The Forest Exiles: The Perils of a Peruvian Family in the Wilds of the Amazon

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

  TRACKING THE TAPIR.

  It has been already mentioned that the stream in front of the house waswider than at other parts, forming a sort of lake. There was a slowcurrent down the middle, but at the sides the water was nearly stagnant,and there grew in some places bunches of flags interspersed withbeautiful white lilies. Among these could be distinguished thatgigantic _nympha_ so celebrated under the name of _Victoria regia_--forSouth America is the native country of this rare plant.

  Every night, as our party were resting from their labours, they heardstrange noises proceeding from the water. There was plunging andplashing, and now and then a snorting sound like that sometimes utteredby frightened swine. Perhaps it would have puzzled any of them to tellwhence these sounds proceeded, or what animal gave utterance to them,for there could be no doubt they were caused by an animal. Some of themguessed "alligators;" but that was not a correct guess, for althoughthere are plenty of alligators in all the rivers of tropical America,there seemed to be none in that particular place. In truth, they mighthave remained long in the dark about what creature they thus heardsweltering about nightly, for they could neither see nor hear anythingof it in the day; but Guapo, who knew every sound of the Montana,enlightened them at once. Guapo had been a keen _tapir-hunter_ in histime, and understood all the habits of that strange animal. It was atapir, then, which they had heard taking his regular nightly bath, andregaling himself on the roots of the flags and _nymphae_.

  Have you ever seen a tapir? Not a living one, I fancy; perhaps the skinof one in a museum. He is an interesting creature, for this reason--that he is the largest land animal indigenous to South America. Thellama and guanaco stand higher, because their legs are longer, but theyare far inferior to the tapir in bulk and weight: while the bears ofSouth America, of which there are two or three species, are small-sizedbears, and therefore less than the tapir. In fact, no very large landanimals were found indigenous in the southern division of the Americancontinent. There were none of the _bovine_ tribe, as the buffalo andmusk-ox of North America; and no large deer, as the elk and moose of theNorthern latitudes. The deer of South America, of which there areseveral undescribed species, are all small animals. The tapir, then, inpoint of size takes precedence in the South-American _fauna_.

  His rounded body gives him some resemblance to a great hog, or a donkeywith its hair shaved off; but, in fact, he is not very like either; heis more like a _tapir_ than anything else--that is, he is a creature_sui generis_. Perhaps, if you were to shave a large donkey, cut offmost part of his ears and tail, shorten his limbs--and, if possible,make them stouter and clumsier--lengthen his upper jaw so that it shouldprotrude over the under one into a prolonged curving snout, and thengive him a coat of blackish-brown paint, you would get something notunlike a tapir. To complete the resemblance, however, you would have tocontinue the erect mane over the forehead, between the ears, and down tothe level of the eyes, which would give that crested appearance thatcharacterises the tapir. Instead of hoofs, moreover, you would giveyour donkey large toes--four upon the fore feet, and upon the hind onesthree. A little silky hair upon the stumped tail, and a few thinlyscattered hairs of a brown colour over the body, would make the likenessstill more striking; and it would be necessary, too, that the donkey beone of the very biggest kind to be as big as a big tapir.

  The tapir is a harmless creature, and although it has a good set ofteeth, it never uses them for the purpose of defending itself. Whenattacked by either men or fierce animals, it tries to escape by flight,and if that fails, submits to be killed; but there is no "light" to begot out of a tapir.

  The tapir leads a very solitary life, being met with alone, or sometimesin the company of the female. The latter has but one young at a birth,which follows her until able to provide for itself; when they associateno longer together, but part company, each taking its own way.

  This animal is called amphibious, because it spends part of its time inthe water; but, although it has been called the American representativeof the rhinoceros and hippopotamus, it is not so much a water animal aseither of these. It seeks its food in the river, or the marshes thatborder it, and can remain for several minutes under water; but for allthat most of its time is passed on dry land. It sleeps during the dayin some dry spot upon a bed of withered leaves, from whence it salliesevery evening, and makes to the marshy banks of some well-known stream.It frequently leaves its lair during rain, and goes in search of food.Like hogs it is very fond of wallowing in a muddy place; but, unlikethese slovenly animals, it does not return to its bed until it hasplunged into the clear water, and thoroughly purified itself of the mud.

