In this an old Indian lay extended, quite naked and fast
asleep! The old fellow had grown weary with paddling his little canoe;
and, finding the thicket along the river's banks so impenetrable that he
could not land, he slung his hammock over the water, and thus quietly
took his siesta. A flock of paroquets were screaming like little green
demons just above him, and several alligators gave him a passing glance
as they floundered heavily in the water below; but the red man cared not
for such trifles. Almost involuntarily Martin began to hum the popular
nursery rhyme--

"Hushy ba, baby, on the tree top;
When the wind blows the cradle will rock."

"Arrah, if he was only two foot lower, its thirty pair o' long teeth
would be stuck into his flank in wan minute, or I'm no prophet," said
Barney, with a broad grin.

"Suppose we give him a touch with the paddle in passing," suggested
Martin.

At this moment Barney started up, shaded his eyes with his hand, and,
after gazing for a few seconds at some object ahead of the canoe, he
gave utterance to an exclamation of mingled surprise and consternation.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

THE GREAT ANACONDA'S DINNER--BARNEY GETS A FRIGHT--TURTLES' EGGS,
OMELETS AND ALLIGATORS' TAILS--SENHOR ANTONIO'S PLANTATION--PREPARATIONS
FOR A GREAT HUNT.

The object which called forth the cry from our Irish friend, as related
in the last chapter, was neither more nor less than a serpent of
dimensions more enormous than Barney had ever before conceived of. It
was upwards of sixteen feet long, and nearly as thick as a man's body;
but about the neck it was three times that size. This serpent was not,
indeed, of the largest size. In South America they grow to nearly forty
feet in length. But it was fabulously gigantic in the eyes of our
adventurers, who had never seen a serpent of any kind before.

"Oh!" cried Martin, eagerly, "that must be an anaconda. Is it not?" he
inquired, turning to the old trader.

"Yees; it dead," was the short reply.

"So it is!" cried Martin, who, on a nearer approach, observed that the
brute's body was cut in two just below the swelling at the neck.

"Now, did ye iver," cried Barney with increased surprise, "see a sarpint
with a cow's horns growin' out at its mouth? Put ashore, old boy; we
must have a 'vestigation o' this remarkable cratur."

The canoe was soon aground, and in another minute the three travellers
busily engaged in turning over the carcass