escape from his painful position.
His eye fell upon the water. That promised something, although he knew
full well the turtle was as much at home there as he. At all events, his
situation could not be a worse one, and with this, or some such
reflection, he made a "dash" for the water. He was but a few feet from
it, but it cost him a good deal of pulling and dragging, and clawing the
sand, before he could get into it. In fact, the tortoise knew that its
position could not be benefited by the change, and would have preferred
fighting it out on dry land, and to do this he set _his_ claws as firmly
as possible, and pulled the tail in the opposite direction!

The strength of the caiman at length prevailed. He got his body into the
water, and, with a few strokes of his webbed feet, jerked the turtle
after, and both were now fairly launched. Once in the river, the caiman
seemed to gain fresh vigour. His tail vibrated violently and rapidly,
throwing the tortoise from side to side until the foam floated around
them, and then both suddenly sank to the bottom.

Whether they continued "attached," or became "separated" there, or
whether the turtle killed the lizard, or the lizard the turtle, or "each
did kill the other," no one ever knew, as it is highly probable that no
human eye ever saw either of them again.

At all events, no one of _our_ party saw any more of them; and, having
watched the surface for some time, they turned in their steps and walked
back to the camp.

CHAPTER XLV.

A PAIR OF VALIANT VULTURES.

They had got into a part of the river that seemed to be a favourite
resort with turtles and crocodiles, and creatures of that description.
At different times they saw turtles of different kinds; among others,
the "painted turtle," a beautiful species that derives its name from the
fine colouring of its shell, which appears as if it had been painted in
enamel. Of crocodiles, too, they saw three or four distinct species, and
not unfrequently, the largest of all, the great black crocodile (_Jacare
nigra_). This was sometimes seen of the enormous length of over twenty
feet! Terrible-looking as these crocodiles are, they are not masters of
every creature upon the river. There are even birds that can sorely vex
them, and compel them to take to the water to save themselves from a
fearful calamity--blindness.

One day, while descending the river, our travellers were witness to an
illustration of this.

They were