Evening star., 1927-05-08
ess and Courage Required in Locked Room With Hyena

feeling for boxes. Keep dragginS
them UP. Massa is holding back the
hyena."
As she worked. shouted again for
her husband, and finally he was at the
door, opening it from without. When
| made him understand. he brought
native fare. / gave solemn thanks
for my deliverance. Then we all three
set to work with the barricade.
1t was nearly morning when |
, looked at the hyena, all snug and &C
tually sleeping, Then for the first
time saw that he had broken through
cage and killed several of the rare
! birds.
| If | should state casually that In
| South America, when a jaguar follows
n arty trailing through the jungle.
q puma also follows, and if / should
go on to explain that the puma does
this to protect the human travellers, L
am sure l would receive a hearty, dis
| believing laugh. And yet. once in my
| Venezuelan experience l seemed to
prove this to be true. At any rate. 10
the series of facts 1 shall describe l
assign explanation.
Jose Fernandez, half-breed. was
my hi I'd guide, at 2 real Us centsl
| day. We trailed 25 miles daily over
| old Indian Aztec paths. And as we
| lay beside our fire, Jc:e Fernando
| told M lore OF the South American
| forests at which I rather smiled. The
woods. he said, teemed with animals
who hated men-save one, the puma.
This great, sleek, tawny cat creature,
| s feet or more from tail to head, was
| ALWAYS the friend of man, for the
puma was half human. 80 Jose told
me dreamily as we lay side by side on
l hacks fire That
why he had a sneaking love for man.
which led him to protect the human
traveller from his worst forest enemy
tn great stalking, dunfurred. black
striped jaguar, the lion of South
America.
Bah, Jose" 1 scoffed "Bosh,
Fish yarns
| Jose shook his black head. Days
~ followed days till the night when
we were in camp along the road TO
Barquisimento. F.. a week we had
been followed, far off, by puma.
We kne-y it by it's cries at night. L
suppose l need not tell my readers
that the puma is a tawny creature.
as large as a small lion, member Of
the cat tribe.
Jose repeated by the fire: Just let
III JstS dtldNh hliC way Adi CA anu
the puma would fling herself into the
fray. Then--ah. the mighty battle
had smiled. Then we slept.
BY the stars, when we later found
time to look at thel.I. we must have
been awakened long aft midnight.
Fierce, wild walls in the jungle sound
ed not 90 yards away. i jumped TO
sitting position and so did Jose. We
reached for our Winchesters. then
watched, fascinated, almost stunned.
We had moved to one side of the fire
so we could see.
Then we spied two great beasts
locked out there in mortal fight. At
once we both lay fiat, our rifles ready.
We were able to watch every move
pretty clearly, since the fire was not
between us and the animals and our
eyes were sharpened to all the sights
of night. Hung low. the Southern
Cross shone out to help us watch as
| splendid a battle as have ever seen.
/ suppose ii could not have lasted more
| than two minutes, but the time seemed
longer. They were struggling for the
death hold. the puma and the jaguar.
| though. of course, we could not dis
tinguish between them while they
fought. They were about of size.
Finally, the cry of the puma rose high,
as one jumped on the others back.
They seemed eternally locked in a saw
age embrace, then they rolled over to-
gether. A blur. which we knew was
dust and broken twigs, rather hid the
finale. After a. space came swift 81.
lence. On the ground gurgled
mighty beast. prone. flabby. limp. An
other loped off Through the shadows.
lifted my Winchester and was about
to fire. when Jose tugged at my arm.
with all the passion one of these South
Americans can put into an objection.
Mono, senor!" he pleaded. 'This
lion is very good friend" Had he
not told me that always thus this lion
behaved, protecting man from the
deadly jaguar?
He had. indeed. dropped my rife.
We got up. Jose and I, and walked
over to the dead animal. A large jaguar
more than 5 feet long. 1 judged. lay
dead among the trampled foliage.
(Copyright. 1877