ngaged one way
or other. Just then a voice sounded upon their ears, causing them all
to stop their work, and look abroad. It even brought Don Pablo out of
the store-house. It was the voice of Leon, who shouted from the other
side of the lake, where they all saw him standing, with a strange object
under each arm.

"Hola!" cried he. "Look, mamma! See what I've got! I've brought you a
couple of cats--beauties, ain't they?" And as he said this, he held the
two yellow bodies out before him.

Don Pablo turned pale, and even the coppery cheek of Guapo blanched at
the sight. Though at some distance, both knew at a glance what they
were. Cats, indeed! _They were the cubs of the jaguar_!

"My God!" cried Don Pablo, hoarse with affright. "My God! the boy will
be lost!" and as he spoke he swept the upper edge of the lake with an
anxious glance.

"Run, little master!" shouted Guapo. "Run for your life; make for the
bridge--for the bridge!"

Leon seemed astonished. He knew by the words of Guapo, and the earnest
gestures of the rest, that there was some danger:--but of what? Why was
he to run? He could not comprehend it. He hesitated, and might have
stayed longer on the spot, had not his father, seeing his indecision,
shouted out to him in a loud voice--

"Run, boy! run! The jaguars are after you!"

This speech enabled Leon to comprehend his situation for the first time,
and he immediately started off towards the bridge, running as fast as he
was able.

Don Pablo had not seen the jaguars when he spoke, but his words were
prophetic, and that prophecy was speedily verified. They had hardly
been uttered when two yellow bodies, dashing out of the brushwood,
appeared near the upper end of the lake. There was no mistaking what
they were. Their orange flanks and ocellated sides were sufficiently
characteristic. _They were jaguars_!

A few springs brought them to the edge of the water, and they were seen
to take the track over which Leon had just passed. They were following
by the scent--sometimes pausing--sometimes one passing the other--and
their waving tails and quick energetic movements showed that they were
furious and excited to the highest degree. Now they disappeared behind
the palm-trunks, and the next moment their shining bodies shot out again
like flashes of light.

Dona Isidora and the little Leona screamed with affright. Don Pablo
shouted words of encouragement in a hoarse voice. Guapo seized