hat made this fierce plunge was a panther of the largest
size; and if Rene had not chanced to catch sight of its nervously
twitching tail as it drew itself together for the spring, it would have
alighted squarely upon the naked shoulders of the unsuspecting Indian
lad. Rene's prompt action had, however, caused the animal to plunge into
the water, though it only missed the canoe by a few feet; and when it
rose to the surface it was close beside them.

Has-se seized his paddle, and with a powerful stroke forced the canoe
ahead, but directly into the mesh of trailing vines, in which it became
so entangled that they could not extricate it before the beast had
recovered from his surprise, and had begun to swim towards them.

A bolt was hurriedly fitted to Rene's cross-bow and hastily fired at the
approaching animal. It struck him near the fore-shoulder, and served to
check his progress for a moment, as with a snarl of rage he bit savagely
at the wound, from which the blood flowed freely, crimsoning the water
around him. Then he again turned towards the canoe, and seemed to leap
rather than swim, in his eagerness to reach it. A second bolt, fired
with even greater haste than the first, missed the panther entirely, and
the boys were about to plunge from the opposite side of the canoe into
the water, in their despair, when an almost unheard-of thing occurred to
effect their deliverance.

Just as one more leap would have brought the panther within reach of the
canoe, a huge, dark form rose from the red waters behind him, and a pair
of horrid jaws opened, and then closed like a vice upon one of his
hind-quarters. The panther uttered a wild yell, made a convulsive spring
forward, his claws rattled against the side of the canoe, and then the
waters closed above his head, and he was dragged down into the dark
depths of the stream, to the slimy home of the great alligator, who had
thus delivered the boys from their peril. A few bubbles coming up
through the crimson waters told of the terrible struggle going on beneath
them, and then all was still, and the stream flowed on as undisturbed as
before. For a few moments the boys sat gazing in silent amazement at the
place of the sudden disappearance of their enemy, hardly believing that
he would not again return to the attack.

When they had regained the fort, Laudonniere heard with horror Rene's
story of their adventure with the tiger and the crocodile, as he named
panthers and