A YOUNG NATURALIST. 



473 



herons perched upon it, and it soon glided out of sight la- 

 den with its winged passengers. 



.* 



We were all ready to start; the "Tapir River," as Lu- 



cien had named it, we bid adieu to with three hurrahs, and 



our little party set off, following Sumichrast, who carried 



Master Job perched on his shoulder. 



Our way lay in part through a prairie, where the heat 

 was overpowering, and in part through palm-tree woods, 

 infested with mosquitoes. At last, overcome by fatigue, 

 we felt compelled to halt and bivouac for the night. 



As we were arranging our bivouac next night, l'Encue- 

 rado saw a crayfish, and set off with Lucien to try and 

 catch some of them. I and Sumichrast started on the trail 

 of some deer we had seen bounding past. We had scarce- 

 ly gone more than five hundred yards before we climbed a 

 hill beyond which a savannah was spread out before us 

 as far as the eye could reach, the high grass of which look- 

 ed almost like ripe wheat. 



Sumichrast, who had halted, summoned me by an imita- 

 tion of the cry of an owl. I hastily and noiselessly joined 

 him, when he pointed out to me, among the trees, a deer 

 quietly browsing, which would no doubt pass within gun- 

 shot. I stood watching by my friend, following with anx- 

 iety all the movements of the graceful animal, for twice it 

 threw up its head and showed some vague uneasiness. Su- 

 michrast, fearing that it was about to make off, was getting 

 ready to fire, when the deer gave a bound and sank down 

 under the weight of a puma, which had sprung upon it. 

 I fired at the carnivore, which the ferocious brute re- 

 sponded to by a loud roar, then, dragging its prey a dis- 

 tance of about fifty yards, it suddenly made off. The 

 venison of the deer, and more than thirty small crayfish 

 caught by Lucien and his friend, were a godsend to our ' 

 larder, and amply made up for the short commons of pre- 

 vious occasions. 



