Frank threw the gun up to his shoulder as if to try and see how readily he could cover such a flying form. As he did so he heard a low and ominous growl, which undoubtedly sprang from the very spot where he had just caught that suspicious movement.
He bent his head to look closer, and as he did so an exclamation fell from his lips.
"And that's no owl staring at me, either," he said to himself, as he caught the singular glow of what seemed like two balls of fire, just under the lower growth.
Frank knew what they undoubtedly must be. He had seen the orbs of a cat shine in this phosphorescent way in the darkness. There could be no doubt but that he was being surveyed by one of those savage beasts whose whining he and Andy had heard around the camp for hours.
"And I declare if that purring sound doesn't come from there, too," he muttered, as he sank down upon one knee, the better to aim his rifle. "What was that the old señor was telling me about these beasts? Didn't he say they jerked their tail to and fro like a pendulum, and made a queer noise just before they jumped? If that is so then this fellow is getting ready to leap over right now. Time I was doing something, if I don't want him to drop on my chum like a rubber ball. Well, here goes to take him between those yellow eyes. Steady now, my boy, steady!"
"Wow! are they coming in on us?" shouted Andy, suddenly aroused by the sharp report of the repeating rifle.
He bounded to his feet, and from his manner of action it was plain to be seen that he remembered exactly the condition of affairs at the time of his taking passage for the Land of Dreams.
Frank had aimed straight between those glowing eyes at the time he fired. And as he was perfectly calm at the time, it stood to reason that his bullet went direct to the mark he meant it should.
He saw a yellow object threshing about under the dense growth, and realized that he had given the adventurous jaguar something that was apt to wind up his career as a terror to the monkey hosts of the forest.
But this was not all Frank saw. Another figure had appeared just ten paces farther along, and he realized that a second jaguar had crept out of the copse, evidently bent on charging the camp.