208 JUNGLE PEACE 



for company, the instinctive wisdom of place 

 and posture, the gentleness and silence of the 

 little foregathering in the jungle. As I walked 

 back along the trail several late comers passed 

 me, vibrating softly through the twilight, headed 

 for their glade of dreams. 



Subsequent visits to this glade emphasized the 

 strength of association of this little fraternity, 

 by realization of its temporal brevity. Three 

 weeks after I first discovered the glade, I re- 

 turned in late afternoon and waited silently. 

 For a time I feared that the mariposal friend- 

 ship was a thing of the past. But a few min- 

 utes before five the first Red-spot fluttered by, 

 in and out among the twigs and leaves, as one 

 slips an aeroplane through openings in drifting 

 clouds. One by one, from all directions, the rest 

 followed, until I counted twelve, twenty, thirty- 

 four. Many of the twigs were now vacant, and 

 most of the heliconias were tattered and for- 

 lorn, just able to keep at their fluttering level. 

 There was something infinitely pathetic in this 

 little company, which in less than a month had 

 become so out at elbow, so aged, with death close 

 ahead, yet with all their remaining strength 

 making their way from north and from south, 



