CHAPTER XIV.
THE KILL IN THE JUNGLE.
It was growing darker every minute in the jungle, for there were nowfleecy clouds in the sky, and the moon was not always in sight. FollowingJimmie's statement that they were lost, the boys stood stock still in adense thicket and tried once more to get their bearings.
"We've got something figured out wrong," Peter said.
"I don't see how we have," Jimmie insisted. "See here! That is the moon upthere? What?"
"Looks like it."
"Then it's got lost," Jimmie continued. "Ever stand behind the scenes in atheatre and hold a moon up on a stick?"
"Never did."
"Well, I did, on the Bowery, once, and I got so interested in what wasgoin' on in front that the moon set in the east. That's what's the matterwith this moon. Some--"
"There ain't no supe holding up this moon on a stick."
"Then they've moved the Panama canal," insisted Jimmie. "If they hadn't,we would have come to the cut a long time ago. That moon is supposed to bein the south. It ought to be."
"Perhaps a little west of south."
"Well, we crossed over the ditch down here, didn't we, and struck into thejungle from the west side of the Culebra cut?"
"Of course we did."
"Then if we keep the moon in the south, on our right, we'll come back tothe cut?"
"Sure. Anyway, we ought to."
"Well, Old Top, we've been walkin' for the last two hours with the moon onour right, and we haven't got anywhere, have we? You don't see no lightsahead of us, do you?"
There were no signs of the big cut. The great lights which blazed over theworkings were not to be seen. The noises of the digging, the dynamiting,the pounding of the steam shovels, the nervous tooting of the dirt trains,might have been a thousand miles away.
"You've got to show me," Peter said, after studying over the matter for amoment. "That moon isn't on no stick on a Bowery stage. It is there in thesouth, where it belongs, and if we continue to keep it on our right we'llcome to the canal in time. We are farther away than we thought for."
They struggled on through the jungle for another half hour, and thenstopped while Jimmie looked reproachfully at the moon.
"I'd like to know what kind of a country this is, anyway," he grumbled. "Inever saw the moon get off on a tear before."
"Except when you had it on the end of a stick," said Peter, with a noisewhich was intended for a laugh, but which sounded more like a sigh ofdisgust.
"Well, we've got to stay here until morning," Jimmie said, presently, "andI'm so hungry that I could eat a boa constrictor right now."
"Quit!" cried Peter. "Don't talk about snakes, or you'll bring them downon us."
"That was coarse, wasn't it?" observed Jimmie. "Well, I'll withdraw theremark."
"If we stay here until morning," Peter said, dubiously, "how do we knowthe sun won't rise in the west?"
"All right," Jimmie replied. "Guy me if you want to, but you'll find thisis no joke before we get through with it."
"I know that now," Peter replied. "I never was so tired in my life, andI'd give a ten-dollar note for a drink of cold water."
The boys sat down on dry tree knuckles, buttressed roots rising three feetfrom the soil, and discussed the situation gravely. After a short timePeter got up with a start and began prancing about the little free spacewhere they were.
"I've got it!" he cried. "We're both chumps."
"They usually act that way when they're dyin' of hunger an' thirst,"Jimmie said, dolefully. "Keep quiet, an' you'll feel better in a shorttime."
"But I know which way to go now," Peter insisted.
"Oh, yes, I know. You're goin' to tell which is north by the moss on thetrees. Or you're goin' to tell which way is northeast by the way thebreeze lays the bushes. Or you're goin' to make a compass out of the dialof your watch. I've read all about it. But we're stuck, just the same, notknowin' the constellations."
"Stuck--nothing," cried Peter. "Look here. Which way does the Panama canalrun?"
"North and south, across the Isthmus, of course."
"There's where you're wrong! From Gatun to Panama the line of the cut ismore east and west than north and south. Now revise your opinion of themoon. At this time of night she would be in the southwest."
"That would make a little difference," admitted Jimmie.
"Well, there you are. Take a line running southeast and a couple of chumpsgoing almost southeast by keeping a southwest object to the right, wherewill they land? That's mixed, but I guess you know what it means. Wherewould a couple of chumps find the southeast line?"
"About next week at two o'clock," cried Jimmie. "Come on. We'll startright now, an' get out of the jungle before daylight."
In a few moments after taking a fresh start the boys came to a place wherea small body of water made a clearing in the forest. The little lake, orswamp, for it was little more than a well-filled marsh, was of coursewalled about by trees and climbing vines, but there was a lane to thesouthwest which permitted the light of the moon to fall upon the water.
The surface of the pool was well covered with floating plants, and now andthen, as the boys looked through the undergrowth, a squirming thing duckedunder and out of sight. There was something beautiful about the spot, andyet it was uncanny, too.
"I wish that was all right for a drink," Jimmie observed.
"It is all right for a drink--if you're tired of living," Peter said."Say," he added, pointing, "what do you think of that for a creeper, overthere? I'm sure I saw it climbing down off that tree."
Jimmie took one look and started away, drawing Peter with him.
"It's a python!" he exclaimed. "Come on."
"There are no pythons in this country," Peter replied, pulling back andlooking out over the water again.
"It is a boa, then," Jimmie cried. "Come away. It is getting out of thetree!"
