CHAPTER XXV.
THE PUMA AND THE GREAT ANT-BEAR.
All at once the attention of the boy was called away from the crawlingmillions. A rustling among some dead leaves was heard. It appeared toproceed from the edge of the glade, not far from the ant-hills. Thebranches of the underwood were seen to move, and the next moment aslender cylindrical object, about a foot and a half in length, wasprotruded out from the leaves. Had there not been a pair of small eyesand ears near the farther end of this cylindrical object, no one wouldhave taken it for the head and snout of an animal. But Leon saw thelittle sparkling black eyes, and he therefore conjectured that it wassome such creature.
The next moment the body came into view, and a singular creature it was.It was about the size of a very large Newfoundland dog, though of adifferent shape. It was covered all over with long brownish hair, partof which looked so coarse as to resemble dry grass or bristles. On eachshoulder was a wide strip of black, bordered with whitish bands; and thetail, which was full three feet long, was clothed with a thick growth ofcoarse hair, several inches in length, that looked like strips ofwhalebone. This was carried aloft, and curving over the back. But themost curious feature of the animal was its snout.
Talk of the nose of a grey hound. It would be a "pug" in comparison!That of this animal was full twice as long, and not half so thick, witha little mouth not over an inch in size, and without a single tooth! Itwas certainly the oddest snout Leon had ever seen. The legs, too, wereremarkable. They were stout and thick, the hinder ones appearing muchshorter than the fore-legs; but this was because the creature in itshind-feet was _plantigrade_, that is, it walked with the whole of itssoles touching the surface, which only bears and a few other sorts ofquadrupeds do.
Its fore-feet, too, were oddly placed upon the ground. They had fourlong claws upon each, but these claws, instead of being spread out, asin the dog or cat, were all folded backward along the sole, and thecreature, to avoid treading on them, actually walked on the sides of itsfeet! The claws were only used for scraping up the ground, and then itcould bring them forward in a perpendicular position, like the blade ofa hoe, or the teeth of a garden-rake. Of course, with feet furnished insuch an out-of-the-way fashion, the animal moved but slowly over theground. In fact it went very slowly, and with a stealthy pace.
Although Leon had never seen the creature before, he had read about it,and had also seen pictures of it. He knew it, therefore, at a glance.That proboscis-looking snout was not to be mistaken. It could belong tono other creature than the _tamanoir_, or _great ant-eater_, by thepeople of South America called the _ant-bear_. It was, in fact, thatvery thing; but to Leon's astonishment, as soon as it got fairly out ofthe bushes, he noticed a singular-looking hunch upon its back, just overthe shoulder. At first he could not make out what this was, as he hadnever heard of such a protuberance, besides, the tail half hid it fromhis view. All of a sudden the animal turned its head backwards, touchedthe hunch with its snout, gave itself a shake, and then the oddexcrescence fell to the ground, and proved to be a young ant-eater, withbushy tail and long snout, the "very image of its mother." The large onewas thus seen to be a female that had been carrying her infant upon hershoulders.
It was close to one of the ant-hills where the old tamanoir placed heryoung upon the ground, and turning away from it, she approached thegreat cone. Erecting herself upon her hind-feet, she stood with the foreones resting against the hill, apparently examining it, and consideringin what part of it the shell or roof was thinnest and weakest. Thesecones, composed of agglutinated sand and earth, are frequently sostoutly put together that it requires a pick-axe or crowbar to breakthem open.
But the ant-eater knew well that her fore-feet were armed with animplement equal to either pick or crow, and she would certainly havemade a hole there and then, had she not noticed, on looking around tothe other side, that the inhabitants of the hill were all abroad uponone of their forays. This seemed to bring about a sudden change in herdetermination, and, dropping her fore-feet to the ground, she once morethrew up her great tail, and returned to where she had left her youngone. Partly pushing it before her with her snout, and partly lifting itbetween her strong fore-arms, she succeeded in bringing the latter tothe border of the path along which travelled the ants.
Here she squatted down, and placed herself so that the point of her nosejust touched the selvedge of the swarming hosts, having caused theyoungster by her side to do the same. Then throwing out a long worm-liketongue, which glittered with a viscous coating, she drew it back againcovered with ants. These passed into her mouth, and thence, of course,into her capacious stomach. The tongue, which was more than a foot inlength, and nearly as thick as a quill, was again thrown out, and againdrawn back, and this operation she continued, the tongue making abouttwo "hauls" to every second of time! Now and then she stopped eating, inorder to give some instructions to the little one that was seen closelyimitating her, and with its more slender tongue dealing death among the_termites_.
So very comic was the sight that Leon could not help laughing at it, ashe sat upon his perch.
