CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE VAMPIRE.
Leon's head was close to that of the sleeper, whose sweet breath hefelt, and whose little bosom rose and fell in gentle undulation. Hescanned the inside of the hammock from head to foot. He gazed anxiouslyinto every fold of the cover. Not an object could he see that should nothave been there--no terrible creature--no serpent--for it was this lastthat was in his mind. But something must have been there. What couldhave caused the stream of blood, that now being closer he could moreplainly see trickling over the soft blue veins? Some creature must havedone it!
"Oh! if it be the small viper," thought he, "or the coral snake, or thedeadly macaurel! If these----".
His thoughts at this moment were interrupted. A light flapping of wingssounded in his ear--so light, that it appeared to be made by the softpinions of the owl, or some nocturnal bird. It was not by the wings of abird that that sound was produced, but by the wings of a hideouscreature. Leon was conscious, from the continued flapping, thatsomething was playing through the air, and that it occasionallyapproached close to his head. He gazed upward and around him, and atlength he could distinguish a dark form passing between him and thelight; but it glided into the darkness again, and he could see it nomore.
Was it a bird? It looked like one--it might have been an owl--it wasfull as large as one; but yet, from the glance he had had of it, itappeared to be black or very dark, and he had never heard of owls ofthat colour. Moreover, it had not the look nor flight of an owl. Was ita bird at all? or whatever it was, was it the cause of the blood? Thisdid not appear likely to Leon, who still had his thoughts bent upon thesnakes.
While he was revolving these questions in his mind, he again turned andlooked toward the foot of the hammock. The sight caused him a thrill ofhorror. There was the hideous creature, which, he had just seen, rightover the bleeding foot. It was not perched, but suspended in the air onits moving wings, with its long snout protruded forward and pressedagainst the toe of the sleeper! Its sharp white teeth were visible inboth jaws, and its small vicious eyes glistened under the light of thefires. The red hair covering its body and large membranous wings addedto the hideousness of its aspect, and a more hideous creature could nothave been conceived. _It was the vampire_,--the blood-sucking_phyllostoma_!
A short cry escaped from the lips of Leon. It was not a cry of pain, butthe contrary. The sight of the great bat, hideous as the creature was,relieved him. He had all along been under the painful impression thatsome venomous serpent had caused the blood to flow, and now he had nofurther fear on that score. He knew that there was no poison in thewound inflicted by the phyllostoma--only the loss of a little blood; andthis quieted his anxieties at once. He resolved, however, to punish theintruder; and not caring to rouse the camp by firing, he stole a littlecloser, and aimed a blow with the butt of his pistol.
THE VAMPIRE BAT.]
The blow was well aimed, and brought the bat to the ground, but itsshrill screeching awoke everybody, and in a few moments the camp was incomplete confusion. The sight of the blood on the foot of the littleLeona quite terrified Dona Isidora and the rest; but when the cause wasexplained, all felt reassured and thankful that the thing was no worse.The little foot was bound up in a rag; and although, for two or threedays after, it was not without pain, yet no bad effects came of it.
The "blood-sucking" bats do not cause death either to man, or any otheranimal, by a single attack. All the blood they can draw out amounts toonly a few ounces, although after their departure, the blood continuesto run from the open wound. It is by repeating their attacks night afternight that the strength of an animal becomes exhausted, and it dies fromsheer loss of blood and consequent faintness. With animals this is farfrom being a rare occurrence. Hundreds of horses and cattle are killedevery year in the South American pastures. These creatures suffer,perhaps, without knowing from what cause, for the phyllostoma performsits cupping operation without causing the least pain--at all events thesleeper is very rarely awakened by it.
It is easy to understand how it sucks the blood of its victim, for itssnout and the leafy appendage around its mouth--from whence it derivesthe name "phyllostoma"--are admirably adapted to that end. But how doesit make the puncture to "let" the blood? That is as yet a mystery amongnaturalists, as it also is among the people who are habitually itsvictims. Even Guapo could not explain the process. The large teeth--ofwhich it has got quite a mouthful--seem altogether unfitted to make ahole such as is found where the "phyllostoma" has been at work. Theirbite, moreover, would awake the soundest sleeper.
Besides these, it has neither fangs, nor stings, nor proboscis, thatwould serve the purpose. How then does its reach the blood? Manytheories have been offered; some assert that it rubs the skin with itssnout until its brings it to bleeding: others say that it sets the sharppoint of one of its large tusks against the part, and then by plying itswings wheels round and round, as upon a pivot, until the point haspenetrated--that during this operation the motion of the wings fans andcools the sleeping victim, so that no pain is felt. It may be a longwhile before this curious question is solved, on account of thedifficulty of observing a creature whose habits are nocturnal, and mostof whose deeds are "done in the dark."
