e in the direction where the young man stood--though
through the obscurity he could make no exact observation of his
features.

The silence continued. Don Estevan and the Senator remained seated on
their camp-beds, carbine in hand, while Benito, surrounded by the other
domestics, formed a group by the side of the fire. The horses had all
approached within a few feet of their masters, where they stood
trembling and breathing loudly from their spread nostrils. Their
behaviour indicated an instinct on their part that the danger was not
yet over.

Several minutes passed, in which no human voice broke the silence. In
the midst of greatest perils there is something consolatory in the sound
of a man's voice--something which makes the danger appear less; and as
if struck by this idea, some one asked Benito to continue the narrative
of his adventures.

"I have told you then," resumed the ex-herdsman, "that I saw the tiger
springing after my horse, and that in the chase both disappeared from my
sight. The moment after, the horse came galloping back; but I knew that
it was his last gallop, as soon as by the light of the moon I saw the
terrible rider that he carried. The jaguar was upon his back, flattened
over his shoulders, with the neck of the poor horse fast between his
jaws.

"They had not gone a dozen paces before I heard a crackling sound--as if
some bone had been crushed--and on the instant I saw the horse stumble
and fall. Both tiger and horse rolled over and over in a short but
terrible struggle, and then my poor steed lay motionless.

"For safety I stole away from the dangerous proximity; but returning
after daylight, I found only the half-stripped skeleton of a horse that
had carried me for many a long year.

"And now, amigo," continued the ex-herdsman, turning to the man who had
first spoken, "do you still think that the jaguar attacks only foals?"

No one made reply, but Benito's audience turned their glances outward
from the fire, fearing that in the circle around they might see shining
the eyes of one of these formidable animals.

Another interval of silence succeeded to the narrative of the vaquero.
This was broken by the young man Tiburcio, who, used to the wild life of
the plains and forests, was very little frightened by the presence of
the jaguars.

"If you have a horse," said he, "you need not much fear the jaguar; he
is sure to take your horse first. Here, we have twenty horses and only
on