Adventures of a Young Naturalist Part 48

Gringalet, who was let loose, ran towards the enormous creature, and barked at it from a safe distance. The Indian came up, with his gun upon his shoulder.

"The beast is justly mine, isn't it, Tat.i.ta, and I am still the tiger-hunter?"

"Yes," I replied; "but let the tigers alone, if they will allow you, and let us go to rest."

We were all going to lie down, when the roar of a tiger again shook the air.

"Hallo!" cried my friend; "is your beast come to life again?"

"No, Tat.i.ta Sumichrast; but my tiger is a tigress, and her mate is come to see after her."

I told the Indian not to move.

"Let him do as he likes," said my companion; "he will only disobey you."

Half an hour elapsed; all was profound silence, and we could hear the slightest-rustling of the leaves. Suddenly there was the report of a gun, and, five minutes afterwards, we greeted with "bravos" the triumphant "Hiou! hiou!" of the Indian, who, streaming with water, came to dry himself at the fire.

"I was obliged to ford the stream," he said; "but his lords.h.i.+p has got the ball between his two eyes this time."

"You are a brave fellow," responded Sumichrast, shaking hands with him.

"Now I shall sleep quietly," the Indian whispered to Lucien.

Master Job, Gringalet, Janet, and Verdet, all had their eyes wide open when I awoke at day-break. Lucien rose just as I was starting for the water's edge and accompanied me.

An elegant bird with a long curved bill came and settled down on the bank; the boy remarked the beautiful bronze-colored plumage of the wader. I informed him it was an ibis.

"The Egyptian bird which devours serpents?"

"One of its kinsfolk," I replied; "the ibis feeds, generally speaking, on worms, mollusks, and even on sea-weed or aquatic plants. It may, perhaps, sometimes eat water-snakes; but as to feeding exclusively on reptiles, or destroying them systematically, that's quite another story."

We now reached the bivouac, and found my companions up, and l'Encuerado in a state of high excitement over his exploit.

Having drunk our coffee, we all turned up our sleeves, and set to work to skin our magnificent prizes. This difficult operation employed us all the morning, and was scarcely finished when I carried our baggage on board the raft, which was soon pushed off from the bank.

Our way lay through walls of the densest foliage, which often met overhead, while such was the awful stillness of the solitude, that we felt oppressed, and only spoke in a low voice.

The hour for rest had long pa.s.sed, and yet no one proposed to land. The fact was, we wished some more animated resting-place; and though l'Encuerado, with his pole, shoved us onward with energy, the numerous bends hindered our progress, and it seemed as if night would surprise us still afloat. At last the palm-trees became more crowded, and the stream emerged from the forest, to cross a prairie; here the raft was moored under a canopy of creepers.

Our first care was to stretch the tigers' skins on the heated ground, and, while I was helping l'Encuerado, Sumichrast and Lucien went off in quest of our dinners. The fire had been for some time burning, when we heard a distant gunshot.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "The banks of the river were covered with alligators."]

Sumichrast returned laden with a green iguana, and Lucien was dragging by a string a little alligator about thirty inches long.

"Look, M. L'Encuerado!" cried the boy; "here is an alligator or cayman, a relation of the lizards, and an enemy of man. This ugly young beast has only baby-teeth, so can not bite much. It feeds on fish, otters, calves, and many other animals. It is an amphibious being, M.

L'Encuerado, a creature that lays eggs like fowls, but buries them in the sand, where the sun has to hatch them; it is a brute, too, which is so fond of man that it eats him whenever it has a chance."

"Take care it does not bite you," said I to the boy; "how did you manage to catch it?"

"I pursued it, thinking it was a big lizard; M. Sumichrast called out to me not to handle it, and then tied this creeper round its neck."

"You don't intend to take it away with you, I hope?"

"No; it is an ill-tempered creature, and is always anxious to use its teeth. I shall just show it to Master Job, and then let it go."

Neither Job nor his companions seemed flattered by this introduction, and the boy was disappointed when he deposited it at the water's edge; for, instead of plunging in, as he expected, it made a semicircle, and ran off towards the forest.

"Don't young alligators know how to swim?" he asked.

