A kind of fuzzy grass grew on the rock wall. I didn't know what was wrong with Van Helsing; he suddenly became tense over the grass and began sniffing it carefully.
For a full five minutes, Van Helsing stood there staring at it, his expression growing increasingly grave. Then he turned to me and asked me to collect some soil to take back.
I noticed that the soil here glittered, as though it contained some kind of mineral. We continued onward for a while and were soon able to see Rice Castle.
I began trembling without realizing it. Elm trees surrounded the castle, and bats flitted everywhere. When they hung upside down from the branches, they looked like seed pods.
"Do you remember those ground bees?" Van Helsing asked me. "That is the crux of it."
According to Van Helsing's guess, the ground bees had gathered nectar from the flowers of this fuzzy grass, and then the dogs had eaten the bees. Ground bees only collected nectar from specific flowers. To supplement their food supply, they also ate meat like wasps. Their egg-laying and burrowing season was usually around October, which happened to be the flowering season for this fuzzy grass.
"The nectar of this fuzzy grass makes them hungry and excited, but it is harmless to dogs and even puts them in a good mood," Van Helsing said.
I thought the grass was to dogs what catnip was to cats. Van Helsing felt that my comparison was not quite accurate, but it was close enough.
We walked on for some distance until we came upon a low wall. Van Helsing took out a pile of thin crackers from a small black bag, wrapped them in a handkerchief, and crushed them. Then he took out something like putty and mixed