out of our friend here," said Jerry. His
suggestions were generally very practical. "I don't see why we should
run the risk of losing our dinner altogether. The chances are that
another of these pumas finds him out and leaves us but poor pickings."
I agreed to the wisdom of the suggestion, and so we supplied ourselves
with enough meat for all the party. We then raised a mark near our
guanaco as we had done before.

"That will do famously," said Jerry, finishing the heap with a long
piece of cactus. "Now, let us go and look for Fleming. The doctor and
guides will be back soon. I'm getting very hungry, I know, and if they
don't come I vote we make an attack on the prog baskets without them."

"Let us find Fleming and the baskets first," I answered; for my mind
began to misgive me about finding him as easily as we had expected. The
chase after the guanacoes had led us a long way, and I found it very
difficult to calculate distances or the size of objects in that bright
atmosphere, where the proportions of all surrounding objects were so
vast. Still I did not express my fears to Jerry. We kept our eyes
about us, on the chance of falling in with another puma; for we agreed
that it would be much better to be able to talk of having killed a lion
than even two harmless llamas. On we went for a long time, scrambling
over the crags, and precipices, and rough ground.

"Where can Fleming have got to?" exclaimed Jerry at last; "I am certain
that we are up to the spot where we left him." I thought so likewise.
We shouted at the top of our voices, but the puny sounds seemed lost in
the vast solitudes which encompassed us. "I think it must have been
further on," said I, after I had taken another survey of the country.
So on we rushed, keeping our eyes about us on every side.

We had gone on some way further, when Jerry laid his hand on my arm.
"What is that, Harry?" he exclaimed. "It is the puma! See the rascal
how stealthily he creeps along! He's after some mischief, depend on it.
I hope he won't go back and eat up our guanacoes."

"We must take care that he does not do that," said I. "We'll stop his
career. Is your rifle ready. We'll creep after him as stealthily as he
is going along. He is so busy that he does not see us, and the chances
are that we get near enough to knock him over."

"Come along then," exclaimed Jerry; and, imitating the puma's cautious
mode of proceeding, we rapidly gained on him. We had