The Forest Exiles: The Perils of a Peruvian Family in the Wilds of the Amazon
Page 25
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
THE PUMA AND THE GREAT ANT-BEAR.
All at once the attention of the boy was called away from the crawlingmillions. A rustling among some dead leaves was heard. It appeared toproceed from the edge of the glade, not far from the ant-hills. Thebranches of the underwood were seen to move, and the next moment aslender cylindrical object, about a foot and a half in length, wasprotruded out from the leaves. Had there not been a pair of small eyesand ears near the farther end of this cylindrical object, no one wouldhave taken it for the head and snout of an animal. But Leon saw thelittle sparkling black eyes, and he therefore conjectured that it wassome such creature. The next moment the body came into view, and asingular creature it was. It was about the size of a very largeNewfoundland dog, though of a different shape. It was covered all overwith long brownish hair, part of which looked so coarse as to resembledry grass or bristles. On each shoulder was a wide stripe of black,bordered with whitish bands; and the tail, which was full three feetlong, was clothed with a thick growth of coarse hair, several inches inlength, that looked like strips of whalebone. This was carried aloft,and curving over the back. But the most curious feature of the animalwas its snout. Talk of the nose of a greyhound. It would be a "pug" incomparison! That of this animal was full twice as long, and not half sothick, with a little mouth not over an inch in size, and without asingle tooth! It was certainly the oddest snout Leon had ever seen.The legs, too, were remarkable. They were stout and thick, the hinderones appearing much shorter than the fore-legs; but this was because thecreature in its hind feet was _plantigrade_, that is, it walked with thewhole of its soles touching the surface, which only bears and a fewother sorts of quadrupeds do. Its fore-feet, too, were oddly placedupon the ground. They had four long claws upon each, but these claws,instead of being spread out, as in the dog or cat, were all foldedbackward along the sole, and the creature, to avoid treading on them,actually walked on the sides of its feet! The claws were only used forscraping up the ground, and then it could bring them forward in aperpendicular position, like the blade of a hoe, or the teeth of agarden-rake. Of course, with feet furnished in such an out-of-the-wayfashion, the animal moved but slowly over the ground. In fact it wentvery slowly, and with a stealthy pace.
Although Leon had never seen the creature before, he had read about it,and had also seen pictures of it. He knew it, therefore, at a glance.That proboscis-looking snout was not to be mistaken. It could belong tono other creature than the _tamanoir_, or _great ant-eater_, by thepeople of South America called the _ant-bear_ (_Myrmecophaga jubata_).It was, in fact, that very thing; but to Leon's astonishment, as soon asit got fairly out of the bushes, he noticed a singular-looking hunchupon its back, just over the shoulder. At first he could not make outwhat this was, as he had never heard of such a protuberance, besides,the tail half hid it from his view. All of a sudden the animal turnedits head backwards, touched the hunch with its snout, gave itself ashake, and then the odd excrescence fell to the ground, and proved to bea young ant-eater, with bushy tail and long snout, the "very image ofits mother." The large one was thus seen to be a female that had beencarrying her infant upon her shoulders.
It was close to one of the ant-hills where the old tamanoir placed heryoung upon the ground, and turning away from it, she approached thegreat cone. Erecting herself upon her hind-feet, she stood with thefore ones resting against the hill, apparently examining it, andconsidering in what part of it the shell or roof was thinnest andweakest. These cones, composed of agglutinated sand and earth, arefrequently so stoutly put together that it requires a pickaxe or crowbarto break them open. But the ant-eater knew well that her fore-feet werearmed with an implement equal to either pick or crow, and she wouldcertainly have made a hole there and then, had she not noticed, onlooking around to the other side, that the inhabitants of the hill wereall abroad upon one of their forays. This seemed to bring about asudden change in her determination, and, dropping her fore-feet to theground, she once more threw up her great tail, and returned to where shehad left her young one. Partly pushing it before her with her snout,and partly lifting it between her strong fore-arms, she succeeded inbringing the latter to the border of the path along which travelled theants. Here she squatted down, and placed herself so that the point ofher nose just touched the selvedge of the swarming hosts, having causedthe youngster by her side to do the same. Then throwing out a longworm-like tongue, which glittered with a viscous coating, she drew itback again covered with ants. These passed into her mouth, and thence,of course, into her capacious stomach. The tongue, which was more thana foot in length, and nearly as thick as a quill, was again thrown out,and again drawn back, and this operation she continued, the tonguemaking about two "hauls" to every second of time! Now and then shestopped eating, in order to give some instructions to the little onethat was seen closely imitating her, and with its more slender tonguedealing death among the _termites_.
So very comic was the sight that Leon could not help laughing at it, ashe sat upon his perch.
