ght and leaving the hands free for use.

Out of the tents rushed the young men to find Professor Bumper and Mr.
Damon before them. The two men had clubs and were striking about in
the half darkness, for now the Indians had set several fires aglow.
And in the gleams, constantly growing brighter as more fuel was piled
on, the young inventor and his chum saw a weird sight.

Circling and wheeling about in the camp clearing were many of the black
shadowy forms that had caused Ned such alarm. Great bats they were,
and a dangerous species, if Jacinto was to be believed.

The uncanny creatures flew in and out among the trees and tents, now
swooping low near the Indians or the travelers. At such times clubs
would be used, often with the effect of killing or stunning the flying
pests. For a time it seemed as if the bats would fairly overwhelm the
camp, so many of them were there. But the increasing lights, and the
attacks made by the Indians and the white travelers turned the tide of
battle, and, with silent flappings of their soft, velvety wings, the
bats flew back to the jungle whence they had emerged.

"We are safe--for the present!" exclaimed Jacinto with a sigh of relief.

"Do you think they will come back?" asked Tom.

"They may--there is no telling."

"Bless my speedometer!" cried Mr. Damon, "If those beasts or
birds--whatever they are--come back I'll go and hide in the river and
take my chances with the alligators!"

"The alligators aren't much worse," asserted Jacinto with a visible
shiver. "These vampire bats sometimes depopulate a whole village."

"Bless my shoe laces!" cried Mr. Damon. "You don't mean to say that
the creatures can eat up a whole village?"

"Not quite. Though they might if they got the chance," was the answer
of the Spanish guide. "These vampire bats fly from place to place in
great swarms, and they are so large and blood-thirsty that a few of
them can kill a horse or an ox in a short time by sucking its blood.
So when the villagers find they are visited by a colony of these
vampires they get out, taking their live stock with them, and stay in
caves or in densely wooded places until the bats fly on. Then the
villagers come back.

"It was only a small colony that visited us tonight or we would have
had more trouble. I do not think this lot will come back. We have
killed too many of them," and he looked about on the ground where many
of the uncanny creatures were still twitching i