An end, however, was put to his merriment, by the sudden appearance ofanother animal--one of a different character. It was a large cat-likecreature, of a reddish-yellow, or tawny colour, long body and tail,round head, with whiskers, and bright gleaming eyes. Leon had seen thatsort of animal before. He had seen it led in strings by Indians throughthe streets of Cuzco, and he at once recognised it. It was the_Puma_--the maneless lion of America.
The specimens which Leon had seen with the Indians had been renderedtame and harmless. He knew that, but he had also been told that theanimal in its wild state is a savage and dangerous beast. This is trueof the puma in some districts, while in others the creature is cowardly,and will flee at the sight of man. In all cases, however, when the pumais brought to bay, it makes a desperate fight, and both dogs and menhave been killed in the attack.
Leon had not been frightened at the tamanoir. Even had it been a savagecreature, he knew it could not climb a tree--though there are twosmaller species of ant-bears in South America that can--and he thereforeknew he was quite safe on his perch. But his feelings were verydifferent when the red body of the puma came in sight. It could run upthe smoothest trunk in the forest with as much ease and agility as acat, and there would be no chance of escaping from it if it feltdisposed to attack him. Of this the boy was fully conscious, and nowonder he was alarmed.
His first thought was to leap down, and make for the cinchona-trees,where the others were; but the puma had entered the glade from thatside, and it was therefore directly in his way: he would have run rightin its teeth by going toward the cinchona-trees. He next thought ofslipping quietly down, and getting into the woods behind him.Unfortunately, the tree on which he was stood out in the glade quiteapart from any others, the puma would see him go off, and, of course,could overtake him in a dozen leaps. These thoughts passed through theboy's mind in a few seconds of time; and in a few seconds of time he wasconvinced that his best course would be to remain where he was, and keepquiet. Perhaps the puma would not notice him--as yet he had not.
No doubt he would have done so, had there been nothing else on the spotto take off his attention; but just as he came into the open ground, hiseyes fell upon the ant-eaters, where they lay squatted and licking upthe termites. He had entered the glade in a sort of skulking trot, butthe moment he saw the tamanoirs he halted, drew his body into acrouching attitude, and remained thus for some moments, while his longtail oscillated from side to side, as that of a cat when about to springupon a mouse or a sparrow.
Just at this moment the tamanoir, having turned round to address someconversation to her young companion, espied him, and sprang to her feet.She recognised in the puma--as in others of his race--a deadly enemy.With one sweep of her fore-arm she flung the young one behind her, untilit rested against the wall of the ant-hill, and then, following in allhaste, threw herself into an erect attitude in front of her young,covering it with her b
ody.
She was now standing firm upon her hind-feet--her back resting againstthe mud wall--but her long snout had entirely disappeared! That was heldclose along her breast, and entirely concealed by the shaggy tail, whichfor this purpose had been brought up in front. Her defence rested in herstrong fore-arms, which, with the great claws standing at right angles,were now held out in a threatening manner. The young one, no doubt awareof some danger, had drawn itself into its smallest bulk, and was clewedup behind her.
The puma dashed forward, open-mouthed, and began the attack. He lookedas though he would carry everything by the first assault; but a sharptear from the tamanoir's claws drew the blood from his cheek, andalthough it rendered him more furious, it seemed to increase hiscaution. In the two or three successive attempts he kept prudently outof reach of these terrible weapons. His adversary held her fore-legswide open, as though she was desirous of getting the other to rushbetween them, that she might clutch him, after the manner of the bears.This was exactly what she wanted, and in this consists the chief mode ofdefence adopted by these animals. The puma, however, seemed to be up toher trick.
This thrust-and-parry game continued for some minutes, and might havelasted longer, had it not been for the young tamanoir. This foolishlittle creature, who up to that moment was not very sure what the fusswas all about, had the imprudent curiosity to thrust out its slendersnout. The puma espied it, and making a dart forward, seized the snoutin his great teeth, and jerked the animal from under. It uttered a lowsquall, but the next moment its head was "crunched" between the muscularjaws of the puma.
The old one now appeared to lose all fear and caution. Her tail felldown. Her long snout was unsheathed from under its protection, and sheseemed undecided what to do. But she was not allowed much time toreflect. The puma, seeing the snout, the most vulnerable part,uncovered, launched himself forward like an arrow, and caught hold of itin his bristling fangs. Then having dragged his victim forward, he flungher upon her breast, and mounting rapidly on her back, proceeded toworry her at his pleasure.
Although Leon pitied the poor tamanoir, yet he dared not interfere, andwould have permitted the puma to finish his work, but at that moment asharp pain, which he suddenly felt in his ankle, caused him to startupon his seat, and utter an involuntary scream.