Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 10 · column 1 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
At last, to ms renei, ne touna nunself standing on firm ground and saw Jim’s flashlight not far off to the left.
“What took you so long?” Jim called, “Come over here and have a look at this.” Frank stood beside him and turned the beam of his torch upwards. In the light he saw that the roof was covered with bats, constantly moving and twittering shrilly among themselves. As he watched, two or three of them left their perches and fluttered off into the darkness.
“Now that’s worth a picture or two for your magazine, isn’t it?” said Jim proudly. “Hundreds of them! What a sight, eh!?” To Frank, a moving mass of bats clinging to the roof of a cave was singularly unexciting, even repulsive, but he managed an enthusiastic reply to Jim’s remark. He supposed he might as well take a few pictures just to satisfy his companion. As he began setting up his portable tripod, he noticed a scurrying movement in the bat guano which littered the floor of the cave.
“What’s that?” he asked, straining his eyes to see among the shadows.
“What?...Oh.” Jim shone his flashlight on the ground. “Just cockroaches. There are hordes of them in here. They eat the bat droppings, you know, and dead bats.” The light of his torch picked up the smooth, shiny back of a cockroach as it scampered across the floor, antennae waving rapidly. Jim stepped forward suddenly, crushing the insect under the heel of his shoe.
“I suppose that’s not a very scientific response from a zoologist,” he said a little apologetically, looking at Frank, “but I must admit I cant stand them. I saw a dreadful thing when I came down here last time-a baby bat had fallen from the ceiling and those...those creatures were eating it alive. I shall never forget the sound of the poor beast screaming-Ugh!” Frank felt a twinge of interest.
“Did you get any pictures of it?” he asked.
“Pictures? No.” Jim sounded surprised. “I killed the poor thing at once, of course, to put it out of its misery.”
Frank felt suddenly excited. Something of interest at last! He hesitated, trying to think what to do.
“Jim,” he said after a moment, “I think I’d like to stay down here for a while to try and get some good shots, but I really can’t ask you to stay. I can find my own way to the entrance and get a lift back to the university-ill see you there.”
“Well...” Jim started, hesitating.
“Oh, I’ll be fine,” continued Frank, “I’d really rather work by myself anyway.”
“Well, alright,” Jim agreed at last, reluctantly. Frank watched the light of his torch bob slowly towards the entrance, then quickly unpacked the callapsible butterfly net he carried and pulled out the telescopic handle to its greatest extent. Shining his flashlight upwards, he made a swoop with the net at the cluster of bats on the ceiling. They exploded instantly in all directions, shrieking with fright as they streamed into the shadows. Caught in the meshes of the net, one bat
79.0%