Evening star., 1935-12-01
Magazine Section
Hunting the Spectral Vampire
Continued from page fVo
Magazine Section
Continued from page fWo

know he's there"
Big job or little one, would not be
satisfied to sail back to New York
without making an attempt.
There is a certain tree at -Four
Roads that know has big bats" the
Professor told me- We'll try there
tomorrow morning"
In previous field work in Trinidad
the Professor had led me into all but
impenetrable jungle and thought |
knew what to expect. The next morn
ing dressed for the bush - khaki
trousers and shirt, rough, heavy shoes
for climbing, and equipped myself
with nets and leather gloves. Then
the Professors car picked me up and
we rolled out of the city for perhaps
twenty minutes and stopped - in a
farmyard
What's this?" asked.
Were here. Over there is the silk
cotton tree was telling you about"
So rolled out, feeling rather sheep
ish to have dressed for tramp
through the junge-clad Northern
Range when a costume for the city
streets would have served just as
we'll. The bat-haunted silk-cotton, or
ceiba, was simply one of several trees
in a farmyard
The silk-cotton tree is rather pecu-
liar. Often it grows to enormous size;
its roots are flung off from the bole
several feet above the ground and rise
as great buttresses beside the trunk.
Frequently large and old trees are
hollow, as was the case with this one,
and there was room for boy or a
thin man to squeeze between the but
tresses into the interior.
Armed with the Professors fash
light l entered and looked first on the
floor of red. rotten wood. There were
the droppings Professor Urich had
mentioned - tiny feathers and the
beaks of small birds, small black
strings that no doubt had once been
the tails of frisky jungle rats.
cast the light upward and made
out two or three gray-brown forms
hanging head downward against the
side of the tree some eighteen or
twenty feet overhead,
They're in there" told the
Professor as backed out.
Good. Then we'll go to work"
With the assistance of Negro boys,
Enrol Achi, the Professors field
assistant, unrolled a great white net
and tackled it over the entrance to the
hollow. When that exit was blocked,
Achi and one of the boys crawled
inside and with much shouting and
throwing of chips started the bats
futtering. But they refused to fly low
enough to be caught. Achi finally
thrust his machete out so we could
cut down twenty-foot sapling to use
as a prodding instrument.
A few minutes later he called out
that he had caught one, and the next
instant | heard him cry out in pain
and surprise. As he thrust the bat out
from under the netting into nay gloved
hands l saw that his own glove was
ripped through the thumb
BE careful" he said. This one
just now bit me through the glove
and ripped my thumb" He pulled off
the glove and saw that his flesh had
been opened for more than an inch.
did not need the warning, how
ever. / had caught one glimpse of
long. white canine teeth as the bat
came through the hole, and l was
careful to keep my fingers out of
reach of the creatures mouth.
raised the sliding door of the portable
cage we had brought along. put the
bat inside and let go quickly. Appar-
emily he was not the least bit ruff1ed
by handling, for he sized up the cage
in glance and half sprang, half flew,
to the darkest corner at the top, where
he turned himself upside down and