134 BIG GAME FIELDS 



like a great cat. Water was his next consider- 

 ation, then sauntering leisurely to a copaiba tree 

 he reached up and dug his long, cruel claws into 

 the bark, scoring it deeply. Contentedly he 

 moved on, slowly, through the jungle. He had 

 fed and drunk his fill. As he passed under the 

 fallen stems of some long reed grass, they tickled 

 his back and up went his round tail, after the 

 pleasurable fashion of all cats. On he passed 

 into the darkest reaches of the jungle, a hand- 

 some, sleek young murderer, seeking a quiet, 

 dark retreat for the day, and wearing the ap- 

 pearance of gracious innocence very much at 

 variance with his horrible work of the night. But 

 all Nature is cruel and jaguars, too, must live; 

 he had only fulfilled his mission after all. 



The approaching dawn found the jaguar "ly- 

 ing up" in a thick, dark, leafy bower, where he 

 dozed lazily, contentedly. 



Now the faintest greenish suffusion is grad- 

 ually mounting into the sky, rendering the morn- 

 ing star ever higher and paler. The slumbering 

 forests stir gently. Then somewhere from afar 

 the call of a campanero rises clear, to be quickly 

 answered by another, and another, and as the 

 shadows of night go trailing away their long, 

 crapy garments, there is the faintest suggestion 



