A LOST lElsRUARY 



below and the mosquitoes from above soon found 

 me out. The Jamaican sand ant is a subtle, per- 

 sistent creature, and the mosquitois persistent with- 

 out being subtle. Roll myself in my blanket and 

 cover my face and head as I would, I could not 

 shake off or discourage either. About niidni^^Mit 

 my son returned from his fruitless crocodile hunt, 

 and joined me in the couch of sand. Youth can 

 sleep, no matter what the conditions. Presently 

 some strange water-fowl, whose hoarse honking 

 and calling we had been hearing all the evening, 

 spied us out there on the sand, and gathered about 

 us; they stretched their necks, or, as the boys say, 

 *' rubbered " and " rubbered," and let off their weird 

 notes of astonishment or alarm. In the moonlight 

 I saw them standing at the water's edge and cran- 

 ing their necks, all alive with curiosity. Not till my 

 son whipped out his revolver and fired at one of 

 them did the disturbing, long-necked commenting 

 upon our presence cease. 



There in the stillness of the night we heard the 

 wild cattle low in the woods beyond the marshes. 

 (We had been told of a wild herd in this neighbor- 

 hood.) Then mockingbirds, the Antillean species, 

 sang in some near-by bushes, and the mosquitoes 

 and ants still persisted. About two o'clock, finding 

 sleep impossible, and that my body no longer fitted 

 the mould in the sand, I shook myself out of my 

 blanket and stepped forth, and instantly thanked 



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