466 THE ADVENTURES OF 



About five o'clock in the evening, the raft came to shore 

 in a bay shaded by palm-trees. L'Encuerado hastened to 

 stretch out his tigers' skins, and, as night was at hand, we 

 contented ourselves with the remains of a tortoise. The 

 Indian, who had walked but little, cocked his gun and 

 strolled along the edge of the river. In about a quarter of 

 an hour he returned, looking pale and excited. 



" Have you been bitten by a serpent ?" I cried. 



" No, Tatita," he replied, quite out of breath ; " some- 

 thing worse than that ! I have seen it /" 



" What?" I exclaimed. 



"A ghost 1" said the Indian in a low tone, crossing him- 

 self. 



" Pluck up your spirits," said I to the Indian ; " if you 

 have, we'll kill it to-morrow." 

 " You can't kill it, Tatita." 



" With ordinary bullets, no ; but those which Sumichrast 

 knows how to prepare will soon settle him." 



My curiosity was raised ; for this ghost was an animal 

 called a tapir, which the Indians believe possessed of super- 

 natural powers ; and, as I had never met with one, I was 

 anxious that we should come across it. 



" And didn't you aim at it ?" cried my friend. 



" No ; I ran away," replied the fearless tiger-hunter. 



Thus l'Encuerado, whom the evening before we had seen 

 braving tigers, crocodiles, and wild cattle, now trembled at 

 the mere idea of facing an inoffensive animal, which was 

 only a relation of the peccaries, with a snout terminated by 

 a non-prehensile proboscis, yet to which his imagination at- 

 tributed certain demoniac qualities. He that night utterly 

 refused to go to rest ; at the least rustling of the leaves he 

 expected to see the ghost appear. Instead of directly op- 

 posing his error — -which I knew would be of no use — I en- 

 deavored to convince him that my power far surpassed that 

 of the object of his dread. 



