f dust from the dry ground. One plunge of the knife--a roar;
into him again--a hideous grin and a tumble about, some blood scattered on
the ground; at him again--a miss stroke of the knife; try once more--both
down and nearly covered with dust." Whereupon the bottle-holder felt
strongly inclined to fire, but was deterred by fear of hitting his own
man. "The tiger had now hold of either the Indian or his clothes, as both
rolled together; yet the knife was busily at work. At last his arm was
raised high up with the red dripping instrument; and after one more angry
plunge of it, the tiger turned on his back, his paws and whole frame
quivering, and with an attempt at a ghastly grin he fell over on his side
and died. Jack then stood up, covered with the animal's blood, and his
first ejaculation was '_un diablo_;' in English, 'one devil.'" A strong
term, but scarcely misapplied to this plucky and hilarious tiger, whom we
conclude, from his continual grinning, to have been a near relation of the
laughing hyena. He died game, with a smile on his lips. Jack escaped
punishment, barring "a faint bite on the shoulder, and a few tears of the
paws on his arms," of which the hardy fellow made little account, but,
after skinning the carrion, proceeded onward in triumph, through forests
whose impervious foliage allowed no glimpse of the sky, where the sunbeams
came with a mild green tint through the masses of impending leaves; down
rivers fringed with lofty trees, whose branches were alive with parrots
and kingfishers; where the monkey screamed, the tiger howled, and the
disgusting alligator, coated with slime and mud, crawled lazily away at
the paddle's splash. In this manner the brace of bold hunters reached the
small town of Tolo; and whilst abiding there, intelligence came of one of
those petty and partial revolutions so common in South American republics.
A malcontent colonel and a few hundred men, unpaid by the needy
government, were extorting their arrears by the strong hand from the towns
upon the coast. They made a determined attack on Tolo, which had been
hastily fortified, and was resolutely defended. The rebels were beaten
off; and as they retreated, a party of cavalry came up, killed many, and
made prisoners of the rest. Jack, whose shooting iron, as he styled his
gun, had made itself heard with great effect during the siege, joined in
pursuit, scrutinised the pockets of the fallen, and secured an amount of
specie that filled