CHAPTER XXII
Lost in the Wilds of Brazil
The largest snake of Brazil was about to strike and enfold the youthsin its terrible coils. And that could mean but one thing--death in anawful form.
Slowly Bob and Joe raised their rifles and took careful aim at thehorrible head. They must not miss. Here, if ever, was a need foraccurate shooting.
There came another hiss, and the reptile glided still closer, itswicked eyes gleaming in the sunlight. It was moving stealthily, as ifwondering which of the boys to make for.
"Now!" whispered Bob and a second later pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Two rifles spoke, but only one found the mark. It wouldhave been a difficult task for even an expert marksman to strike thatsmall swaying head. And Bob and Joe were not expert marksmen,although the former was much better than the average.
But the bullet had only glanced the top of the head and had done noreal damage. The reptile was only more enraged.
"Run!" cried Joe, as he saw that the anaconda was preparing to strike.
"One more shot," whispered back Bob, again raising his rifle. "I'mafraid we couldn't get far if we ran."
Again the rifles spoke, and this time, thanks to the young hunters'courage, both bullets smashed into the head and shattered it. Thegreat snake thrashed about in its death struggle, the coils describingcircles and curves. At last it quieted down and lay still. For thefirst time it had been defeated.
Bob and Joe waited several minutes for any other signs of life, butnone came. They moved up to examine the great body, which laystretched out over a radius of fifteen feet.
"Thicker than a man's leg," observed Joe, who was still unsteady fromthe terrible encounter.
"An unusually large specimen," commented Bob. "Think of the excitementour dads would stir up if they could see it."
"They might take it back to the States," said Joe. "Only--I doubt ifit would be much good to them with the head shattered as it is."
The boys spent several more minutes in examining the anaconda. Then,unwilling to lose precious time, they started on down the decline.They intended at least to reach the other side before turning back.
"Steep along here," said Joe, as they came to a rocky edge.
"Couldn't fall far," his friend remarked. "The heavy vegetation wouldcatch you before you'd fallen ten feet. But even then I wouldn't careto lose my balance and come up against a tree."
The young explorers stumbled on to the bottom and then began theascent of the opposite side.
Suddenly they heard a vicious snarl and looked back to see that alarge, powerful jaguar was poised ready to spring. Its wicked eyesshone like beads as it bared its sharp teeth.
Slowly the youths raised their rifles and took steady aim. Joe was thefirst to pull the trigger, and a moment later Bob followed.
A part snarl, part whine came from the beast, and it weaved as ifgoing to fall. But it righted itself and then again prepared tospring.
"It's up to you, Bob," murmured Joe in a tone that he tried to keepsteady. "My rifle's empty. Can't get it loaded in time."
Bob frowned.
A second later he raised his gun to fire, but it caught on a sharpprotruding branch and was wrenched from his grasp. With a frightenedglance at the huge cat he turned to run, and Joe was at his heels.
The boys well knew that they had little chance of escape in that densejungle, but they resolved to retreat as fast as their legs would carrythem. And the fact that the jaguar was severely wounded gave themcourage to run with all the strength they could muster.
"Good thing you got him in the leg," panted Joe, as they made for afaintly outlined path not far away. "We wouldn't have had a chance inthe world otherwise."
As Joe said, the boys would have proved no match for the animal'sagility had it not been wounded. Even as it was, they knew that thegreat cat was gaining rapidly. In no time it would be upon them.
A few yards down, the path branched into several directions. Theychose the one to the right, for no reason at all. It offered no betterchance of escape than did the others.
"Oh!" groaned Joe, imagining that he could feel the hot breath of thebeast. "We can't keep this up much longer."
The youths refused to lose heart, however, and continued as rapidly asthey could. At several other places the trail branched, and theyfollowed the widest and most clearly defined. They had no notion ofwhere they were going. In fact they did not care, as long as they wereoutdistancing their terrible enemy.
At last they found it impossible to continue the flight. Their breathgone completely; their hearts were beating like triphammers.
With a sudden movement Bob wheeled about and brought out his huntingknife, just as the jaguar prepared to spring. The great cat lungedforward, bearing the youth to the ground. As he fell, Bob summoned allhis strength and plunged the sharp blade of the knife deep into theanimal's side at a point where he judged it would find the heart. Hisaim was true. With one last cough the beast rolled over and lay still.The knife plus Bob's courage had proven too much for even its brutestrength.
For a time the youth could not speak. At last he managed to blurt outa few almost unintelligible words to Joe, who had been helpless torender aid during the death struggle.
Joe sighed and shook his head. "Another narrow escape!" he breathed,picturing what would have happened had not Bob made use of his huntingknife.
The boys spent only a short time in examining the great cat, for theywere anxious to get back to the boats at once.
"Let's hurry back to camp," moved Bob, looking at his watch. "We'vebeen gone several hours. Doesn't seem possible, does it?"
But little did the young hunters dream that they were miles from theboats and their elders--that they had unknowingly penetrated deeperand deeper into this dense jungle.
After one last look at the great jaguar, the chums started back downthe trail, heading for the boats. They wondered what kind of areception their fathers would give them after being gone so long.
Ten minutes of constant hiking brought them to a spot where the trailbranched into four or five other paths, each winding in a slightlydifferent direction from the others. Which branch should they take toget back to camp?
"Strange," mused Joe. "I thought sure we could pick out the rightbranch. But you know we didn't have much time for thought when thatjaguar was chasing us."
The youths spent fully ten minutes in trying to decide on which trailthey had turned out, but in the end they were no more enlightened thanthey were at the start. They tried to remember some landmark thatmight be suggestive but could not. The heavy Amazonian jungle hadproven too much for their memories.
But they refused to admit that they were beaten, and at last chose themiddle trail, as it seemed more like the one they had followed. Therewas no use giving up without showing fight. They walked on constantlyand at last came to another place where the path branched. Here againthey were at a loss to know which direction to take.
"Believe it's the one to the left," concluded Joe, scratching his headthoughtfully.
"I'm sure I don't know," the other said. "But if you think you'reright, we may as well follow it."
They did follow it. One, two, three miles they hiked. But where wasthe canyon?
"We're surely on the wrong course," said Bob, glancing at hispedometer. "Three miles is farther than we went before. And we haven'tcome to the spot where I dropped my gun yet. Suppose we go back andtry another trail."
Joe was willing, and they retraced their footsteps, at last coming tothe place where the path branched.
"Suppose we try the one to the right," suggested Joe, and they did.
But when, after a half-hour's tramp, they made no more headway thanbefore, they saw the futility of continuing on this trail. Again theywent back and took another direction. And again they failed to come toBob's rifle. The youths continued the search for several hours, neverceasing. But each time they met with failure. The cruel Brazilianforest was not to be conquered by man.
Finally, exhausted and baffled to the extreme, they sat down on adecaying tree trunk. The stark truth had at last dawned on them. Theywere lost--lost in the wilds of Brazil!