CREATURES OF DARKNESS 219 



places. In great bunches they swept the length of the cavern; 

 the vibrations of their wings pulsed through the arched ceilings. 

 They milled about the flashlight by the dozens. The glare 

 seemed to confuse them for they swooped close to my body. 

 I could feel the cool gusts of air created by their fluttering 

 wings and several times the leathery tissues brushed against my 

 face and arms. 



I hurled another stone. This threw the creatures into a panic 

 and they rushed madly from one end of the cavern to another. 

 Giving them time to subside, I unloaded the camera and flash 

 gun. Propping the camera on a little ledge, I focused it on 

 a hole full of bats. I then filled the flash gun and stepped around 

 a corner of the cave, first opening the shutter. I pressed the 

 trigger. There was a blinding flash of light, a thunderous boom 

 and choking smoke. Coughing, I went back and closed the 

 camera shutter. Then I noticed that not a bat was flying, though 

 a number were twitching restlessly, no doubt disturbed by the 

 smoke. I turned on the light again. The bats were all hanging 

 in their holes where they had gone when they first quieted 

 down. The flash powder had made a report like a cannon but 

 not a bat stirred. I picked up another stone and tossed it against 

 the walls. Instantly the cave was alive with fluttering forms. 

 Another discharge of the flash powder produced the same re- 

 sult. They did not seem to hear the artillery-hke report of the 

 ignited chemical; it was too heavy a sound for their finely 

 adjusted ears. Their hearing was attuned to faint scratchings, 

 the sing of insect wings, the rustle of leaves. For them the 

 thunder of the flash powder did not exist. 



With a net I scooped a half dozen from a recess in the roof 

 and placed them in a bag. They made a terrific racket, fighting 

 and squealing, struggling to get free. Laying the flashUght 

 against a stone I pulled one out, carefully avoiding the needle- 

 like teeth. It stretched and pulled, shrilling in high notes, angrily 



