The Black Stallion and Flame (9 page)

“Is he the man we’re going to see?” Alec asked, glancing at the dead goat.

“Yes, he’ll be at the Station if he’s not out hunting the vampire. Of course he’s well acquainted with the jungle roosts of the bats.”

Henry shuddered. “I can think of pleasanter jobs.”

The policeman smiled sympathetically. “I’m afraid
you’re prejudiced against
all
bats,” he said, “and you shouldn’t be.”

“I’ll admit that what you’ve told me about them hasn’t helped.”

“Did you know that bats were flying millions of years before our own race appeared on earth?”

Henry shook his head.

“And that no other mammal has ever attained the power of flight?”

“No, I didn’t,” Henry answered.

“Bats entered the realm of the air some fifty million years ago by changing their forefeet into wings, lengthening their fingers and spreading a wide skin between them.”

“Yet they’re creatures of the night,” Henry said thoughtfully. “I wonder why?”

“Perhaps because they have fewer enemies and competitors at night,” the officer said. “No one really knows very much about them. Since earliest times they’ve aroused the imagination of men, yet they’re still something of a mystery.”

“Maybe that’s because of the way they behave,” Henry said, trying to smile. “Here they are, creatures that fly like birds, bite like beasts, hide by day and attack in the dark.”

“Perhaps,” agreed the officer, smiling. “But don’t forget, too, that their faces and prominent ears bear a remarkable likeness to human beings.”

“If you say so,” Henry said. “I wouldn’t know myself. I don’t even care to find out.”

The Experimental Station was just a little way in from the beach. It looked cool and spacious, occupying a large court and consisting of a main building, a dozen
stables, several stock pens and some cages. Leaving the car, Alec and his companions went into the building and entered a laboratory. It was hardly more than a large living room, bare of furniture except for a couple of small tables, marble-topped and unadorned, a few straight chairs and an old rocking chair.

There were empty cages everywhere as well as collecting bags, cans and tins. It was obvious that whatever else was to be found at the government station this room was the headquarters of the small man seated at one of the tables. He brought a microscope into focus, then glanced up at his visitors.

“Good morning, Doctor,” the police officer said briskly. He introduced Alec and Henry, then added very solemnly, “I have a goat from the village that died the same way as the cow. He carries the bite of the vampire.”

The veterinarian put his microscope away. “I am not surprised,” he said gravely. “But the vampire will infect no others. I’ve found out where he sleeps.”

“Where?”

“I saw him come out of the big cave with the other bats. I’ll get him today.”

Alec said, “A horse was also reported in this area. Have you seen him, Doctor?”

The veterinarian looked up, his round face puzzled. “A horse?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, I remember,” he said kindly. “The villagers reported seeing one on the beach.”

“But you’ve found no trace …?”

“Trace?”

“Tracks, I mean,” Alec explained. “Hoofprints, during your search for the vampire.”

“You see, he may be
our
horse,” Henry interjected.

“Yes, I did see some tracks,” the veterinarian answered thoughtfully. “They were in front of Bat Cave, the place I mentioned a moment ago.”

“Where the vampire lives?” Henry asked.

The veterinarian nodded. “In fact the horse might even be using that same cave for shelter. It would be easy enough to find out. If his tracks are inside …”

Henry shuddered. “He might already have been bitten by the bat and infected.”

“Very true,” the veterinarian replied soberly. He stood up. “I was about to leave for the cave. If you care to come along …” He stopped, his eyes turning to the police officer.

“It’s up to them,” the officer said. “Hunting vampires isn’t to everyone’s liking.”

“We’re looking for a horse, not a bat,” Henry said. “But since the trail leads to the same place …” He paused, turning to Alec. “Is that the way you feel about it, too?”

Alec nodded.

The veterinarian shrugged his thin shoulders and began gathering his materials together. “You won’t have to enter the cave unless you think it necessary.”

“Aren’t you afraid of being attacked yourself?” Henry asked.

“No, he’ll leave me alone unless he’s cornered.”

“But isn’t that what you intend to do?” Henry asked.