  One habit of the tapir--and an unfortunate one for itself--is that ingoing its rounds it always follows the old track. In this way a path issoon formed from its lair to its feeding-place, so conspicuous that ahunter might trail it upon the run. It is easy, therefore, to "waylay"a tapir. Guapo knew this well, and had already, while over among thepalms, marked the track of the one that came nightly to the stream, andhad settled it in his mind that that particular tapir had not many daysto live. In fact, Leon coaxed him to fix the tapir-hunt for the nextmorning, which Guapo, with Don Pablo's permission, accordingly did.Guapo was anxious as any of them to kill the tapir, for, like manyIndians, he was fond of its flesh, though that is by no means apalatable article of food. On the contrary, it is dry, and to mostpeople tastes disagreeably. Guapo, however, liked it exceedingly; and,moreover, he wanted the tough skin for some purpose of his own. Thewild Indians value the skin highly, as it is the best thing they canprocure for "viches," or shields, to ward off the poisoned arrows oftheir enemies.

  Next morning, an hour or so after daybreak, Guapo started for the hunt,accompanied by Leon. Don Pablo remained at home with his wife and thelittle Leona. Now, had the tapir-hunter possessed a gun, or even a bowand arrows, his plan of proceeding would have been different, and hewould no doubt have chosen a different hour for the hunt. He would havechosen the twilight of the evening or morning, and would have hidhimself in the bushes, so as to command a view of the track which thetapir would be certain to take on his way to or from the water. Hewould then have simply shot the creature as it was going past; but thisis not so easy a matter neither, for the tapir, fearful of enemies whileon land, always travels at a trot. As Guapo had neither bow nor gun,nothing in fact but his _machete_, how was he to get near enough to usethis weapon? Clumsy-looking as the tapir certainly is, he can shuffleover the ground faster than the fastest Indian.

  Guapo knew all this, but he also knew a stratagem by which theamphibious brute could be outwitted, and this stratagem he designedputting in practice. For the purpose he carried another weapon besidesthe _machete_. That weapon was a very pacific one--it was a _spade_!Fortunately he had one which he had brought with him from the mountains.

  Now what did Guapo mean to do with the spade? The tapir is not aburrowing animal, and therefore would not require to be "dug out." Weshall presently see what use was made of the spade.

  After crossing the bridge, and getting well round among the palms, thehunter came upon a path well tracked into the mud. It was the path ofthe tapir,--that could be easily seen. There were the broad footmarks--some with three, and others with four toes--and there, too, were placeswhere the animal had "wallowed." The tracks were quite fresh, and made,as Guapo said, not an hour before they had arrived on the spot.

  This was just what the tapir-hunter wanted; and, choosing a place wherethe track ran between two palm-trees, and could not well have gone roundeither of them, he halted, rested his _machete_ against a tree, and tooka determined hold of the spade. Leon now began to see what use heintended to make of the spade. He was _going to dig a pit_!

  That was, in fact, the very thing he was going to do, and in less thanan hour, with the help of Leon, it was done--the latter carrying awaythe earth upon "bussu" leaves as fast as Guapo shovelled it out. Whenthe pit was sunk to what Guapo considered a s
ufficient depth, he cameout of it; and then choosing some slender poles, with palm-leaves,branches, and grass, he covered it in such a manner that a fox himselfwould not have known it to be a pit-trap. But such it was--wide enoughand deep enough, as Guapo deemed, to entrap the largest tapir.

  It now only remained to get the tapir into it, but therein lay thedifficulty. Leon could not understand how this was to be managed. Heknew that at night, as the animal was on its way to the water, it mightstep on the covering, and fall in. But Guapo had promised him that heshould see the tapir trapped in an hour's time. Guapo had a plan of hisown for bringing it that way, and he at once proceeded to put his planinto execution.

