, and plunged
headlong into the depths of the forest, where its yells at once raised a
tremendous commotion among the parrots and other birds, to say nothing
of the monkeys and jaguars that made it their home.

Phil meditatively gathered up the materials wherewith he proposed to
illumine the interior of the cavern, and slowly resumed his way across
the glade. Evidently there was something in the cavern after all,
otherwise that poor ape would not have dashed out of it so
precipitately, and in such a ghastly state of terror. But what could it
be? It must be something even more formidable than a jaguar or a puma,
to have terrified that unhappy monkey to the verge of madness; yet, so
far as Phil knew, the jaguar was the most dreaded beast to be found in
the South American forest. There was but one way of determining the
point satisfactorily. So, completely forgetful now of the errand upon
which he had started out, Stukely at once decided to adopt that way,
which was, of course, to enter the cavern and see for himself.

Accordingly, having arrived within about thirty feet of the opening in
the face of the sculptured rock, the young Englishman looked warily
about him and peered into the interior of the cavern to make sure that
there was no likelihood of his being attacked unawares; and when at
length he had satisfied himself on this head, he laid down his bow and
proceeded to arrange his dry moss so that it would kindle readily; then
he took his two fire-producing sticks, rubbed them one against the other
in the most approved manner, and presently had a little flame which he
deftly communicated to the tinder-like moss. When this was fairly
ablaze, he ignited the biggest and thickest branch he had with him, and
was soon in possession of a brilliantly burning flambeau, holding which
in one hand, and his bow and arrow in the other, he at once boldly
plunged into the interior of the cavern, glancing keenly about him as he
held his torch aloft.

The first thing that Phil noticed was that the fetid, charnel-house
odour which had before assailed his nostrils was now, for some reason,
not nearly so strong as when he had previously stood in the entrance of
the cavern; indeed it was scarcely perceptible. The next thing to
attract his attention was the fact that the cavern widened out very
considerably as it receded into the interior of the rock, and that the
floor slightly rose as he walked forward. Then the shimmer of water