“I’m safe now!” said Martin aloud, as he threw down his bundle beneath a spreading tree and commenced to prepare breakfast.  “O! my friend Barney, I wish that you were here to keep me company.”  The solitary youth looked round as if he half expected to see the rough visage and hear the gladsome voice of his friend; but no voice replied to his, and the only living creature he saw was a large monkey, which peered inquisitively clown at him from among the branches of a neighbouring bush.  This reminded him that he had left his pet Marmoset in the Indian village, and a feeling of deep self-reproach filled his heart In the haste and anxiety of his flight he had totally forgotten his little friend.  But regret was now unavailing.  Marmoset was lost to him for ever.

Having kindled a small fire, Martin kneaded a large quantity of farina in the hollow of a smooth stone, and baked a number of flat cakes, which were soon fired and spread out upon the ground.  While thus engaged, a snake of about six feet long and as thick as a man’s arm glided past him.  Martin started convulsively, for he had never seen one of the kind before, and he knew that the bite of some of the snakes is deadly.  Fortunately his axe was at hand.  Grasping it quickly, he killed the reptile with a single blow.  Two or three mandioca cakes, a few wild fruits, and a draught of water from the stream, formed the wanderer’s simple breakfast.  After it was finished, he slung his hammock between two trees, and jumping in, fell into a deep, untroubled slumber, in which he continued all that day and until daybreak the following morning.

After partaking of a hearty breakfast, Martin took up his bundle and resumed his travels.  That day he descended into the level and wooded country that succeeded the mountain range; and that night he was obliged to encamp in a swampy place near a stagnant lake in which several alligators were swimming, and where the mosquitoes were so numerous that he found it absolutely impossible to sleep.  At last, in despair, he sprang into the branches of the tree to which his hammock was slung and ascended to the top.  Here, to his satisfaction, he found that there were scarcely any mosquitoes, while a cool breeze fanned his fevered brow; so he determined to spend the night in the tree.

By binding several branches together he formed a rude sort of couch, on which he lay down comfortably, placing his knife and bow beside him, and using the hammock rolled up as a pillow.  As the sun was setting, and while he leaned on his elbow looking down through the leaves with much interest at the alligators that gambolled in the reedy lake, his attention was attracted to a slight rustling in the bushes near the foot of the tree.  Looking down, he perceived a large jaguar gliding through the underwood with cat-like stealth.  Martin now observed that a huge alligator had crawled out of the lake, and was lying on the bank asleep a few yards from the margin.  When the jaguar reached