to their burrows; and
the monkeys to the tops of the adjacent trees; and nothing remained on
the ground but the empty shells of the juvias.

Our party did not stay to notice the change. They, too, had been warned
by the roar of the tiger, and hastily leaving the spot, returned to
their place of encampment. On reaching it, they kindled a large circle
of fire to keep them in safety during the night. They saw no more of the
jaguar, although at intervals through the midnight hours, they were
awakened by his loud and savage cry, resounding through the openings of
the forest.

CHAPTER XLIII.

ACRES OF EGGS.

The next evening our travellers encamped on a sand-bar, or rather a
great bank of sand, that ran for miles along one side of the river. Of
course they had nothing to hang their hammocks to, but that was a matter
of no importance, for the sand was dry and soft, and of itself would
make a comfortable bed, as pleasant to sleep on as a hair-mattress. They
only wanted wood enough to cook with, and to keep up their fire during
the night--so as to frighten off the wild beasts.

This night they kept watch as usual, Leon taking the first turn. In
fact, they found that they must do so every night--as in each of the
camps where they had slept some danger had threatened; and they thought
it would be imprudent for all to go to sleep at the same time. The
heaviest part of the sentinel's duty fell to Guapo's share; but Guapo
had long accustomed himself to go without sleep, and did not mind it;
moreover Don Pablo took longer spells at the stern-oar during the day,
and allowed Guapo many a "cat-nap."

Leon seated himself upon a pile of sand that he had gathered up, and did
his best to keep awake, but in about an hour after the rest were asleep
he felt very drowsy--in fact, quite as much so as on the night of the
adventure with the vampire. He used pretty much the same means to keep
himself awake, but not with so good success, for on this occasion he
fell into a nap that lasted nearly half-an-hour, and might have
continued still longer, had he not slid down the sand-hill and tumbled
over on his side. This awoke him; and feeling vexed with himself, he
rubbed his eyes as if he was going to push them deeper into their
sockets.

When this operation was finished, he looked about to see if any creature
had ventured near. He first looked towards the woods--for of course that
was the direction from which the tigers would come, and