Bob, too, roused up, and the whole camp was soon astir, every one grabbing a gun or revolver. Jerry fired two more shots into the jaguar, and the struggles ceased.
“I got him just in time,” he remarked.
The others crowded around the brute.
“Halt!” exclaimed Bilette, under his breath, as, ready with his men to rush on the camp, he saw that his plan was spoiled. “If it had not been for that jaguar I would have had the captive. Come, we must get out of this!”
[CHAPTER XVIII.]
THE UNDERGROUND CITY.
Vasco Bilette’s warning was received with ill humor by his men. They were angry because the kidnapping had not succeeded, and because the jaguar had alarmed the camp and put every one on guard.
“Come, let us give them battle now and take the boy!” suggested one.
“Do you want to be killed?” asked Vasco, angrily. “They are all armed now, and would shoot at the least suspicious sound. I, for one, don’t care to have a bullet in me. Come, let us get out of this.”