226 I N A G U A 



Early the next morning before the sun had risen I found the 

 entrance of the cave with a flashHght and went inside. I 

 wanted to see what happened when the bats returned. The 

 cave was very dark and mysterious, a feehng helped, no doubt, 

 by the fact that I was alone. Only a few bats were visible. 

 Why these had not gone out with the others I could not guess. 

 In one place there were three hanging close together. I reached 

 out and touched one. It was dead. Only its skin held it to- 

 gether, for inside it was dry and powdery. My fingers dis- 

 lodged the mummy and it went fluttering to the floor. The 

 others had died similarly. Old age, disease, or whatever causes 

 the demise of bats had come upon them in their slumber. But 

 although their flesh and tissue had become dried and mummi- 

 fied, though the life had gone out of them, their tiny claws 

 still held them in place just as they do when they are in dreams. 

 Even death could not relax their hold upon the rocks. 



I made myself comfortable in one corner of the cavern and 

 waited. Presently I dozed, for when I wakened a faint radiance 

 was streaming through the opening in the roof. The bats were 

 returning. Vaguely against the sky I could see their forms 

 flutterincr above the hole and could hear the vibrations of their 

 wings as they entered. More and more came to the hole and 

 fluttered into the cavern. Soon the place was filled with their 

 chirping and mice-like squeaking. They must have brought 

 back some tamarinds with them because I could hear them 

 munching the fruit and dropping the seeds on the floor. I sat 

 very quietly so as not to disturb them. Some even hung them- 

 selves near my head. I could feel the air pulse as they swept 

 by, and could hear the soft thuds as they swooped upwards 

 and caught the rocks. Presently the gray began to turn pink. 

 A great mass of them was pouring in the hole then and the 

 vibrations of their wings filled the air. At times the sky was 

 completely darkened as they swept across the opening. 



