t, senor," Hurka said. "I saw it rise to spring, and
snatched at my rifle just as you fired. I think the charge struck it
between the eyes, for I saw a sort of blur there just as it fell. I should
have been too late; for though I might have hit it as it was in the air,
it would assuredly have come down on Pita.

"It was not like you, Pita. This comes of thinking while you are paddling
instead of keeping your eyes on everything."

"I was wrong," the Indian replied. "I should have known that an attack by
a jaguar was always possible; but this is the first that we have seen
since starting, and I had no thought of danger in my mind. I will be more
careful in the future. It must have been well hidden, for you did not see
it yourself, Hurka, until it moved for its spring."

"That is true," the little Indian replied. "The Englishman's eyes must be
quick indeed, and his nerve steady. It was seeing him catch up his gun
that first called my attention to it. You have laid us both under a great
obligation, senor, for Pita is my best friend, and were aught to befall
him I should feel that I had lost part of myself. Perhaps before the
journey comes to an end we may be able to show you how grateful we are."

"It is nothing worth talking about," Stephen said. "In a journey like
this, comrades may well save each other's lives more than once."

"That is true, senor; but it is our duty to save your life if need be, and
it is turning the tables upon us for you to be the means of saving ours.
However, you will not find us lacking when the time comes. Already we have
agreed that this time of all others we must carry our business through
successfully. You are not like those Spaniards. To them we are Indian
dogs, mere dust under their feet, a people whose services they buy as they
buy those of our mules; but you have treated us as if we had been comrades
of the same colour as you yourself, have insisted upon our eating with
you, and have talked with us as if we were friends together; and you will
find that it is so if danger arises. We Indians are not accustomed to
kindness or consideration from our Spanish masters. Could they do without
us they would not suffer an Indian to exist in the land; but they need our
labour, and so bear with us. But we, on our part, never forget that our
ancestors were lords of this country, that they received these white
strangers with kindness, and were repaid by the grossest treachery and
ingratitude, and that