, we all gave chase. Over fallen logs, gullies, and
streams we galloped, finding it no easy matter to keep up with our
nimble four-footed companions. Juan was the most active among us;
holding his rifle in his hand ready for a shot, he at length got ahead.
I saw him lift his weapon and fire, and as he did so the deer leaped
several feet in the air and fell over dead. We soon had it flayed and
cut up, when it was placed on the back of one of the mules brought for
the purpose.

Several other deer were started, and I had the satisfaction of killing
one with my own rifle; but Juan was the most successful.

The dominie, although he did not at first quite recover his nerve, had
before long an opportunity of displaying his skill and courage. The
dogs, which were ahead, were heard barking loudly.

"That's not deer," observed Uncle Richard; "it must be some savage
animal at bay."

We were hurrying forward--having, I should have said, dismounted from
our mules--the dominie on this occasion leading, when, with a loud roar,
a huge jaguar leaped from its covert, scattering the dogs on either
side, and making directly toward us. Mr Laffan, dropping on his knee,
and holding his rifle like an infantry soldier about to receive a charge
of cavalry, waited until the jaguar was within twelve yards of him, when
he fired. The creature bounded on, and I trembled for our friend's
safety; but in an instant, rising, he sprang on one side, and drawing
his hunting-knife he struck it into the shoulder of the savage animal,
right up to the hilt, when the jaguar rolled over with one convulsive
struggle and was dead.

We all congratulated the dominie on his skill and coolness.

"I'm not in the habit of howling when I see a beast, but I was just now
thinking to pick an orange, when the tiger-cat sprang at my throat.
Faith! it was a little more than I bargained for," he answered,
laughing.

"It is certainly what any of us would have done; though few would have
met a jaguar with the same coolness as you have exhibited," observed
Uncle Richard.

We arrived at length at a neatly-thatched cottage near a hacienda,
belonging to a farmer who employed Indians chiefly in the cultivation of
his fields. He was absent, but an old Indian who had charge of the
house begged us to enter and consider it as our own. As the sun was
high and the heat increasing, we were glad to find shelter beneath its
roof. Here we spread the viands which had been broug