ows made black patternings upon the silver,
and then it plunged into obscurities. For a time it lifted, and then
on one hand the bush fell away, and he saw across a vast moonlit valley
wide undulations of open cultivation, belts of jungle, copses, and a
great lake as black as ebony. For a time the path ran thus open, and
then the jungle closed in again and there were more thickets, more
levels of grass, and in one place far overhead among the branches he
heard and stood for a time perplexed at a vast deep humming of bees....

Presently a black monster with a hunched back went across his path
heedless of him and making a great noise in the leaves. He stood quite
still until it had gone. He could not tell whether it was a boar or
hyaena; most probably, he thought, a boar because of the heaviness of
its rush.

The path dropped downhill for a time, crossed a ravine, ascended. He
passed a great leafless tree on which there were white flowers. On the
ground also, in the darkness under the tree, there were these flowers;
they were dropping noiselessly, and since they were visible in the
shadows, it seemed to him that they must be phosphorescent. And they
emitted a sweetish scent that lay heavily athwart the path. Presently he
passed another such tree. Then he became aware of a tumult ahead of him,
a smashing of leaves, a snorting and slobbering, grunting and sucking,
a whole series of bestial sounds. He halted for a little while, and then
drew nearer, picking his steps to avoid too great a noise. Here were
more of those white-blossomed trees, and beneath, in the darkness,
something very black and big was going to and fro, eating greedily. Then
he found that there were two and then more of these black things, three
or four of them.

Curiosity made Benham draw nearer, very softly.

Presently one showed in a patch of moonlight, startlingly big, a huge,
black hairy monster with a long white nose on a grotesque face, and he
was stuffing armfuls of white blossom into his mouth with his curved
fore claws. He took not the slightest notice of the still man, who stood
perhaps twenty yards away from him. He was too blind and careless. He
snorted and smacked his slobbering lips, and plunged into the shadows
again. Benham heard him root among the leaves and grunt appreciatively.
The air was heavy with the reek of the crushed flowers.

For some time Benham remained listening to and peering at these
preoccupied gluttons. At last he shru