People have denied the existence of such a creature as the blood-suckingbat--even naturalists have gone so far. They can allege no bettergrounds for their incredulity than that the thing has an air of thefabulous and horrible about it. But this is not philosophy. Incredulityis the characteristic of the half-educated. It may be carried too far,and the fables of the vulgar have often a stratum of truth at thebottom. There is one thing that is almost intolerable, and that is theconceit of the "closet-naturalist," who sneers at everything as untruethat seems to show the least _design_ on the part of the brutecreation--who denies everything that appears at all singular orfanciful, and simply because it appears so. With the truthfulobservations that have been made upon the curious domestic economy ofsuch little creatures as bees, and wasps, and ants, we ought to becautious how we reject statements about the habits of other animals,however strange they may appear.
Who doubts that a mosquito will perch itself upon the skin of a humanbeing, pierce it with its proboscis, and suck away until it is gorgedwith blood! Why does it appear strange that a bat should do the same?
Now your closet-naturalist will believe that the bat _does_ suck theblood of cattle and horses, but denies that it will attack man! This issheer nonsense. What difference to the vampire, whether its victim be abiped or quadruped? Is it fear of the former that would prevent it fromattacking him? Perhaps it may never have seen a human being before:besides, it attacks its victim while asleep, and is rarely ever caughtor punished in the act. Where these creatures are much hunted orpersecuted by man, they may learn to fear him, and their original habitsmay become changed, but that is quite another thing.
As nature has formed them, the blood-sucking bats will make their attackindifferently, either upon man or large quadrupeds. There are a thousandproofs to be had in all the tropical regions of America. Every yearanimals are killed by the _phyllostoma hastatum_, not in hundreds, butin thousands. It is recorded that on one extensive cattle-farm severalhundred head were killed in the short period of six months by the bats;and the vaqueros, who received a bounty upon every bat they shouldcapture, in one year succeeded in destroying the enormous number of_seven thousand_! Indeed, "bat-hunting" is followed by some as aprofession, so eager are the owners of the cattle-farms to get rid ofthese pests.
Many tribes of Indians and travellers suffer great annoyance from thevampire-bats. Some persons never go to sleep without covering themselveswith blankets, although the heat be ever so oppressive. Any part leftnaked will be attacked by the "phyllostoma", but they seem to have apreference for the tip of the great toe--perhaps because they have foundthat part more habitually exposed. Sometimes one sleeper is "cupped" bythem, while another will not be molested; and this, I may observe, istrue also of the mosquitoes. There may be some differe
nce as to thestate of the blood of two individuals, that leads to this fastidiouspreference. Some are far more subject to their attack than others--somuch so that they require to adopt every precaution to save themselvesfrom being bled to death. Cayenne pepper rubbed over the skin is used tokeep them off, and also to cure the wound they have made; but even thissometimes proves ineffective.
Of course there are many species of bats in South America besides thevampire; in fact, there is no class of mammalia more numerous in generaand species, and no part of the world where greater numbers are foundthan in the tropical regions of America. Some are insect-eaters, whileothers live entirely on vegetable substances; but all have the sameunsightly and repulsive appearance. The odour of some kinds is extremelyfetid and disagreeable.
Notwithstanding this, they are eaten by many tribes of Indians, and eventhe French Creoles of Guiana have their "bat-soup," which they relishhighly. The proverb "_De gustibus non disputandum est_," seems to betrue for all time. The Spanish Americans have it in the phrase "_Cadauno a su gusto_;" "_Chacun a son gout_," say the French; and on hearingthese tales about "ant-paste," and "roast monkey," and "armidillo donein the shell," and "bat-soup," you, boy reader, will not fail to exclaim"Every one to his liking."
The vampire appeared to be to Guapo's liking. It was now his turn tokeep watch, and as the rest of them got into their hammocks, and layawake for a while, they saw him take up the bat, spit it upon a forkedstick, and commence broiling it over the fire. Of course _he ate it_!
When morning came, and they had got up, what was their astonishment tosee no less than fourteen bats lying side by side! They were dead, ofcourse: Guapo had killed them all during his watch. They had appeared atone period of the night in alarming numbers, and Guapo had done battlemanfully without awaking anybody.
Another curious tableau came under their notice shortly after. Just asthey were about to embark, a singular looking tree was observed growingnear the bank of the river. At first they thought the tree was coveredwith birds'-nests, or pieces of some kind of moss. Indeed, it lookedmore like a tree hung over with rags than anything else. Curiosity ledthem to approach it. What was their astonishment to find that the nests,moss, or rags, were neither more or less than a vast assemblage of batssuspended, and asleep! They were hanging in all possible positions; somewith their heads down, some by the claws upon either wing, and some byboth, while a great many had merely hooked over the branch the littlehorny curvature of their tails. Some hung down along the trunk,suspended by a crack in the bark, while others were far out upon thebranches.
It was certainly the oddest "roost" that any of the party (Guapo,perhaps, excepted) had ever witnessed; and, after gazing at it for sometime, they turned away without disturbing the sleepers, and getting onboard once more, floated adown the stream swiftly and silently.