midnight
They were immersed in a sea of wanton , prodigal vegetation . All about them the huge-rooted trees blocked their footing , while coiled and knotted climbers , of the girth of a man 's arm , were thrown from lofty branch to lofty branch , or hung in tangled masses like so many monstrous snakes . Lush-stalked plants , larger-leaved than the body of a man , exuded a sweaty moisture from all their surfaces . Here and there , banyan trees , like rocky islands , shouldered aside the streaming riot of vegetation between their crowded columns , showing portals and passages wherein all daylight was lost and only midnight gloom remained . Tree-ferns and mosses and a myriad other parasitic forms jostled with gay-coloured fungoid growths for room to live , and the very atmosphere itself seemed to afford clinging space to airy fairy creepers , light and delicate as gem-dust , tremulous with microscopic blooms . Pale-golden and vermilion orchids flaunted their unhealthy blossoms in the golden , dripping sunshine that filtered through the matted roof . It was the mysterious , evil forest , a charnel house of silence , wherein naught moved save strange tiny birds -- the strangeness of them making the mystery more profound , for they flitted on noiseless wings , emitting neither song nor chirp , and they were mottled with morbid colours , having all the seeming of orchids , flying blossoms of sickness and decay .