An end, however, was put to his merriment, by the sudden appearance ofanother animal--one of a different character. It was a large cat-likecreature, of a reddish-yellow, or tawny colour, long body and tail,round head, with whiskers, and bright gleaming eyes. Leon had seen thatsort of animal before. He had seen it led in strings by Indians throughthe streets of Cuzco, and he at once recognised it. It was the _Puma_--the maneless lion of America.
The specimens which Leon had seen with the Indians had been renderedtame and harmless. He knew that, but he had also been told that theanimal in its wild state is a savage and dangerous beast. This is trueof the puma in some districts, while in others the creature is cowardly,and will flee at the sight of man. In all cases, however, when the pumais brought to bay, it makes a desperate fight, and both dogs and menhave been killed in the attack.
Leon had not been frightened at the tamanoir. Even had it been a savagecreature, he knew it could not climb a tree--though there are twosmaller species of ant-bears in South America that can--and he thereforeknew he was quite safe on his perch. But his feelings were verydifferent when the red body of the puma came in sight. It could run upthe smoothest, trunk in the forest with as much ease and agility as acat, and there would be no chance of escaping from it if it feltdisposed to attack him. Of this the boy was fully conscious, and nowonder he was alarmed.
His first thought was to leap down, and make for the cinchona-trees,where the others were; but the puma had entered the glade from thatside, and it was therefore directly in his way: he would have run rightin its teeth by going toward the cinchona-trees. He next thought ofslipping quietly down, and getting into the woods behind him.Unfortunately, the tree on which he was stood out in the glade quiteapart from any others, the puma would see him go off, and, of course,could overtake him in a dozen leaps. These thoughts passed through theboy's mind in a few seconds of time; and in a few seconds of time he wasconvinced that his best course would be to remain where he was, and keepquiet. Perhaps the puma would not notice him--as yet he had not.
No doubt he would have done so, had there been nothing else on the spotto take off his attention; but just as he came into the open ground, hiseyes fell upon the ant-eaters, where they lay squatted and licking upthe termites. He had entered the glade in a sort of skulking trot, butthe moment he saw the tamanoirs he halted, drew his body into acrouching attitude, and remained thus for some moments, while his longtail oscillated from side to side, as that of a cat when about to springupon a mouse or a sparrow. Just at this moment the tamanoir, havingturned round to address some conversation to her young companion, espiedhim, and sprang to her feet. She recognised in the puma--as in othersof his race--a deadly enemy. With one sweep of her fore-arm she flungthe young one behind her, until it rested against the wall of theant-hill, and then, following in all haste, threw herself into an erectattitude in front of her young, covering it with her body. She was nowstanding firm
upon her hind-feet--her back resting against the mudwall--but her long snout had entirely disappeared! That was held closealong her breast, and entirely concealed by the shaggy tail, which forthis purpose had been brought up in front. Her defence rested in herstrong fore-arms, which, with the great claws standing at right angles,were now held out in a threatening manner. The young one, no doubtaware of some danger, had drawn itself into its smallest bulk, and wasclewed up behind her.
The puma dashed forward, open-mouthed, and began the attack. He lookedas though he would carry everything by the first assault; but a sharptear from the tamanoir's claws drew the blood from his cheek, andalthough it rendered him more furious, it seemed to increase hiscaution. In the two or three successive attempts he kept prudently outof reach of these terrible weapons. His adversary held her fore-legswide open, as though she was desirous of getting the other to rushbetween them, that she might clutch him, after the manner of the bears.This was exactly what she wanted, and in this consists the chief mode ofdefence adopted by these animals. The puma, however, seemed to be up toher trick.
This thrust-and-parry game continued for some minutes, and might havelasted longer, had it not been for the young tamanoir. This foolishlittle creature, who up to that moment was not very sure what the fusswas all about, had the imprudent curiosity to thrust out its slendersnout. The puma espied it, and making a dart forward, seized the snoutin his great teeth, and jerked the animal from under. It uttered a lowsquall, but the next moment its head was "crunched" between the muscularjaws of the puma.
The old one now appeared to lose all fear and caution. Her tail felldown. Her long snout was unsheathed from under its protection, and sheseemed undecided what to do. But she was not allowed much time toreflect. The puma, seeing the snout, the most vulnerable part,uncovered, launched himself forward like an arrow, and caught hold of itin his bristling fangs. Then having dragged his victim forward, heflung her upon her breast, and mounting rapidly on her back, proceededto worry her at his pleasure.
Although Leon pitied the poor tamanoir, yet he dared not interfere, andwould have permitted the puma to finish his work, but at that moment asharp pain, which he suddenly felt in his ankle, caused him to startupon his seat, and utter an involuntary scream.