f on one arm, and was laughing
at the contest.

It was her voice, then, I had mistaken for that of a man!

Becoming sensible of my intrusive position, I turned to retreat, when a
shrill cry reached me from the pond.

The swans, with a frightened energy shrieked and flapped over the
surface, the gold-fish shot to and fro like sunbeams, and leaped out of
the water, quivering and terrified, and the birds on all sides screamed
and chattered.

I sprang forward to ascertain the cause of this strange commotion. My
eye fell upon the negress, who had risen, and, running out upon the
parapet with uplifted arms, shouted in terrified accents:

"_Valgame Dios--ninas! El cayman! el cayman_!"

I looked across to the other side of the pond. A fearful object met my
eyes--the cayman of Mexico! The hideous monster was slowly crawling
over the low wall, dragging his lengthened body from a bed of aquatic
plants.

Already his short fore-arms, squamy and corrugated, rested upon the
inner edge of the parapet, his shoulders projecting as if in the act to
spring! His scale-covered back, with its long serrated ridge, glittered
with a slippery moistness; and his eyes, usually dull, gleamed fierce
and lurid from their prominent sockets.

I had brought with me a light rifle. It was but the work of a moment to
unsling and level it. The sharp crack followed, and the ball impinged
between the monster's eyes, glancing harmlessly from his hard skull as
though it had been a plate of steel. The shot was an idle one, perhaps
worse; for, stung to madness with the stunning shock, the reptile sprang
far out into the water, and made directly for its victims.

The girls, who had long since given over their mirthful contest, seemed
to have lost all presence of mind; and, instead of making for the bank,
stood locked in each other's arms terrified and trembling.

Their symmetrical forms fell into an agonised embrace; and their rounded
arms, olive and roseate, laced each other, and twined across their
quivering bodies.

Their faces were turned to heaven, as though they expected succour from
above--a group that rivalled the Laocoon.

With a spring I cleared the parapet, and, drawing my sword, dashed madly
across the basin.

The girls were near the centre; but the cayman had got the start of me,
and the water, three feet deep, impeded my progress. The bottom of the
tank, too, was slippery, and I fell once or twice on my hands. I rose
again,