violently--at last over he came, and we saw there was no
chance of his escaping. We stopped, and, like good sportsmen, loaded
our rifles in case they might be required. By the time we got up the
guanaco was dead, and Old Surley was standing over him, looking
wonderfully proud of his victory. What was to be done with the game now
that we had got it? was the question. We could not carry it away, for
each animal was fully four feet high, and eight or nine long. We looked
about for marks by which we should know the spot where the last killed
lay. We thought that we had found some that we could not mistake, but,
still more certainly to recognise it, we piled up all the stones and
bushes we could collect on a rock, till we had made a considerable heap,
which we thought would be conspicuous at a distance. We then began to
consider that it was time to look about for our companions. We could
nowhere make them out, but we had no doubt as to easily finding the spot
where we had left Fleming. First, however, we had to go and mark the
place more distinctly where we had left my guanaco. It took us as long
to descend the mountain as to climb it; for we often came to steep
places which we had to make a circuit to avoid. We reached the edge of
a small precipice, where we had a tolerably clear view of the hill-side
below us, and of the valley beyond. In ascending, we had passed on one
side of the rock. We looked about to discover the spot where we had
left the guanaco. There it lay; but not a hundred yards from it we saw
another animal approaching it by stealthy steps. We watched it
narrowly.

"It must be a big cat!" cried Jerry.

"No, no; it is a puma--the South American lion," I sang out. "Oh, if we
can but get a shot at him it will be fine!"

He was so intent on the prospect of a feast off the dead guanaco that he
did not see us. He crawled up near it, and then sprang on the carcass.
We did not like to have our game destroyed, so we could not help
shouting out, "Get off from that, you beast!" Our voices startled the
puma, and looking round and seeing us, and Surley approaching with an
angry growl, he trotted off down the mountain. We agreed that he was
probably an old fellow, and that, having lost his activity, he could not
catch the live animals. We both fired, but we were not near enough, and
missed him. Away he bounded down the mountain without once stopping to
look behind him.

"I vote we take some slices