Impelled by curiosity I stood up and advanced to inspect it. It was of
a dirty brown colour, some five or six inches long, and appeared to
consist of a kind of membrane. Harley, his elbow on the table, was
staring down at it questioningly.

"What is it?" I said; "some kind of leaf?"

"No," replied Harley, looking up into the dark face of the Spanish
colonel; "I think I know what it is."

"I, also, know what it is." declared Colonel Menendez, grimly. "But
tell me what to you it seems like, Mr. Harley?"

Paul Harley's expression was compounded of incredulity, wonder, and
something else, as, continuing to stare at the speaker, he replied:

"It is the wing of a bat."




CHAPTER II

THE VOODOO SWAMP



Often enough my memory has recaptured that moment in Paul Harley's
office, when Harley, myself, and the tall Spaniard stood looking down
at the bat wing lying upon the blotting pad.