CHAPTER XI.
ON THE WATCH--FECUNDITY OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS--LATEST NEWS FROM THE
MOON--A DEATH-KNELL EVERY SECOND--THE INCONVENIENCES OF BEING TOO NEAR
THE SUN--NARCOTICS--WILLIS CONTRALTO--HUNTING TURNED UPSIDE
DOWN--ELECTRIC CLOUDS--PARTIALITIES OF LIGHTNING--BELLS AND
BELL-RINGERS--CONDUCTING RODS--THE RETURN--THE TWO SISTERS--TOBY
BECOMES A DRAGOMAN.
As is usual in tropical climates, a blazing hot day was succeeded by
an intensely dark night. The fire that the hunters had made on shore
cast a lurid glare on the prominent objects round about. The flames,
as they fitfully lit up the landscape into that dim distinctness
termed by artists the _chiar oscuro_, made the bushes and trunks of
trees appear like monsters issuing stealthily from the forest that
lined the background. There seemed to be some attraction, however,
elsewhere for the real monsters, not a single wild beast having as yet
appeared on the scene.
The two young men were eagerly straining their eyes from the stern of
the pinnace, whilst the dogs kept diligently wagging their tails in
expectation of a signal for the onset. The position of Willis could be
ascertained now and then by an eye of fire, which opened and shut as
he inhaled or exhaled the fumes of his Maryland. The ripple beat
gently on the sea-line of the boat, which oscillated with the
regularity and softness of a cradle.
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