For a time the
path ran thus open, and then the jungle closed in again and there
were more thickets, more levels of grass, and in one place far
overhead among the branches he heard and stood for a time perplexed
at a vast deep humming of bees. . . .
Presently a black monster with a hunched back went across his path
heedless of him and making a great noise in the leaves. He stood
quite still until it had gone. He could not tell whether it was a
boar or hyaena; most probably, he thought, a boar because of the
heaviness of its rush.
The path dropped downhill for a time, crossed a ravine, ascended.
He passed a great leafless tree on which there were white flowers.
On the ground also, in the darkness under the tree, there were these
flowers; they were dropping noiselessly, and since they were visible
in the shadows, it seemed to him that they must be phosphorescent.
And they emitted a sweetish scent that lay heavily athwart the path.
Presently he passed another such tree. Then he became aware of a
tumult ahead of him, a smashing of leaves, a snorting and
slobbering, grunting and sucking, a whole series of bestial sounds.
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