Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/403

 stream. The spiders had been busy all night, and their slimy webs stretched across the footpath we were following glued themselves so unpleasantly to my face that, contrary to iny wont, I bade Akob, one of my men, walk in front of me to keep the way clear of these frail barriers. In this manner we had trudged along steadily for a couple of hours and the heat of the tropical day was already beginning to make itself felt, stilling the noisy life of the jungle and drying up the dewdrops, when suddenly Akob halted abruptly and pointed, in evident excitement, at something ahead of him. We were standing on the brink of a narrow creek on either side of which a steeply cleft bank rose at a sharp angle from the water's edge. Leaning forward to look over Akob's shoulder, I saw half a dozen yards away, upon the surface of the opposite bank, a curious patch, ir- regular in shape, and discoloured a peculiarly blended black and yellow. It had a strange furry appearance, but shimmered with a suggestion of restless life. All this I noted in an instant, not realizing in the least the nature of the object at which I was gazing; and then, without any warning, the patch rose at us, rose like a cheap black and yellow railway rug tossed upward by the wind. A humming, purring sound. accompanied its flight, and a second later it had resolved itself into its elements, and had precipitated itself upon us a swarm of bees, mad with rage and thirsting for blood and vengeance.

Akob, hiding his head in his arms, slewed round sharply and charged away, nearly knocking me off