80 OVEE THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LLANOS. 



suddenly so swift, that we endeavored to fasten to tbc 

 "bank, but it was too late; we could no more stop our 

 courser than the stream itself, and as we turned a bend 

 "we were greeted by a roar that sent our hearts into our 

 mouths. But a moment longer, and we Avere swept into 

 a seething, boiling raiidal* nothing visible but the leap- 

 ing, white foam on which our log was tossed like a feather. 

 Yiviano dropped down helpless with a stifled caramha, 

 while we speculated on the chances of the rapid ending 

 in a fall. El Patron clung to his steering-oar like a hero, 

 and kept the bongo head on, which was our only chance. 

 By the rocks we dashed like lightning, for what seemed 

 an interminable length of time. But the caimans were 

 cheated of their prey for once. We escaped the rocks, 

 with no more damage than a large amount cf water 

 shipped, and floated quietly on deep water once again. 

 Our zest for adventure for that day, however, Avas gone, 

 and the sooner we were on dry land again the better. Our 

 patron now know^ing his whereabouts, we travelled on, 

 sleepy and tired, till the faint glimmer of a light ahead re- 

 vived us, and soon we were Avatching our supper cooking 

 OA^er the fire, and slinging our hammock within the walls 

 of a Llano farm-house. Great slabs of leathery meat dis- 

 a})peared like snow in summer, Avashed doAvn by nixmber- 

 less calabashes of cofiee and milk, before we desisted, and 

 then Ave turned into our hammocks, while El Patron, in a 

 low, monotonous tone which came from a cloud of tobacco- 

 smoke, like the A'oice of some ancient bard, sang the day's 

 story, till the song, blended vrith a hum of mosquito-music, 

 turned a lullaby, and the day was finished. 



* A rapid. 



