Having dragged the dead beast out of their ponchos, they are about to
re-adjust these as before, when it strikes them there is no longer any
need for closing the cave's mouth. The first blast of the _tormenta_
having blown over, the dust borne upon it is now in less volume; while
the wind, rushing direct down the ravine, carries everything along with
it--only an occasional whiff seeking entrance into the cave.
"For the matter of our being blinded," remarks the gaucho in perceiving
this, "we needn't trouble about shutting the door again. Though if I'm
not greatly out in my reckoning, there's something else may need keeping
out--a thing more dangerous than dust."
"What thing?" he is asked.
"Another _tigre_. I never knew one of these spotted beauties to be
about alone. They always hunt in couples; and where there's a female,
the male is sure to be with her. As you see, it's the lady we've closed
accounts with, and for certain the gentleman isn't far-off. Out in that
storm, he'll be in the same way making for this snug shelter. So we may
look for his worship to present himself at any moment."
Ludwig and Cypriano turn their eyes towards the entrance, as though they
expected even then to behold the dreaded intruder.
"To keep him out," pursues Gaspar in a more serious vein, "'twill be no
use putting up the ponchos. We can't trust to the old Tom entangling
himself, as did his _esposa_. That was all an accident. And yet we're
not safe if we leave the entrance open. As we've got to stay here all
night, and sleep here, we daren't close an eye so long as he's ranging
about. Instead, we'd have to lie awake, and on the alert."
"Why can't we wall it up with those stones?" Cypriano thus
interrogates, pointing to some scattered boulders lying about the cave--
large blocks that have broken off from its roof, and fallen upon the
floor.
"Not a bad idea," rejoins Gaspar, "and one quite practicable," he adds,
with his eye taking in the dimensions of the cavern's mouth, but little
larger than an ordinary stable door. "You're right, Senor Cypriano; we
can do that."
Without further speech, they set about the work; first rolling the
larger masses of stalactite towards the entrance to form the foundation
of the wall. But before having got half-a-dozen of them fixed in their
places, a sound reaches their ears which causes them suddenly to desist;
for all three recognise it as coming from the throat of a jaguar! Not a
loud roar, or scream, such as they heard when that lying dead first made
its presence known, but a sort of sniff or snort, as when it was
struggling, half-choked by the ponchos. Soon, however, as they stand
listening, the snorting changes into a long low growl, ending in a gruff
bark; as of a watch-dog awakened by some slight noise, for which he is
not sure of its being worth his while to forsake his kennel, or spring
upon his feet.
Not thus doubtful are they. Instead, the sounds now heard excite and
terrify them as much as any that preceded; for they can tell that tiger
Number 2 is, as themselves, _within the cave_!
"_Por Dios_!" exclaims Gaspar, in a low tone of voice, "it's the old Tom
sure, and inside too! Ha! that accounts for our not being certain about
the she. Both were yelling at the same time, answering one another.
Where can the brute be?"
They turn their eyes toward the back of the cavern, but in the dim
glimmer can see nothing like a tiger. They only hear noises of
different kinds, made by their horses, then freshly affrighted, once
more sniffing the air and moving uneasily about.
"Your guns!" cries Gaspar in hurried accents; "get them loaded again!
If the _tigre_ attack us, as it's almost sure to do, our knives will be
of little use. _Viva, muschachos_!"
All together again lay hold of their guns; but where is the ammunition?
Stowed in a pair of holsters on the pommel of Cypriano's saddle, as they
well know--powder, balls, percussion-caps, everything. And where is the
horse himself; for, left loose, he has moved off to another part of the
cavern?
Cypriano taking the candle in hand, they go in search of him. Soon to
see that the frightened animal has taken refuge in an angular embayment
between two projecting buttresses of rock, where he stands cowering and
trembling.
They are about to approach him, going cautiously and with timid steps,
when, lo! on a ledge between, they perceive a long yellow body with
black spots lying astretch at one end of it, a pair of eyes giving back
the light of their candle, with a light almost as brilliant, and at
intervals flashing like fire. It is the jaguar.
The sight brings them suddenly to a stand, even causing them to retreat
a step or two. For the ledge on which the _tigre_ crouches is directly
between them and Cypriano's horse, and to approach the latter they must
pass right under the former; since it is upon a sort of shelf, several
feet above the level of the ground. They at once see there is no hope
of reaching the needed ammunition without tempting the attack of the
tiger; which, by their movements, is becoming at every moment more
infuriated, and already seems about to spring upon them. Instinctively,
almost mechanically, they move further away, having abandoned the idea
of defending themselves with the guns, and fallen back on their only
other weapons, the knives. Ludwig counsels retreating altogether out of
the cave, and leaving their horses behind. Outside, the wind no longer
rages, and the dust seems to have blown past. They but hear the
pattering of rain, with peals of thunder, and the swish of the stream,
now swollen. But nothing of these need they fear. To the course
counselled Cypriano objects, as also Caspar; fearing for their horses,
almost sure to be sacrificed to the fury of the enraged jaguar. And
where would they be then? Afoot in the midst of the Chaco, helpless as
shipwrecked sailors on a raft in mid-ocean!
For a while they remain undecided; only a short while, when they are
made aware of that which speedily brings them to a decision, and without
any will of their own. In putting space between themselves and the
dangerous beast, they have retreated quite up to the cavern's entrance.
There, looking out, they see that egress is debarred them. The stream,
swollen by the rain, still pouring down as in a deluge, has lipped up to
the level of the cave's mouth, and rushes past in an impetuous torrent,
crested, and carrying huge rocks, with the trunks and broken branches of
trees upon its seething current. Neither man nor horse might dare ford
it now. They are caught between a torrent and a tiger!