Moving bodies disturbed the leaves
overhead; from all sides came the rustle and stir of unseen
creatures; sudden disputations were followed by startled silences.
Sitting there in the dark, bedeviled by a pest of insects, mocked
at by these mysterious voices, and looking forward to a hazardous
enterprise, O'Reilly began to curse his vivid imagination and to
envy the impassiveness of his companions. Even Jacket, he noted,
endured the strain better; the boy was cheerful, philosophical,
quite unimpressed by his surroundings. When the mosquitoes became
unbearable he put on his trousers, with some reluctance and much
ceremony.
It seemed to O'Reilly that the moon floated motionless in the sky,
and more than once he was upon the point of ordering a start, but
he reflected that its radiance out in the open must be far greater
than it seemed here under the dense tropical foliage. After a time
he began to wonder if his guides were as loyal as they should be,
if Hilario's strange reticence was caused by sullenness, by
apprehension, or by something altogether different. Both of the
men were strangers to him; of their fidelity he had no guarantee.
Now that his mind had become engaged with thoughts of treachery, a
determined effort was necessary to keep himself in hand and
O'Reilly fell back finally upon his elemental trust in the Cuban
character--scant consolation under the circumstances.
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