172 THE ADVENTURES OF 



' ' I am a bird ; look at my wings ! 

 I am a mouse ; the mice for ever 1 " 



Savants, also, used to describe it as a bird provided with hair 

 instead of feathers, and with teeth instead of a bill. Geoffrey 

 Saint-Hilaire was the first to teach that the wings of the bat are 

 nothing but the fingers of the animal joined together by a thin 

 membrane. I had thus another opportunity of proving to Lucien 

 the wisdom of our Creator, and the simplicity of the means He 

 employs in producing the infinite variety of beings which people 

 the universe. 



" This is the first time," cried I'Encuerado, indignantly, " that 

 I have heard the devil made use of as a means of bestowing 

 praise upon Almighty God." 



" Bats have no connexion with your devil," said Sumichrast ; 

 " they are nothing but animals, rather more curiously constructed 

 than others." 



" Oh ! M. Sumichrast, then you can never have examined 

 their wings 1 The Satan that St Michael is treading under his 

 feet in the beautiful picture in the convent at Orizava has wings 

 just like the bats. And as to these caverns, every one knows 

 that they are the residences of bad spirits," 



" Let us make our way at once into it then," said Lucien, 

 who in no way shared his friend's superstition. 



As on the day before, we descended to its bottom, and skirting 

 the left-hand wall, entered a wide chamber, in which water fell 

 in a continual shower. We were inconvenienced by the icy 

 drops which ran down our clothes, and I therefore advised Sumi- 

 chrast to turn back ; but instead of doing so, he pushed on into 

 a winding passage. Before long, the roof became so low that 

 Lucien alone could stand upright. I brought up the rear, 

 watching my guides, who kept on ascending or descending, ac- 

 cording to the inequalities of the ground. Sometimes it was 

 necessary to halt, to climb over a rock, or cross a pool of water. 

 At last, I saw my companions again resume their upright posi- 

 tion ; we were now in a hall, so vast that our torches were quite 

 powerless to throw a light up to the roof. 



Surrounded by hundreds of bats, flitting round the torches like 



