Rob sat listening to the weird chorus going on in the forest and watching the stars above, and their slightly blurred reflections in the water which went whispering by the prow and side of the boat. It was all so solemn, and strange, and awe-inspiring that, in spite of a feeling of dread which he could not master, he was glad to be there, wakeful, trying to picture the different creatures prowling about in the darkness of the primeval forest. He had listened time after time on the voyage up, but then the schooner was close at hand, and they passed towns and villages on the east bank; but here they were farther away in the heart of the wild country, and on the very edge of a forest untrodden by the foot of man, and maybe teeming with animal life as new as it was strange. And in amongst this they were soon going to plunge!
It had been the dream of the boy’s life to penetrate one of the untrodden fastnesses of nature, but now that he was on the threshold listening in the darkness of night, there was something terrible both in the silence and in the sounds which made him ask himself whether he had done wisely in accompanying Martin Brazier, an old friend of his father, who, partly for profit, but more for the advancement of science, had made his arrangements for this adventurous journey. But it was too late now to recede, even had he wished to do so. In fact, had any one talked of his return, he would have laughed at him as a proposer of something absurd.
“I suppose it comes natural to most boys to long for adventures and to see foreign countries,” he thought to himself, and then he went mentally over the scene with Giovanni.
“Joe is as eager as I was,” he muttered, and then he started, for something swept by his face.
“What’s matter, my lad?” said Shaddy quietly.
“I—I don’t know, something— There it goes again, some bird. An owl, I think, flew past my face. There, it skimmed just over our heads with a fluttering noise.”
“I heard it, lad—bat, big ’un. Put your toes in your pockets if you haven’t got on your shoes.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s a blood-sucker—wampire, that’s all.”
“But that’s all nonsense,” said Rob, with a slight shudder, “a traveller’s tale.”