20 EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 
but I hardly felt the pushing of the feet and 
pulling of the thumbs as it crawled along. If 
I had been asleep, I should not have awakened. 
It continued up my forearm and came to rest 
at my elbow. Here another long period of rest, 
and then several short, quick shifts of body. 
With my whole attention concentrated on my 
elbow, I began to imagine various sensations as 
my mind pictured the long, lancet tooth sink- 
ing deep into the skin, and the blood pumping 
up. I even began to feel the hot rush of my 
vital fluid over my arm, and then found that I 
had dozed for a moment and that all my sensa- 
tions were imaginary. But soon a gentle tick- 
ling became apparent, and, in spite of putting 
this out of my mind and with increasing doubts 
as to the bat being still there, the tickling con- 
tinued. It changed to a tingling, rather pleasant 
than otherwise, like the first stage of having one’s 
hand asleep. 
It really seemed as if this were the critical 
time. Somehow or other the vampire was at 
work with no pain or even inconvenience to me, 
and now was the moment to seize him, call for 
a lantern, and solve his supersurgical skill, the 
exact method of this vespertilial anesthetist. 
