PROWLER OF THE NIGHT 141 



craft the tawny form of a large jaguar stole 

 softly, slyly out of the gloom. He was creeping 

 watchfully forward, paw by paw, head down. 

 Then he stopped short in the middle of a pace, 

 and listened. 



Across the glade something creaked gently in 

 a tree, with faint sound of wood on wood. The 

 jaguar swiftly raised his yellow orbs and stared, 

 watchful, alert, and sat there and contemplatively 

 waited, a shadowy, round, bewhiskered counte- 

 nance. Darkness was rapidly closing in, yet he 

 made no sign of moving. A pair of baleful, 

 shining eyes were fixed inquiringly on a tree 

 across the glade. For a long time the grizzly 

 watcher under the trees had sat motionless, but 

 now at last a shadowy bulk was creeping for- 

 ward. The faintest breath of air drifted his way, 

 carrying with it the strong scent of the tapir, 

 which made him the more eager to begin his meal, 

 and he came on more confidently. The dewy 

 bushes parted ; he paced heavily forward, to pass 

 all unconsciously right under an unnatural-look- 

 ing clump of leaves in the limbs of a low tree. 



From this hiding place the long, lean muzzle 

 of a native gun slowly protruded, and followed 

 him as he moved onward to the "kill" and stopped 



