JUNGLE NIGHT ^79 



quench those flaring headlights, and I had to 

 own myself beaten and release him. He spread 

 his wings and flew swiftly away, his red light 

 glowing derisively; and even in the flood of pure 

 moonlight he moved within an aura which car- 

 ried far through the jungle. I knew that killing 

 him was of no use, for a week after death from 

 chloroform I have seen the entire interior of a 

 large insect box brilliantly lighted by the glow 

 of these wonderful candles, still burning on the 

 dead shoulders of the same kind of insect. 



Twice, deeper in the jungle we squatted and 

 listened, and twice the silence remained un- 

 broken and the air unmoved. Happening to 

 look up through a lofty, narrow canyon of dark 

 foUage, I was startled as by some sudden sound 

 by seeing a pure white cloud, moon-lit, low 

 down, pass rapidly across. It was first astound- 

 ing, then unreal: a bit of exceedingly poor work 

 on the part of the property man, who had mixed 

 the hurricane scenery with that of the dog-days. 

 Even the elements seemed to have been laved 

 with magic. The zone of high wind with its 

 swift flying clouds must have been flowing like 

 a river just above the motionless foUage of the 

 tree-tops. 



