nd purred.

All of a sudden, though, it raised its head excitedly, and Rob could
feel the nerves and muscles quivering beneath its soft, loose skin.

Just at the same moment, too, Brazier and Shaddy uttered warning cries
to the lad to look out, for the war had recommenced in the next tree,
the jaguar having ceased to pass its paws over its head, and assumed a
crouching position, with its powerful hind legs drawn beneath it and its
sinewy loins contracted, as if preparing to make a spring.

The serpent had noticed the movement, and it too had prepared itself for
the fray by assuming as safe a position for defence and menace as the
limited space would allow.

Then came another pause, with the jaguar crouching, its spine all in a
quiver, and a peculiar fidgeting, scratching movement visible about its
hind claws, while the serpent watched it with glittering eyes, its
drawn-back head rising and falling slightly with the motion of its
undulating form.

"Do you think the jaguar will attack it, Naylor?" whispered Brazier.

"Yes, sir; they're nasty spiteful creatures, and can't bear to see
anything enjoying itself. There's room in the tree for both of them,
and you'd think that with the flood underneath they'd be content to wait
there in peace till it was gone. But if the snake would the tiger won't
let him: he's waiting for a chance to take him unawares, and so not get
caught in his coils, but I don't think he'll get that this time. My
word! Look!"

For as he was speaking the jaguar seemed to be shot from the bough, to
strike the serpent on the side of the head, which it seized just at the
thinnest part of the neck, and held on, tearing the while so fiercely
with its hind claws that the reptile's throat was in a few moments all
in ribbons, which streamed with blood. The weight of the jaguar, too,
bore down the serpent, in spite of its enormous strength, and it
appeared as if victory was certain for the quadruped; but even as Rob
thought this, and rejoiced at the destruction of so repellent a monster,
the serpent's folds moved rapidly, as if it were writhing its last in
agony, and the next instant those who watched the struggle saw that the
jaguar, in spite of its activity, was enveloped in the terrible embrace.
There was a strange crushing sound, a yell that made Rob's fingers go
toward his ears, and then a rapid movement, and the water was splashed
over where they sat.

For the tree was vacant, and beneath it the