“It’s true that I hope to capture him alive for use in my experimental work.” Making his way around the table, the veterinarian added, “In the tropics one even gets used to coping with vampires. Why, some islanders
regard him as a guardian spirit and believe that to kill him will cause one to fall ill.”

A chill swept over Alec. “But his food is blood,” he said in a horrified voice.

“As natural to him as milk or coffee is to us, so who are we to judge?” the veterinarian asked patiently. “And the loss of the victim’s blood isn’t serious unless prolonged. Only when the vampire is infected with a disease such as rabies do we have a very grave problem.”

“Then you’d better shoot if you get near him,” Henry said.

“If necessary,” the veterinarian replied quietly.

As they left the big room Alec shuddered at the thought that the horse living near Bat Cave might turn out to be the Black.

It was the middle of the morning when the small group entered the jungle, the veterinarian carrying a longhandled net and machete. All four hikers wore leather boots and gloves, and they walked in single file through a green maze of dangling lianas as thick as a man’s arm.

The veterinarian led the way, using twisted roots for footholds and seldom looking back. Alec was behind him, even when they went splashing through a fast-flowing stream of jade-colored water. He jumped the water plants and hurried around a dark labyrinth of mangrove roots and giant fronds before entering the dark green wall of jungle again. Sandflies nipped his face and he brushed them off angrily. The jungle was broiling with heat and insects.

At a small clearing in a coconut grove the veterinarian stopped the party for a rest.

Henry sat down tiredly and said, “No horse came this way.”

“No, he used the beach,” the veterinarian replied. “This is shorter if not as easy.” He opened a coconut with a blow of his machete and handed it to Henry. “Here, this will make you feel better,” he said, smiling.

Henry drank some of the liquid and passed the coconut on to Alec. “Does the vampire sleep only in caves?” he asked the veterinarian.

“No, he’ll use rooftops, hollow trees and drains if necessary.”

“Are there many bats in the cave we’re going to?” Alec asked.

“Perhaps a hundred of various species,” the veterinarian replied.

“How can you be sure the vampire returned to this one?” Henry asked.

“He prefers living in large communities and his homing instinct is very strong. He’ll be there, all right.”

Alec stood up. “You say there’s never been a vampire on Antago before to your knowledge. What makes you so sure?”

The police officer answered for the veterinarian. “The bite of the vampire is not easily mistaken. Sooner or later we would have found it on some of our livestock.

“I worked in Trinidad during one of its worst outbreaks of bat rabies,” the officer went on. “We had a trained squad for the destruction of bats alone. We used to travel like this looking for their sleeping places during the daytime. It was our most effective way of control. We used nets, poison dust, clubs and cages when we found them.”

“What time do they usually leave their caves?” Alec asked.

“About dusk, and on into the night,” the veterinarian answered, rising to his feet.

“The expression ‘blind as a bat’ must fall short of the truth if they live in caves and hunt at night,” Henry said thoughtfully.

“That’s so,” the veterinarian said. “Actually their eyes, although small, are very well developed.”

“You mean they can
see
in the dark?” Alec asked.

“Not exactly, but they can get around as well as if they
could
see. They have an acute sense of hearing and sensitive nerve endings in the wings. While flying they emit shrill, high-pitched cries which serve to guide their flight by means of reflected sound waves.”

“Don’t they fly during the day?” Henry asked.

“Only when disturbed or sick. Strangely enough they don’t seem to be dazzled by the sun and they fly very accurately.”

“Don’t they have any natural enemies that might kill them?” Alec asked.

“A few,” the veterinarian answered. “Some owls, hawks and snakes eat them, but usually fighting among themselves accounts for more deaths than anything else.”

“If this rabid vampire bat fights …,” Henry began.

The veterinarian nodded. “He’ll infect harmless species with rabies and then we really will have trouble controlling the disease. Now let’s proceed.”

He led the way through another tangled green trail that was ankle-deep in mud and, when necessary, cut his way through the vine barricades with his machete. Half-bent in an effort to keep their balance in the slimy footing, the others followed him. Finally they began a steep climb and within a half-hour found themselves on a slight plateau.