The boys did not move for a moment. They seemed to be fascinated by whatthey saw. It was a serpent at least ten yards in length--a serpent showingmany bright colors, a thick, elongated head, a body at least ten inches indiameter, and a blunt tail. As it moved down the column of the tree itlaunched its head out level in the air as if anticipating a feast of BoyScout. The shining head, the small, vicious eyes, drew nearer to the facesof the watchers, and it seemed as if the serpent was about to leap acrossthe pool.
Directly, however, the reptile threw its head and the upper part of itsbody over a limb on a tree nearer to the boys and drew its whole squirmingbody across.
"It is coming over here, all right," whispered Peter. "Can you hit it? Abullet landed in that flat head might help some."
"Of course I can hit it."
Jimmie would not have admitted fright, but his voice was a trifle shaky.It is no light thing for a boy reared on the pavements of New York to facea serpent in the midst of a tropical forest at night.
"You shoot, then," Peter said. "I'll hold my fire until we see whathappens."
Jimmie drew his revolver and waited for a moment, as the head of the snakewas now in the shadow of the tree. When it came out again, still creepingnearer to the boys, swaying, reaching out for another tree which wouldhave brought it within striking distance, the boy took careful aim andfired.
There was a puff of smoke, the smell of burning powder, a great switchingin the branches of the tree. Peter seized Jimmie by the arm and drew himback.
"If you didn't hit him he'll jump," the boy said.
When the smoke which had discolored the heavy air drifted away, they sawthe serpent still hanging from the limb, pushing his head out this way andthat and flashing a scarlet tongue at its enemies.
"You hit him, all right," Peter said. "Try again."
After the third shot the body of the serpent hung down from the tree withonly a stir of life. It was evident that at least one of the bullets hadfound the brain.
"It will hang there until it decays," Peter said. "That tail will neverlet go. Come on away. It makes me sick.
"
"There's always two where there's one," Jimmie said, "and we must movecautiously, for there would be no release from the coils of a snake likethat."
"I thought I heard something moving in there a moment ago," Peter said,pointing away from the pool. "I'll go in and see."
"Don't you stir," advised Jimmie. "There's some one in there. I heardvoices. We have been followed all this long way, and the shooting musthave located us."
This was a very natural conclusion, and the boys crept behind the bole ofa tree and waited for what seemed to them a long time. Then footsteps wereheard, soft, stealthy steps, like those of a man walking in paddedstockings. The great leaves of a huge plant with red blossoms moved, and apair of fierce eyes looked out.
"That's a panther," whispered Jimmie.
"A South American jaguar," Peter corrected. "They eat men when they getdesperately hungry."
The great cat moved out from behind the plant and stood in the shaft ofmoonlight. It was a graceful beast, an alert, handsome creature of thewoods, but did not look in that way to the boys just then.
In size it was nearly the equal of the full grown tiger. The head waslarge, the body thick yet supple, the limbs robust. In color it was of arich yellow, with black rings, in which stood black dots, marking thesides.
The beast is known as the South American tiger, and is by far the mostpowerful and dangerous of tropic beasts of prey. It is swift enough tocapture horses on the open pampas and strong enough to drag them awayafter the kill. In some of the countries south of the Isthmus the jaguaris a menace to the inhabitants, and settlements have been deserted becauseof them. It is rarely that one is found as far north as the Isthmus.
While the boys watched the cat slipped out one soft paw after the otherand looked about, as if awakened from sleep. Then it moved toward the treebehind which the boys were partly concealed.
"Now for it," whispered Peter. "If we miss it is all off with one of us."
"He may not come here," Jimmie said, hopefully. "He was probably broughthere by the smell of blood. Say! Don't you hear something back of us? Thiscat's mate may be there."
And the cat's mate was there. Not looking in their direction, but sittingup like a house cat, watching the swaying body of the serpent. Her nosewas pushed out a trifle, as if scenting supper in the dangling horror.
"The mate is here, all right," Peter said, in a whisper. "We're betweenthe two of them. What is the first one doing?"
"Coming on," whispered Jimmie, "and I've got only three shots in my gun."
"That's all you will have time to use if you miss the first one," Petersaid.
"That's right," Jimmie returned.
"And we'll have to shoot together," Peter went on.
"Is your hand steady?" asked Jimmie.
"As a rock," was the reply. "Good-bye to little old New York if it wasn't.Funny notion that a jaguar should be trying to eat a Wolf and a BlackBear."
"And a baby Wolf, too," added Jimmie. "My beast is coming on, bound toinvestigate this tree. When he gets so close that he can spring I'll givethe word, and we'll shoot together."
The cat approached slowly. At first it did not seem to catch the scent ofprey in the neighborhood of the tree. It came on with cautious steps,crouching low, as if ready to leap.
Then the female caught sight and scent of the boys and uttered a low cryof warning which the male appeared to understand, for in a second its earswere laid down on its neck and the belly touched the ground.
"When you shoot keep the lead going," advised Jimmy. "Now!"
Again, in that splendid tropical scene, there was a puff of smoke, one,two, three, four. Again the odor of burned powder attacked the nostrilsand clouded the heavy air. Again there was a great floundering in thethicket.
The boys stood waiting for the snarling impact, but none came.