134 UP THE RIVER OF TAPIRS [chap, v 



down to the river's edge at the very point where the tapir 

 was about to land, and turned it back. Two or three 

 of the dogs were swimming. We were more than half 

 the breadth of the river away from the tapir, and some- 

 what down-stream, when it dived. It made an astonish- 

 ingly long swim beneath the water this time, almost 

 as if it had been a hippopotamus, for it passed completely 

 under our canoe and rose between us and the hither bank. 

 I shot it, the bullet going into its brain, while it was 

 thirty or forty yards from shore. It sank at once. 



There was now nothing to do but wait until the body 

 floated. I feared that the strong current would roU it 

 down-stream over the river-bed ; but my companions 

 assured me that this was not so, and that the body 

 would remain where it was until it rose, which would 

 be in an hour or two. They were right, except as to 

 the time. For over a couple of hours we paddled, or 

 anchored ourselves by clutching branches close to the 

 spot, or else drifted down a mile and paddled up again 

 near the shore, to see if the body had caught anywhere. 

 Then we crossed the river and had lunch at the lovely 

 natural picnic-ground where the buck was hung up. 

 We had very nearly given up the tapir when it sud- 

 denly floated only a few rods from where it had sunk. 

 With no httle difficulty the big, round black body was 

 hoisted into the canoe, and we all turned our prows 

 down-stream. The skies had been lowering for some 

 time, and now — too late to interfere with the hunt or 

 cause us any annoyance — a heavy downpour of rain 

 came on and beat upon us. Little we cared, as the 

 canoe raced forward, with the tapir and the buck 

 lying in the bottom, and a dry, comfortable camp 

 ahead of us. 



When we reached camp, and Father Zahm saw the 



