The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1898-07-09
a JAfGUAR,s TRICK.
The The Clever Way Ia which He Fooled tho
sEsss4 CaYmans and Crossed n, : River. -.

ss7 Cay mans and Crossed tho River. $s
Robert Wilson Fem contributes to
g. y i'cholas an interesting story about
The Jagnar and the Caymans. z Mr..
rem was camping on the banks ct the
upper Magdalena river, in Colombia.
South America, and this is what he
saw: We had finished our evening
meal, and I was enjoying my Gust ON
airy smoke under the toldilla, or net
ting, and chatting with my Indian
companions, when suddenly the most
awful series of catcalls that I had
ever heard disturbed our peace and the
night air. A prolonged yowl, like the
united voices of all the cats on all
the roofs of q large town, made the
cold chills creep up and down my
spine and goosefesh to run all over
me. What is it?" asked one Of the
men. 'tEl tigre, senor!" (The tiger,
sirD he replied; IVA a pasar ell rio'' Che
is going to, cross the river). ''Let
him cross if he wants to- said I; "but
why does he want to upset my supper
C"AAo spun LILY o4CC1 u1AAO1 sSAOAC w I'LL
his hideous noise?'' Come and see,
senor," he replied, and taking up his
gun, motioned me to follow. Softly
we crept along the margin of the creek
toward the river, and making our way
through the spines of the owerhan g
ing bamboos, came out upon the mar
row beach near the mouth of tsae creek
Sure enough, by crawling cautiously
along in the shadow of the b1uf, we
saw our musical friend squatted on
his launches, with head thrown back
and mouth open, emitting the most
blood curdling serenade one could ex-
pect to hear, and looking for all the
world like a gigantic tabby cat. But
what connection such a noise could
have with his passage of the river I
failed to see. "Anastasio," I said in
a whisper, ."doesn't the foolish fellow
know that he will draw all the alli-
gators together, and when he gets in
to the water he will swim off in Sec
tfons?" leave him alone,' chucalcd
the Indian; che knows how to get
across" So, crouching down in the
bushes on the bank of the river, we
waited for his next move. I think
we must have been there about twenty
minutes or half an hour, and I was
becoming almost worn out with the
attacks of mosquitoes, when the cen
cert suddenly ceased. At the same
moment the moon: came out clear and
bright from behind cloud, and An
astasio, nudging my arm, pointed to
the surface of the water in front of
the jaguar. At first I thought there
were a number of sticks in the water,
but as the current was swift and they
were n1otionless in their places, was
for moment puzzled. "Caymanos"
obligatory, Whispered the Indian, and
I saw that his eyes were better than
mine. There were the ugly shouts of
half a dozen of the big fellows, g me
well out of water, and some just
showing their nostrils AID the bumps
over their eyes, but all ready for their
expected prey. But they were to he
disappointed this time, for the jaguar,
Immediately upon the conclusion CT his
serenade, started off up stream as
hard as he could run along the bank
of the river, and when he had gone
about five hundred yards dropped
softly into the water and swan safely
across, while his Ead7ed enemios wcr,
unable to make fast enough tine up
stream against the swift current to
get him.