“Hurrah!  What did I say?” cried Frank, as the aeroplane came to a complete standstill close to the other border of trees.

There was a frightened series of grunts close by and some big unwieldy animal went rushing away through the dense undergrowth, crashing along as though badly frightened at this queer thing that had dropped down from the sky.

“Wow! whatever was that, do you know, Frank?” cried the one on the ground.

“I don’t know for sure, because I only had the least peep of something that looked like a small elephant making off,” replied the other, also alighting.

Andy was already reaching for the repeating rifle, which had been securely fastened in the frame of the monoplane.

“But Frank, they don’t have such things as elephants down in South America?” he expostulated.

“Sure they don’t,” laughed Frank, feeling particularly good over the grand success that had attended their perilous landing.  “Nor a rhinocerous, nor a hippopotamus; but they do have the next largest beast, and that’s a tapir.  He’s something like a big pig and not very dangerous, the senor said.  That was what we frightened off just now, I reckon.”

“Well, here we are on land again and mighty lucky to get down without some sort of a smash.  Frank, you don’t think anything was broken when we struck, do you?”

“Of course I can’t say for sure, but I believe not.  But all the same I must give a good look in the morning before we make another start,” was the reply Frank returned.

“And now we’re just got to stay here all night?” remarked Andy, who still held the gun in his hands.

“That isn’t anything.  We’ll soon have a cheery blaze started that will keep the prowlers away, I guess.  Get busy, Andy, and see what we can do.  But we’ll start it some distance away from our gasoline tank, remember.”

“But won’t they be apt to see a fire?” asked the other, as he reluctantly placed the rifle down and started to gathering wood, no easy task in the increasing darkness.

“Do you mean Puss and that other fellow?” Frank asked, with a laugh.  “Oh, they’re a mile or two off, and even if they could see the biggest of fires I’d defy them to get half way here if they took the whole night to cut their way through that mass of trailing vines and brush.  Don’t bother your head about that crowd, Andy.  I hope we’re done with them for good.”

His reassuring words seemed to have considerable effect on his cousin, who up to recently had himself been a most cheery fellow.

“Well,” he said, “we’ve sure got a whole bunch of gratitude on tap for the lucky way we dropped in here.  Chances looked twenty to one it couldn’t be done.  And I’d like to wager that no other air pilot could have made the ripple so well.”

“You’re prejudiced, old fellow, because I’m one of the Bird boys,” laughed Frank as he struck a match and applied it to the bunch of dead grass he had gathered in the spot selected for their fire.