"Yes, Chanito; but they do not go into the water till they are old enough to defend themselves against the big males, which would devour them."

The sun had scarcely risen, when I saw on the sh.o.r.e, at about ten paces from us, three monsters luxuriously stretched out. One of them, from sixteen to twenty feet long, with a brown and rough body, opened its enormous jaws and showed us its frightful teeth. I took Lucien by the hand to lead him nearer to the reptiles, the better to inspect them.

"I like tigers better than these creatures," said he; "certainly their roaring is frightful to listen to, but they are by no means so hideous."

"Look along there, M. Sumichrast!" cried Lucien, when we had again taken to our raft; "there are eyes floating on the water!"

"You are not mistaken; they are crocodile's eyes."

The child nestled up to me, and I encouraged him; but these dark eyes appearing in every direction, and following every movement of the raft, troubled him beyond expression.

The banks of the river were covered with alligators, with their mouths wide agape. Some of them glided down into the water and came near us, but the majority remained motionless, not caring to exert themselves.

Lucien's fear began to calm down. He had so wished to see plenty of alligators; now he complained that there were too many.

"Look at that one," said Sumichrast, "climbing up that spit of land. He turns round with difficulty, and looks as if he scarcely had the use of his limbs. The fact is, that his body has no proper joints, and only moves in one piece. The best way, therefore, to escape from an alligator is to run up and down, making the turns short and rapid."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "The Indian and his branch descended with a splash into the river."]

The stream had hitherto flowed almost on a level with its banks, now the latter became gradually higher, and we floated along under an arch of foliage. L'Encuerado happened to raise himself to point out to Lucien a tree covered with parrots, between whom and the Indian there immediately commenced a lively chatter. Diverted by this amusing conversation, none of us perceived an enormous branch, which just grazed our heads but upset our entertainer. When he emerged from the water, instead of swimming towards us, l'Encuerado made his way to the bank, and began, with cutla.s.s in hand, to hew and hack at the tree which had been the cause of his accident.

"If you're going to cut down that colossus," cried my friend, "we had better encamp here, for it's eight days work at least."

"Only wait ten minutes more, at most, Tat.i.ta Sumichrast. It shall never be said that this great b.o.o.by broke my head and then laughed at me, to the heart's delight of the parrots, who no doubt were the instigators of such conduct."

L'Encuerado, by the notches he had cut in the tree, could easily climb up to the lowest branch; but in his haste he slipped and fell a second time into the water.

In a twinkling the Indian was up astride again on his branch, jabbering like an ape, and slas.h.i.+ng his knife into it, when of a sudden it gave a loud crack, and he and it descended with a splash into the river. At this noise the parrots sent up a wild scream and flew off, while the branch floated past us to the ocean. Our companion climbed up again on the raft, and laughed so heartily at his defeat of the tree and the fright he had caused to the parrots, that Lucien soon joined in his gayety. He was, however, thoroughly exhausted, so lay down, when he slept the peaceful sleep of a child which has tired itself out with a fit of pa.s.sion.

For two hours I managed the raft, and then l'Encuerado, awaking, resumed his post in silence. Suddenly there was a heavy tramping on the ground, the boughs moved, and the head of a wild bull appeared among the creepers. The animal surveyed us for a moment with its fierce eyes, and then made off, bellowing hoa.r.s.ely.

The sight of this new denizen of the forest confirmed the omens as we had already read them, and soon, accordingly, there burst upon our view an immense savannah. We were just about to pa.s.s the last shrub on the bank of the river, when l'Encuerado suddenly brought the boat to a stand-still. I stood up and saw a herd of wild cattle moving rapidly down to that portion of the stream which we were about to pa.s.s.

"Look out!" cried Sumichrast; "this is better worth seeing than the crocodiles."

L'Encuerado landed, and, crossing the prairie, called us. I found him close to an enormous willow-tree. Without loss of time, Lucien, Sumichrast, and I climbed up among the branches, taking Gringalet with us; but the Indian preferred posting himself in a more isolated position.

"We shall have roast fillet of beef to-night," cried he, executing among the branches such a series of gambols that I feared he would finish by falling.