s living companions. The loud squeaks which the
poor wounded peccary set up on finding itself in the claws of the savage
jaguar, attracted the attention of the whole herd; but instead of
running away, they rushed simultaneously towards him. He saw them
coming, and lifting his victim in his jaws, he bounded off. They were
not, however, to be disappointed of their revenge, and away they all
started in chase. We watched them with no small interest, expecting,
however, that when they found they could not overtake the jaguar they
would quickly return and again lay siege to us. Greatly to our
satisfaction, however, on they went.

"Now is our time; let us run for it!" exclaimed Arthur, shouting to Tim,
who speedily descended from the tree.

"Sure, you would not be after leaving such a fine supply of good pork,"
said Tim, drawing his knife. "If the peccaries come back, we must just
slip up our trees again; and as for the jaguar, there's little chance of
his showing his nose here, for the brutes will soon kill him, if he has
not got a fast pair of heels of his own."

As there appeared little probability of the peccaries returning, we
followed Tim's advice, and began cutting up the animals, so as to secure
the best joints from each. We soon had three as heavy loads of meat as
we could carry; and placing them on our shoulders, we set off towards
the settlement looking back, every now and then to ascertain if we were
followed.

We hastened along as fast as we could, as we wished not only to escape
from the living peccaries, but to bring our friends to carry off a
further supply of the slaughtered meat. From some cause or other we
were not pursued, and arrived safely at the settlement. Our friends
immediately armed themselves with bows and arrows and spears, and got
ready to return with us. Kallolo merely took his blowpipe; and giving a
peculiar smile, he observed,--"If the creatures will kindly come near
me, I will take good care that not one of them gets away." However, on
reaching the spot where we had left the slaughtered peccaries no living
ones were to be seen, nor did it appear that the jaguar had come back
for any of them; so we concluded that he had either been killed, that
the savage little brutes had driven him to a distance, or that he had
crossed a piece of water, into which they themselves will never
willingly enter. Several vultures and eagles had, however, collected to
enjoy the feast we had prepared