  They started along the trail going _from_ the water, and towards thelair of the beast. The hunter knew it would not be very distant--perhaps a quarter or half a mile, perhaps less. Before starting hecautioned Leon to keep close behind him, and not to make the leastnoise. So little as a whisper or the rustling of the brush, he alleged,might spoil all his plans. Guapo marched, or rather crouched, along; atfirst freely, but after some time his step grew more stealthy andcautious. He knew that he was getting near to the sleeping victim.After stopping and repeating his caution to his companion, he proceededas before until they had got better than a quarter of a mile from thewater. Here they began to ascend a gentle hill, where the ground wasdry, and strewed with fallen trees. At some places the trail wasdifficult to make out, and Leon would soon have lost it had he been leftto himself. But there was no fear of Guapo losing it. A hound couldnot have followed it more surely.

  Suddenly Guapo stopped--then went on a few steps--then stopped a secondtime, and made a sign for Leon to come up. Without speaking, he pointedto a little thicket of scrubby bushes, through the leaves of which theycould just make out some large brown object perfectly at rest. That wasthe tapir himself--sound asleep.

  Guapo had already instructed his companion that when they should arrivenear the den of the animal, they were to make a wide circuit around--Leon going one way, while he himself took the other. Both now drew backa little, and then parted--the hunter going to one side, and Leon in theopposite direction. After making their circuit, they met at somedistance beyond the back of the den; and then Guapo, telling the otherto follow him, and, without observing any further caution, walkedstraight towards where the tapir lay. The Indian knew by experiencethat the latter, when roused, would make directly along its accustomedtrail to the water, for to the water it always flies when alarmed by anenemy. When they had got within a few paces of the den, a movement wasseen among the leaves--then a crackling noise was heard, as the hugebody of the animal broke through the bushes, and took to flight. He didnot trot according to his usual gait, but went off in a gallop, with hishead carried in a singular and awkward manner between his fore-legs!You have, no doubt, seen a donkey sometimes gallop in a similar style.

  Guapo bounded after, followed by Leon, who kept close at his heels. Ofcourse the tapir was in sight only a few seconds, but the hunter knewthat he would take the beaten track, and therefore was at no loss. Theymade no unnecessary noise--lest the tapir might be frightened from itspath--but ran on in silence.

  They soon got back to the pit-fall, Guapo of course leading the way.

  "Hola!" cried the latter, when he came in sight of it, "hola, youngmaster! he's in the trap!"

  Sure enough he was; and the next moment they stood upon the edge of thepit, and beheld the great brown body struggling and tumbling about atthe bottom.

  Guapo did not pause a moment, but leaped in, _machete_ in hand. He hadno fear of the animal biting him, for he knew it would not do so; butGuapo, in his hurry, had leaped carelessly, and his foot slipping, hefell over the smooth body of the tapir. The latter in its fright jumpedupward, and the next moment Guapo was _undermost_ at the bottom of thepit!

  The animal had no design of trampling the hunter; but seeing that itcould easily leap out--the pit being shallowed for it by Guapo's bodyand the fallen branches--it made a spring, and came out on the edge.Leon had got round upon the side next the river, but he chanced to be onthe wrong side just then; for the heavy tapir dashing past, knockedagainst him, and sent him sprawling among the trees. Before he couldrecover himself, or Guapo climb out of the pit, a loud plunge in thewater announced that the animal had escaped to an element where it mightdefy their pursuit.

  Both were quite crest-fallen and disappointed, but Guapo especially so.He had prided himself very much on his skill as a tapir-hunter, and hispride was mortified at the result. He seemed very much chagrined; andas he and Leon returned toward the house, he stopped at intervals andlooked into the water. Then shaking his machete in a threateningmanner, cried out--

  "Dive away, old thick-skin! Dive deep as you will, I'll have your hideyet!"