brushed from my shoulders.
1.-THE quiet was intense except for
the calls of wild beasts and birds, some
of which sounded to me in my nervous
state like q thousand fiends. Even in
the daylight many of the calls sound
more like those of a person than ar
animal.
my horse was picking the trail, and
had one arm over my head so as tC
protect myself from the brush over
head, when suddenly 1 saw q lantern
with greenish light ahead of me q
little way, but to one side. My blood
In my overweight state 1 did not ask
myself what it was. II was there and
that was enough. Who says the ina
gination Is not as bad as the reality
while it lasts? Sometimes, as in this
case, it ia only few seconds, but what
agony OF fright can be felt in those
few seconds and what an eternity those
seconds seem.
ST saw the light flash across my path,
then dart back into the Jungle again.
By the time it flashed across my path
the second time I came to, as it we're,
from my fright and realized that there
was no one for perhaps q hundred
miles around, except the natives, and
knew they knew nothing of lanterns
Besides that, ANNA would not dart
back and forth. I then began to see
many more of these greenish lights
There were plenty of fireflies dartine
However, they did not hurt me, and
did not bother them.
knew they must be winged some.
things, IS they were high and low, and
SO must fly. By degrees I recovered
my composure and watching tntently,
1 thought it-whatever lit" was-was
small. Arriving at last at an Indian g
where 1 was to spend the night, I went
to bed in q hammock swung under the
rafters, tired out, sore and very much
unnerved. could not sleep and lay
with my eyes wide open, turned to the
rafters and matched roof. The 1udi-
crous side of my fright and how awful
and real it had been rushed over me.
I called to the Indian, who was hung
up in another hammock few feet from
me, and asked him what it was. He
me ''kookoogugu," or something that
sounded as much like nothing as that,
for had come to Mexico knowing no
Spanish; but as | seemed so interested
and ignorant, he made funny sound
with his lips lew times and down the
inSacf AaW-fnr insect @ oan-
tured It and gave it to me.
est was large black napbeetle with
two large greenish lights, which 1 sup
posed to be its eyes. but upon carefully
examining it found they we're not. 1t
also had a streak of this same light I'M
der its body. The light was luminous,
shedding its rays quite few inches,
this making it appear at a
distance quite as large as an
ordinary lantern. Well, after that l
went to sleep and slept we'll.
81 often laugh when 1 think the most
horrible fright 1 ever experienced
was caused by harmless little light
MING Suo' -