Bad News Bob and The Mean Machine

Chapter 15

                    Slowly, Bob and I walked on the narrow path that separated us from the underground river and the giant bat-covered stalactite.  I suggested to Bob that he dim his light because it might attract the bats.  He told me that the light wouldn't attract them because bats get around by using sonar, but to make me feel better, he shut off his helmet light anyway, and pulled out a tiny flashlight from his utility belt.  We hugged the slimy walls as we made our way past the icicle of bats hanging above us.  

            Bob's tiny flashlight lit our way as we tiptoed silently through the darkness.  The screeching sounds echoed throughout the cave as an occasional bat darted toward us.  Our first reaction when this happened was to cover our heads with our arms.  I had thoughts of a vampire bat biting me on the neck and turning me into one of the "undead.".  I'm sure the thoughts going through Bob's mind weren't much different than mine.  Wouldn't the "bad news" ever end?  Wasn't there ever going to be a light at the end of this tunnel?

            After those exact thoughts crossed my mind, a tiny speck of light started to glow at the far end of the cave.  It reminded me of a guiding star standing alone in the middle of space.  It seemed to call out for us to follow it to safety. 

            Without saying a word, Bob and I hurried along the path trying to escape from danger.  The bats must have sensed our movement and several decided to pay us a visit.  They swooped and soared in our direction.  Some even banged and bumped into us.  What a horrible feeling that was being dive- bombed by these horrible creatures of the night.   The two of us both sank to the ground to protect ourselves.   Then the familiar smell of tar was all around us followed by a smacking sound.  I looked up and saw that an invisible force was smacking around the bats.  Seeing what was happening, Bob sprang into action.  He reached into his utility belt, pulled out a small tennis racket, raised his arm, and like a tennis pro, started to swing aggressively at the soaring bats.  Bam - Bang - Smack!  The bats that came near us were met head on by Bob's angry tennis racket. 

            "There's more than one way to skin a flying rat," said Bob as he delivered serve after serve.

            Soon the bats stopped their useless attack.  Bob lowered his racket and shined his flashlight around checking to see if any other danger was waiting for us.  I got up and saw that he was staring across the cavern.  He slowly backed up to where I was and pointed to what he was looking at.  Still shaky from the bat attack, I saw a dimly lit figure hovering above the water. 

            "What is it?"  asked Bob as he backed up further, almost standing on top of me. 

            "Maybe it's a reflection of your light on the water," I said, hoping what we saw wasn't real.  But when he turned off his light, the figure did not disappear.  Actually, it appeared to get brighter.

            Bob and I became scared to death when the figure moved closer from across the water.  The hair on my neck stood on end as a chill ran up my spine when we saw an image of a man covered from head to toe with feathers and a black tar-like substance.  It looked like it just had a pillow fight and lost. 

            Thinking that maybe this was Buster again trying to scare us, Bob raised his tennis racket and swung at the thing.  The racket passed through like it was swinging through empty air. 

            "Uh, oh,"  Bob said.  "This doesn't look too good!" 

            When he looked at his racket, it was covered with gooey black stuff.  The same black stuff that we found on the stairs of the old house.  It was hard to tell what this thing wanted because its face was partially covered by feathers.  And before we got a chance to try to communicate with it, it disappeared into thin air right before our eyes.

            Bob and I looked at each other, very scared and very confused, not knowing what to say.  Finally Bob said, "Do you think that was a ghost?"

            "I-I think so," I replied. 

            "Maybe that's the ghost of the Tory,"  he added. 

            "Let's get out of here," I said.  "I don't want to be around if it decides to come back."  So the two of moved along as fast as we could.

            The path along the river now seemed to widen as we hurried along.  The sounds of the cavern suddenly became as quiet as a grave.  The only sounds were those of our very own footsteps on the path and the steady flow of the underground river.  My footsteps certainly sounded weird as my sneakers (still water logged) sloshed and squashed the water trapped inside.  I wished I had time to take them off and dump the water out, but we wanted to get out of this place, and every second we didn't spend here, would be better for both of us.

            As we came closer to the shining light, it grew bigger and brighter.   Staring at it for so long made our eyes play tricks on us because everything else was blotted out.  It was just like walking into a movie theater after the movie had begun.  Your eyes were glued to the screen and you couldn't see any of the seats.  I would sometimes sit in some old lady's lap because I didn't wait for my eyes to get use to the dark.  It felt the same way here.  But this was no movie, and there was no old lady to sit on.  I couldn't see anything but that beam of bright light shining in front of us.            

Answer the following questions.

1.  Why did Marty want Bob to shut off his helmet light?

2.  As the boys walked past the bats, what did they see at the far end of the cave?

3.  What did the bats start to do to Marty and Bob?

4.  What saved the boys from the bats?  How did Bob help?

5.  What did the boys see standing on top of the water coming towards them?  Describe it.

6.  What did Bob do to see if it was real?

7.  What name did Bob call it?

8.  What did the boys continue walking towards?