The Tiger Hunter Part 15

At the same time the serpents, not far above his face, kept continually coiling their long viscous bodies round the branches, and rapidly uncoiling them again--equally uneasy at the presence of the man and the tigers.

Mechanically closing the folds of the hammock over him, and thus holding them with both hands, the student lay perfectly still. He feared either to speak or make a motion, lest his voice or movement might tempt either the reptiles or quadrupeds to make an attack upon him.

In this way more than an hour had pa.s.sed, when over the surface of the waters, which now flowed in a more tranquil current, Don Cornelio fancied he heard a singular sound. It resembled the notes of a bugle, but at times the intonation was hoa.r.s.er and more grave, not unlike a certain utterance of his two formidable neighbours, which from time to time the student heard swelling from the tops of the tamarinds.

It was neither more nor less than the conch of Costal; who, making his way towards the spot in his canoe, was employing the time to advantage in endeavouring to invoke the G.o.ddess of the waters.

Presently the student was able to make out in the distance the little canoe gliding over the water, with the two adventurers seated in the stem and stern. At intervals, the Indian, accustomed to this sort of navigation, was seen to drop his oars and hold the sh.e.l.l to his mouth.

Lantejas then saw that it was from this instrument the sounds that had so puzzled him were proceeding.

Absorbed in their odd occupation, neither Costal nor Clara had as yet perceived the student of theology--hidden as he was by the thick network of the hammock, and almost afraid to make the slightest movement. Just then, however, a m.u.f.fled voice, as of some one speaking from under a mask, reached their ears.

"Did you hear anything, Costal?" inquired the negro.

"Yes, I heard a sort of cry," replied Costal; "like enough it's the poor devil of a student who is calling us. _Carrambo_! where can he be? I see only a hammock hung between two trees. Eh! as I live, he is inside it. _Carrai_!"

As Costal finished speaking, a loud peal of laughter burst from his lips, which to him in the hammock appeared like heavenly music. It told him that the two men had discovered his situation; and the student at once fervently returned thanks to G.o.d for this interposition of His mercy.

Clara was sharing the mirth of the Indian, when music of a very different sort stifled the laugh upon his lips. It was the cry of the jaguars, that, suddenly excited by the voice of the student, had all four of them sent forth a simultaneous scream.

"_Carrambo_!" exclaimed Clara, with a fresh terror depicted upon his face; "the tigers again."

"Rather strange!" said the Indian. "Certainly their howls appeared to come from the same place as the voice of the man. Hola! Senor student," he continued, raising his voice, so as to be heard by him in the hammock, "are you making your siesta alone, or have you company under the shade of those tamarinds?"

Don Cornelio attempted to reply, but his speech was unintelligible both to the Indian and the negro. In fact, terror had so paralysed his tongue, as to render him incapable of p.r.o.nouncing his words distinctly!

For a moment his arm was seen elevated above the folds of the hammock, as if to point out his terrible neighbours upon the tree. But the thick foliage still concealing the jaguars from the eye of Costal, rendered the gesture of the student as unintelligible as his cry.

"For the love of G.o.d, hold your oar!" cried Clara; "perhaps the tigers have taken refuge on the top of the tamarinds!"

"All the more reason why we should get up to them," replied the Indian.

"Would you leave this young man to smother in his hammock till the waters had subsided?"

In saying this, Costal plied his oars more vigorously than ever; and, in spite of the remonstrances of his companion, headed the canoe in a direct line towards the hammock.

"If these be the same tigers we encountered yesterday," said Clara, in an anxious tone of voice, "and I am almost sure they are, by the mewing of their whelps, think for a moment, Costal, how desperately spiteful they will be against us."

"And do you think I am not equally spiteful against them?" replied Costal, urging his canoe onwards with more rapidity than ever.

A few strokes of the paddle brought the light craft within gunshot distance of the tamarinds; and now for the first time did Costal obtain a good view of the theological student couched within the hammock--where he appeared to be indolently reposing, like some Oriental satrap, under a dais of tigers and serpents!

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

THE STUDENT RESCUED.

The odd spectacle once more overcame the gravity of the Indian; and, resting upon his oars, he delivered himself up to a renewed spell of laughter.

Through the network of the hammock the student could now note the movements of those who were coming to his rescue. He saw the Indian turn towards his companion, pointing at the same time to the singular tableau among the tops of the trees, which the negro appeared to contemplate with a countenance that betrayed an anxiety equal to his own.

