“Exploring?” Judy repeated with interest. “Of the cavern?”
“That’s right.” Bart grinned, as he slowed down for a bad hole in the road. “Folks hereabouts think I’m crazy to spend so much time in a cave. It’s in my blood, I guess! I’m planning on becoming a scientist if I make the grade.”
“Does Calico Cave have any bats or other interesting birds or animals?” Ardeth questioned abruptly.
“Hundreds of bats. You can see them clustered in masses on the walls in one section of the cave, near the entrance.”
“Ugh!” Judy shuddered.
“Why, they’re harmless,” Bart assured her. “I suppose you think of a bat as a naked, winged creature with claws that would catch in your hair?”
“I never came very close to one,” Judy admitted, “but I do feel that way about them.”
“Like a great many folks, you do the bat an injustice,” Bart returned. “Its little claws are used only to provide a means of clinging to a rock wall. Bats are afraid of people. They fly at amazing speed, but they can dodge any obstacle.”
“They sleep in the caves?” Ardeth questioned.
“Yes, the bat, you know, is descended from an animal that lived in a warm, uniform climate. For some reason, the bat never has been able to adapt itself to weather changes, so it hibernates in caves which have an almost constant temperature.”