“Here we are,” the veterinarian said quietly.

Alec, looking about for some sign of the horse, spied a large black opening on a hillside opposite the one on which they were standing. “Is that Bat Cave?” he asked.

Following Alec’s gaze, the veterinarian nodded.

They moved forward, Alec fearful of what he might find there. Finally they stood before the huge black opening, their eyes searching the soft earth.

Any hoofprints that had been in front of the cave had been washed away by the heavy rains. But just within the entrance they found them, large and oval-shaped on a floor that was covered with the black, tarry droppings of the bats.

“They’re not the Black’s,” Alec said, and there was no disappointment in his voice or eyes.

“No,” Henry agreed, “they’re too small.” He, too, was relieved. He wanted to find the Black anywhere but here!

The veterinarian had stepped farther into the cave, his flashlight probing the darkness. Then he held it steady, and within its glare they all saw the still, dead body of the horse on the floor. He was the color of the night but there his resemblance to the Black ended, for he was small and wiry.

They kneeled beside him, the veterinarian pointing out the shallow, clean-cut scoop on the horse’s withers. “The mark of the vampire,” he said. “It was not an easy death for him.”

Alec turned away from the rigid body, his eyes filled with tears.

The police officer said, “Don’t feel sorry for him. He’s better off now.”

“Yes,” the veterinarian agreed, rising to his feet, “the worst is long over.”

Henry peered into the cave’s blackness. “Give me a club and I’ll go with you,” he said evenly.

“If you’re serious, you could help me more by using your flashlight,” the veterinarian answered.

“Not unless you promise me you’ll use your gun instead of the net,” Henry said, eying the revolver in the man’s waist holster.

“I’ll go,” Alec interrupted, removing his own flashlight from his belt clip.

Henry turned to him. “Okay,” he said quietly. “I was going anyway.”

Nodding to the police officer, the veterinarian said, “Let’s be on our way then. All I ask is that you hold the light on the vampire once we find him. I’ll do the rest. I’ll take all the chances.”

“I hope so,” Henry said resignedly.

They walked toward the back of the cave until they reached a broad minelike shaft with an improvised ladder. The veterinarian climbed down, followed closely by Henry and Alec, with the police officer last. The floor of the tunnel at the bottom consisted of red mud and Alec’s feet almost slid from beneath him as he stepped down from the last rung of the ladder.

As they went along, the tunnel widened and water could be seen seeping from the walls and from the crevices in the floor. It made the mud deeper and the going harder. Alec heard Henry panting as he tried to keep up with the veterinarian.

The air became hot and heavy and there was a sweetish odor to it. In the light from his flash Alec saw a seething mass of centipedes and spiders on the walls
while roaches and other bugs rubbed against each other on the ceiling. His gaze quickly returned to Henry’s back and the ankle-deep mud of the tunnel floor.

But there was no shutting his eyes to the creatures that lived within this dark world. Soon they entered a big chamber with an arched ceiling that rose all of fifty feet above them. There Alec saw clusters of bats of different sizes and species swarming on the rough and jagged stone. Some were as small as mice while others were as big as rabbits. All hung by their legs with heads bent against their chests and partly covered by voluminous wings.

The bats did not move in the glare of the lights as the veterinarian’s searching gaze swept over them.

“He doesn’t seem to be here,” he said finally. “We’ll try the next chamber.”

“How’ll we know him?” Henry asked.

“You won’t have any trouble. He has a peculiar gait of his own. You’ll see him run along the walls and try to hide.”

“I don’t especially want to see him,” Henry answered grimly. “I just want you to
kill
him.”

They sloshed their way through the subterranean sea of mud into the next chamber. It was longer and wider than the first one but not more than eight feet high.

“We can reach him here,” the veterinarian said, extending his net toward the ceiling.

The flashlights disclosed hundreds more bats, all hanging in bunched masses so close together it seemed they would smother. And all were of medium size.

“Fruit eaters,” the veterinarian said disappointedly, his eyes following the beams of the lights. But
suddenly he shifted his own flashlight to a far corner of the chamber.