Don Cornelio could not make out what there was to laugh at in a spectacle that for two mortal hours--ever since daybreak--had been causing him the extreme of fear; but, without saying a word, he waited for the explanation of this ill-timed hilarity.

"Let us get a little farther off!" stammered the negro; "we can deliberate better what we should do."

"What we should do!" cried Costal, now speaking seriously; "it needs no deliberation to tell that."

"Quite true," a.s.sented Clara, "it does not. Of course we should push off a little; and the sooner we do it the better."

"Bah!" exclaimed Costal, "that's not what I meant;" as he spoke coolly laying his paddle in the bottom of the canoe, and taking up his carbine.

"But what are you going to do?" anxiously asked Clara.

"_Por Dios_! to shoot one of the jaguars; what else? You shall see presently. Keep yourself quiet, Senor student," he continued, speaking to Don Cornelio, who still lay crouched up within the hammock, and who, from very fear, could neither speak nor move.

At this moment one of the jaguars uttered a growl that caused the blood to run cold through the veins of Clara. At the same time the fierce creature was seen tearing the bark from the tamarind with his curving claws; while, with mouth agape, and teeth set, as if in menace, he fixed his fiery eyes upon Costal, who was nearest to him. His angry glance had no terrors for the _tigrero_, who, gazing firmly back upon the fierce brute, appeared to subdue him by some power of fascination.

Costal now raised the carbine to his shoulder, took deliberate aim, and fired. Almost simultaneously with the report, the huge animal came tumbling down from the tree, and fell with a dull, dead plash upon the water. It was the male.

"Quick, Clara!" cried the Indian. "A stroke of the paddle--quick, or we shall have the other upon us!"

And, as Costal spoke, he drew his long knife to be ready for defending himself.

Anxious as the negro was to get out of the way, and making all the haste in his power, his fears had so unnerved him that his efforts were in vain. The female jaguar, furious at the death of her mate, and anxious for the safety of her whelps, stayed only to utter one savage yell; and then, bounding downward from the branches, she launched herself upon the student. The hammock, however, oscillating violently to one side, caused her to let go her hold, and making a second spring, she dropped down into the canoe. The weight of her body, combined with the impetus which her anger had given to it, at once capsized the little craft; and Indian, negro, and jaguar went all together under water!

In a second's time all three reappeared on the surface--Clara half-frightened out of his senses, and striking out with all the energy of despair.

Fortunately for the negro, the old pearl-diver could swim like a shark; and, in the twinkling of an eye, the latter had darted betwixt him and the jaguar--his knife slung between his clenched teeth.

The two adversaries, now face to face, paused for an instant as if to measure the distance between them. Their eyes met--those of the tiger-hunter expressing coolness and resolution, while the orbs of the jaguar rolled furiously in their sockets.

All at once the hunter was seen to dive; and the jaguar, astonished at the sudden disappearance of her enemy, paused, and for a moment balanced herself in the water. Then turning round, she commenced swimming back towards the tree upon which she had left her young ones.

Before reaching it, however, she was seen to struggle, and sink partially below the surface--as if some whirlpool was sucking her underneath; then rising up again, she turned over on her back, and floated lifeless down the current. A long red gash appeared freshly opened in her belly; and the water around was fast becoming tinged with the crimson stream that gushed copiously from the wound.

The Indian, in turn, came to the surface; and, after casting a look around him, swam towards the canoe--which the current had already carried to some distance from the trees. Overtaking it, he once more turned the craft deck upwards; and, mounting aboard, paddled back towards the student.

Lantejas had not yet recovered from the surprise with which the encounter, as well as the audacious _sang-froid_ exhibited by the _tigrero_, had inspired him, when the latter arrived underneath; and, with the same blade with which he had almost disembowelled the tiger, opened the bottom of the hammock by cutting it lengthwise. By this means he had resolved on delivering the student more easily than by endeavouring to get him out over the edge.

At that moment was heard the voice of Clara, still swimming about in the water.

"The skins of the jaguars!" cried he; "are you going to let them be lost? They are worth twenty dollars, Costal!"

"Well, if they are," replied the Indian, "swim after and secure them. I have no time to spare," added he, as he pulled Lantejas through the bottom of the hammock, and lowered him down into the canoe.

"_Dios me libre_!" responded Clara; "I shall do nothing of the kind.

Who knows whether the life's quite out of them yet? They may go to the devil for me! Heigh! Costal! paddle this way, and take me in. I have no desire to go under those tamarinds--laced as they are by half a mile of rattlesnakes."

"Get in gently, then!" said Costal, directing the canoe towards the negro. "Gently, or you may capsize us a second time."