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

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

  ATTACK OF THE WHITE ANTS.

  Leon looked down to ascertain what had caused him such a sudden pain.The sight that met his eyes made his blood run cold. The ground belowwas alive and moving. A white stratum of ants covered it on all sidesto the distance of several yards. _They were ascending the tree_! Nay,more; a string of them had already crawled up; the trunk was crowded byothers coming after; and several were upon his feet, and legs, andthighs! It was one of these that had stung him!

  The fate of the ais--which he had just witnessed--and the sight of thehideous host, caused him again to scream out. At the same time he hadrisen to his feet, and was pulling himself up among the upper branches.He soon reached the highest; but he had not been a moment there, when hereflected that it would be no security. The creatures were crawlingupwards as fast as they could come.

  His next thought was to descend again, leap from the tree, and crushingthe vermin under his feet, make for the bark-cutters. He had made uphis mind to this course, and was already half-down, when _he rememberedthe puma_! In his alarm at the approach of the ants he had quiteforgotten this enemy, and he now remembered that it was directly in theway of his intended escape. He turned his eyes in that direction. Itwas not there! The ant-bears were still upon the ground--the young onedead, and the mother struggling in her last agonies; but no puma!

  The boy began to hope that his cries had frightened him off. His hopewas short-lived; for on glancing around the glade, he now beheld thefierce brute crouching among the grass, and evidently coming towardshim! What was to be done? Would the puma attack him in the tree?Surely he would; but what better would he be on the ground? No better,but worse. At all events he had not time for much reflection, forbefore two seconds the fierce puma was close to the tree. Leon washelpless--he gave himself up for lost. He could only cry for help, andhe raised his voice to its highest pitch.

  The puma did not spring up the tree at once, as Leon had expected. Onthe contrary, it crouched round and round with glaring eyes and waggingtail, as if calculating the mode of attack. Its lips were red--stainedwith the blood of the ant-eaters--and this added to the hideousness ofits appearance. But it needed not that, for it was hideous enough atany time.

  Leon kept his eyes upon it, every moment expecting it to spring up thetree. All at once he saw it give a sudden start, and at the sameinstant he heard a hissing noise, as if something passed rapidly throughthe air. Ha! something sticking in the body of the puma! It is anarrow,--a poisoned arrow! The puma utters a fierce growl--it turns uponitself--the arrow is crushed between its teeth. Another "hist!"--another arrow! Hark! a well-known voice--well-known voices--the voicesof Don Pablo and Guapo! See! they burst into the glade--Don Pablo withhis axe, and Guapo with his unerring gravatana!

  The puma turns to flee. He has already reached the border of the wood;he staggers--the poison is doing its work. Hurrah! he is down; but thepoison does not kill him, for the axe of Don Pablo is crashing throughhis skull. Hurrah! the monster is dead, and Leon is triumphantly borneoff on the shoulders of the faithful Guapo!

  Don Pablo dragged the puma away, in order that they might get his fineskin. The ant-eaters, both of which were now dead, he left behind, ashe saw that the termites were crawling thickly around them, and hadalready begun their work of devastation. Strange to say, as the partyreturned that way, going to dinner, not a vestige remained either of theais or the ant-eaters, except a few bones and some portions of coarsehair. The rest of all these animals had been cleared off by the ants,and carried into the cells of their hollow cones!

  It was, no doubt, the noise of the bark-hunters that had started theant-eaters abroad, for these creatures usually prowl only in the night.The same may have aroused the fierce puma from his lair, although he isnot strictly a nocturnal hunter.

  A curious incident occurred as they approached the glade on their wayhome. The male tamanoir was roused from his nest among the dry leaves,and Guapo, instead of running upon him and killing the creature, warnedthem all to keep a little back, and he would show them some fun. Guaponow commenced shaking the leaves, so that they rattled as if rain wasfalling upon them. At this the ant-eater jerked up its broad tail, andappeared to shelter itself as with an umbrella! Guapo then went towardsit, and commenced driving it before him just as if it had been a sheepor goat, and in this manner he took it all the way to the house. Ofcourse Guapo took care not to irritate it; for, when that is done, theant-eater will either turn out of his way or stop to defend itself.

  The tamanoir is not so defenceless a creature as might at first sight beimagined by considering his small toothless mouth and slow motions. Hismode of defence is that which has been described, and which is quitesufficient against the tiger-cat, the ocelot, and all the smallerspecies of feline animals. No doubt the old female would have proved amatch for the puma had she not been thrown off her guard by his seizingupon her young. It is even asserted that the great ant-bear sometimeshugs the jaguar to death; but this I believe to be a mistake, as thelatter is far too powerful and active to be thus conquered. Doubtlessthe resemblance of the jaguar to some of the smaller spotted cats ofthese countries, leads to a great many misconceptions concerning theprowess of the _American tiger_.

  Besides the tamanoir there are two, or perhaps three, other species of_ant-bears_ in the forests of South America. These, however, are sodifferent in habits and appearance, that they might properly be classedas a separate genus of animals. They are _tree-climbers_, which thetamanoir is not, spite of his great claws. They pursue the ants thatbuild their nests upon the high branches, as well as the wasps and bees;and to befit them for this life, they are furnished with _nakedprehensile tails_, like the opossums and monkeys. These arecharacteristics entirely distinct from those of the _Myrmecophagajubata_, or _great_ ant-eater.

  One of these species is the _tamandua_, called by the Spano-Americans_Osso hormiguero_ (ant-bear). The tamandua is much less than thetamanoir, being only three and a half feet in length, while the latteris over seven. The former is of a stouter build, with neither so long asnout in proportion, nor such claws. The claws, moreover, are made fortree-climbing, and are not so much in the way when the animal walks onthe ground. It is, therefore, a more active creature, and stands betterupon its limbs. Its fur is short and silky, but the tail is nearlynaked, and, as already stated, highly prehensile, although it does notsleep hanging by the tail as some other animals do.

  The tamandua is usually of a dull straw-colour, although it varies inthis respect, so that several species have been supposed to exist. Itspends most of its time upon the trees; and in addition to its ant-diet,it feeds upon wild honey, and bees too, whenever it can catch them. Thefemale, like the tamanoir, produces only one young at a birth, and likethe other species, carries it upon her back until it is able to providefor itself. The tamandua has sometimes been called _tridactyla_, or the"three-toed ant-eater," because it has only three claws upon each of itsfore-feet, whereas the tamanoir is provided with four.

  Another species of "ant-bear," differing from both in size and in manyof its habits, is the "little ant-eater" (_Myrmecophaga didactyla_).This one has only two claws on each fore-foot, hence its specific name.It is a very small creature--not larger than the _common grey_squirrel--with a prehensile tail like the tamandua. The tail, however,is not entirely naked--only on the under side near the point. It is notso good a walker as the three-toed kind, though more active on its feetthan the tamanoir. Standing upon its hind-feet, and supporting itselfalso by the tail--which it has already thrown around some branch--thelittle ant-eater uses its fore-feet as hands to carry food to its mouth.It lives among the trees, and feeds upon wasps, bees, and especiallythe larvae of both; but it does not use the tongue to any great extent.It is, on this account, an essentially different sort of animal.

  The little ant-eater is usually of a bright yellow colour, brownish onthe back; but there are many varieties in this respect, and some are
ofa snowy whiteness. Its fur is soft and silky, sometimes slightly curledor matted at the points, and the tail fur is annulated, or ringed, withthe prevailing colours of the body.

  So much for the ant-bears of America.