“Before I curled up in my hammock, I shook it to dislodge any insects that might be in its folds, and out dropped a large spider, the size of my hand. I smashed it with my boot and at the same time saw another. As I struck that one, screams arose from my Indians, and they dashed for the fire. One was literally covered with the vermin and dropped before he reached the light. In a moment we loaded the blaze with brush and had a bonfire that roared six-foot flames.”

-2-

Prisoners of Insects

“You cannot imagine the scene that met our sight! The things covered the ground and trees all about us. A carpet of gray was moving and rustling continually back from the light, and as the flames shot higher, we could see that the twigs and branches hung low with their weight. Now and then, one would drop with a plop on the ground as the light struck and scuttle over the backs of others till it found a place to rest. My hammock was now filled with the crawling things as a saucer is heaped with berries, sickening gray creatures with jet-black eyes that glistened hungrily, and all intently watching us.

“We could hear a kind of low clicking and chittering as they opened and closed their mandibles. It seemed as though they were talking to one another while they waited for us, in a curiously knowing way, and those pinpoint eyes watched and gloated most obscenely expectant.

“The body of the dead man was just outside the circle of light, and all night a swarming heap of spiders surged over and around it, while my Indians fed the fire for their lives, and race and caste were forgotten as we huddled, massed about the fire, sweat raining from us in the terrible heat.

“Morning came at last, and as the sky began to brighten, the gray horrors grew thinner until only a few stragglers still roamed near the clean-picked skeleton; and when the sun rose, they too crept to hiding places, leaving only the white bones to tell the story of that frightful night.

“When all were gone, my Indians begged me to turn back. I refused, although my own inclinations pointed in that direction. I kept a bold face and pointed out that by going west we would avoid the savages and leave this dreaded spot behind us. My head man looked grim but said nothing. So on again! On into the jungle, fighting our way through thick tangled undergrowth, followed by dense clouds of mosquitoes and gnats, the only life we saw that day, besides ourselves.

“About noon, although we could not see the sun through the riot of vegetation, we found a small stream of clear water which abounded in small fish.