Ned watched the horse idly, and soon he saw him raise his head, stand perfectly still for a moment or two, and then sniff the wind.  The next instant an extraordinary manifestation came from him.  He whirled about and galloped so fast to the end of his tether that he was thrown down by the sharp jerk.  He regained his feet and stood there, trembling all over.  His great eyes were distended.  Ned had never before seen such a picture of terror.

The boy raised himself a little in the grass, but not so high that he would be seen by an enemy.  It was his first idea that Mexicans had come, but the horse would not show such fright at the presence of human beings.  He looked in the direction opposite to the spot on which the horse was standing.  At first he saw nothing, but with intent looking he detected a great body crouched in the grass and stealing forward slowly.  It was their old enemy, the jaguar, not a black one but tawny in color.

Ned’s rage rose.  First a jaguar had attacked him, and now another was stalking their horse.  He felt pity for the poor animal which was tied, and which could not escape.  Now man who had tied him must save him.  Ned knew that if he cut the lariat the horse in its terror might run away and never be retaken.  A shot might be heard by the Mexicans, but he believed that the probabilities were against it, and he decided to use the rifle.

He raised himself just a little more, careful to make no noise, and watched the jaguar stealing through the tall grass, so intent on the horse that it failed to notice the most dangerous of all enemies who lay near.  But Ned waited until the flank of the animal was well presented, and, taking a sure aim, fired.

The jaguar shot up into the air, as if an electric spring had been released, then came down with a thump and was dead.  The horse neighed in terror at sight of his leaping foe and trembled more violently than ever.  Ned went to him first, and tried to soothe him which was a long and difficult task.  At last, he untethered the horse and led him to the far end of the valley, where he tethered him again at least two hundred yards from the dead body of the jaguar.  Returning he looked at the fallen animal, and marked with pleasure the correctness of his aim.  He had shot the jaguar squarely through the heart.  Then he went back to his place in the grass, but he did not doze or dream.  The Mexicans might come, drawn by his shot, and even if they did not, a member of the unpleasant jaguar tribe might take a notion to stalk the only available human being in that grassy little valley.

But no Mexicans appeared, nor did he observe any other jaguar.  When the sun set, he began to feel a little uneasy about Obed.  His uneasiness increased with the darkness, but he was finally reassured by a whistle from the head of the valley.  Then he saw Obed’s tall figure striding down the slope in the dusk, and he went forward to meet him.