Ned and Obed were lying flat upon the ground, when the second ocelot appeared, and, as the wind was blowing from him toward them, he did not detect their presence.  At the distance the figure of the great cat was enlarged.  He looked to them almost like a tiger and certainly he was a ferocious creature, as he stalked his prey.  Neither would have cared to meet him even with weapons in hand.  Suddenly he darted forward, ran up the trunk of a great tree and disappeared in the dense foliage.  As he did not come down again they inferred that he had caught what he was pursuing and was now devouring it.

Ned shivered a little and put his hand on the butt of his loaded pistol.

“Obed,” he said, “I don’t like the jungle, and I shall be glad when I get out of it.  It’s too vast, too bewildering, and its very beauty fills me with fear.  I always feel that fangs and poison are lurking behind the beauty and the bloom.”

“You’re not so far wrong, Ned.  I believe I’d rather be on the dusty deserts of the North.  We’ll go through the tierra caliente just as quickly as we can.”

The next day they became lost among the paths, and did not regain their true direction until late in the afternoon.  Sunset found them by the banks of a considerable creek, the waters of which were cold, as if its source were in the high mountains.  Being very tired they bathed and arranged couches of grass on the banks.  After the heat and perplexity of the jungle they were very glad to see cold, running water.  The sight and the pleasant trickle of the flowing stream filled Ned with desires for the north, for the open land beyond the Rio Grande, where cool winds blew, and you could see to the horizon’s rim.  He was sicker than ever of the jungle, the beauty of which could not hide from him its steam and poison.

“How much longer do you think it will be before we leave the tierra caliente?” he asked.

“We ought to reach the intermediate zone between the tierra caliente and the higher sierras in three or four days,” replied Obed.  “It’s mighty slow traveling in the jungle, but to get out of it we’ve only to keep going long enough.  Meanwhile, we’ll have a good snooze by the side of this nice, clean little river.”

As usual after hard traveling, they fell asleep almost at once, but Ned was awakened in the night by some strange sound, the nature of which he could not determine at first.  The jungle surrounded them in a vast, high circle, wholly black in the night, but overhead was a blue rim of sky lighted by stars.  He raised himself on his elbow.  Obed, four or five feet away, was still sleeping soundly on his couch of grass.  The little river, silver in the moonlight, flowed with a pleasant trickle, but the trickle was not the sound that had awakened him.

The forest was absolutely silent.  Not a breath of wind stirred, but the boy, although awed by the night and the great jungle, still listened intently.