Time passed on.

It seemed as though a thousand things flitted through the active mind of the young aviator as he thus stood guard over the camp.  Once again he was back in good old Bloomsbury, where he had spent so many happy days.  He could see the faces of his boyhood friends, Larry, Elephant and others.

Frequently he would detect a movement here or there among the trees; and at such times he could easily imagine that some animal belonging to the forest was creeping closer in.  The question was, whether simple curiosity urged them to do this thing, or a design upon the occupants of the camp.

Frank had been in other situations calling for considerable pluck, and never failed to meet the emergency, nor did he now.

It must have been some three hours back that Andy lay down to sleep.  That had been the limit of time arranged upon; but Frank did not show any signs of intending to awaken the other.

“Let him sleep,” he said to himself, as he walked up and down, for by now he was beginning to feel very drowsy himself, in spite of the coffee.  “He needs it more than I do.  And besides, I’m a little dubious as to what sort of watch Andy would keep.  Anyhow, I can stand it a while longer.  Hello! what’s that mean?”

His attention had been attracted toward a movement in the brush at the nearest point of the forest.  It was not thirty feet distant.  Could one of those long-bodied muscular jaguars cover that distance in a wild leap?  What if without warning he should see a tawny figure flashing through the air, and headed straight for him?

Frank threw the gun up to his shoulder as if to try and see how readily he could cover such a flying form.  As he did so he heard a low and ominous growl, which undoubtedly sprang from the very spot where he had just caught that suspicious movement.

He bent his head to look closer, and as he did so an exclamation fell from his lips.

“And that’s no owl staring at me, either,” he said to himself, as he caught the singular glow of what seemed like two balls of fire, just under the lower growth.

Frank knew what they undoubtedly must be.  He had seen the orbs of a cat shine in this phosphorescent way in the darkness.  There could be no doubt but that he was being surveyed by one of those savage beasts whose whining he and Andy had heard around the camp for hours.

“And I declare if that purring sound doesn’t come from there, too,” he muttered, as he sank down upon one knee, the better to aim his rifle.  “What was that the old senor was telling me about these beasts?  Didn’t he say they jerked their tail to and fro like a pendulum, and made a queer noise just before they jumped?  If that is so then this fellow is getting ready to leap over right now.  Time I was doing something, if I don’t want him to drop on my chum like a rubber ball.  Well, here goes to take him between those yellow eyes.  Steady now, my boy, steady!”