Read Online 01 Amazon Adventure by Willard Price - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Willard Price
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cat laps milk. There had been legends that the bat fans its victims to sleep with its wings. Others had it that the bat hovers over the body instead of alighting when it bites.
Hal would find out whether these stories were true. He stretched out his bare arm and lay very still. For a long time nothing happened.
Then the beat of wings seemed to come closer. Finally he felt a very light pressure on his chest, as if a bat had landed there. It was as light as a breath and if he had been asleep he would never have noticed it.
There was no sensation for a while. He could hardly bear the suspense. He wanted to leap up and beat the air to drive away the loathsome creature that wheeled around him.
Then he was aware of a slight tickling on his wrist. That was the only sign that a landing had been made there. He was not even sure he felt it.
But the tickling now seemed to be going up his
arm to the elbow. Or it might be just the night breeze blowing over his arm. He couldn’t be sure.
For a while there was nothing. Then his arm, near the elbow, had a slight tingling sensation as if it were going to sleep. This discovery excited Hal greatly. Scientists had often speculated as to how a bat could cut a hole without the victim feeling it. It was believed possible that the bat’s saliva contained a local anaesthetic which numbed the spot where the bite was to be made. What Hal felt seemed to bear out this idea.
Like Beebe, Hal imagined that the hole was cut and the blood was flowing. He resolutely lay still. There was one thing sure — the actual cutting of the hole could not be felt, nor the lapping up of the blood. Or else the bat had flown away. He couldn’t tell.
Perhaps he was just fancying the whole thing. But no, now he could really feel something — the very faint sensation of warm blood flowing down over the part of the arm that had not been drugged.
He felt he had learned enough for one lesson. He must capture the little blood drinker before it satisfied itself and flew away.
With all the force at his command he swung the net across his body and down upon his elbow, then twisted the handle smartly so that anything caught in the net could not escape.
He reached for his flashlight. Yes, he had not been just imagining things. His arm was a gory sight. He did not bother with it but looked at the net. A devilish-looking creature struggled in its meshes.
‘I’ve got it!’ he yelled. ‘I’ve got! Dad, look!’
An extraordinary face leered out of the net. Hal thought he had never seen a face more evil — except one, and his memory went back for an instant to the face of the man who had followed him that night in Quito.
The old legend that had given birth to the name of this creature came back to his mind. ‘Vampires’ were supposed to be ghosts that came out of their graves at night to suck the blood of human beings. This superstition had been the basis of that terrible play, Dracula.
Certainly this bat embodied all the horror of the old legend. It was a thing of the night, dark, sinister, with beady eyes full of hate peering out through overhanging fur. The ears were pointed like those generally pictured on Satan himself. The nose was flat and the under-jaw projected like a prize fighter’s.
‘Looks like a cross between the devil and a bulldog,’John Hunt whispered, for the face seemed too dreadful to be spoken of aloud.
But they were yet to see the worst. The bat opened its mouth in a vicious snarl. The long nimble tongue with which it had been lapping up its dinner was covered with blood. The beast seemed very short on teeth, but those it had were terribly efficient. There were two long canines, one on each side.
But the really amazing teeth, the ones that had given the vampire its fabulous reputation, were in the front of the upper jaw. They were twin incisors, slightly curved and as sharp as needles. It was with
these lances that the bat made its deep but painless incisions.
Besides blood, there was
Hal would find out whether these stories were true. He stretched out his bare arm and lay very still. For a long time nothing happened.
Then the beat of wings seemed to come closer. Finally he felt a very light pressure on his chest, as if a bat had landed there. It was as light as a breath and if he had been asleep he would never have noticed it.
There was no sensation for a while. He could hardly bear the suspense. He wanted to leap up and beat the air to drive away the loathsome creature that wheeled around him.
Then he was aware of a slight tickling on his wrist. That was the only sign that a landing had been made there. He was not even sure he felt it.
But the tickling now seemed to be going up his
arm to the elbow. Or it might be just the night breeze blowing over his arm. He couldn’t be sure.
For a while there was nothing. Then his arm, near the elbow, had a slight tingling sensation as if it were going to sleep. This discovery excited Hal greatly. Scientists had often speculated as to how a bat could cut a hole without the victim feeling it. It was believed possible that the bat’s saliva contained a local anaesthetic which numbed the spot where the bite was to be made. What Hal felt seemed to bear out this idea.
Like Beebe, Hal imagined that the hole was cut and the blood was flowing. He resolutely lay still. There was one thing sure — the actual cutting of the hole could not be felt, nor the lapping up of the blood. Or else the bat had flown away. He couldn’t tell.
Perhaps he was just fancying the whole thing. But no, now he could really feel something — the very faint sensation of warm blood flowing down over the part of the arm that had not been drugged.
He felt he had learned enough for one lesson. He must capture the little blood drinker before it satisfied itself and flew away.
With all the force at his command he swung the net across his body and down upon his elbow, then twisted the handle smartly so that anything caught in the net could not escape.
He reached for his flashlight. Yes, he had not been just imagining things. His arm was a gory sight. He did not bother with it but looked at the net. A devilish-looking creature struggled in its meshes.
‘I’ve got it!’ he yelled. ‘I’ve got! Dad, look!’
An extraordinary face leered out of the net. Hal thought he had never seen a face more evil — except one, and his memory went back for an instant to the face of the man who had followed him that night in Quito.
The old legend that had given birth to the name of this creature came back to his mind. ‘Vampires’ were supposed to be ghosts that came out of their graves at night to suck the blood of human beings. This superstition had been the basis of that terrible play, Dracula.
Certainly this bat embodied all the horror of the old legend. It was a thing of the night, dark, sinister, with beady eyes full of hate peering out through overhanging fur. The ears were pointed like those generally pictured on Satan himself. The nose was flat and the under-jaw projected like a prize fighter’s.
‘Looks like a cross between the devil and a bulldog,’John Hunt whispered, for the face seemed too dreadful to be spoken of aloud.
But they were yet to see the worst. The bat opened its mouth in a vicious snarl. The long nimble tongue with which it had been lapping up its dinner was covered with blood. The beast seemed very short on teeth, but those it had were terribly efficient. There were two long canines, one on each side.
But the really amazing teeth, the ones that had given the vampire its fabulous reputation, were in the front of the upper jaw. They were twin incisors, slightly curved and as sharp as needles. It was with
these lances that the bat made its deep but painless incisions.
Besides blood, there was
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