"I was a little frightened," she said, "when the mule came tumbling down close to me, and I could see the jaguar's eyes within a few yards of me, but I had my dagger ready."
"It would not have been much good," Dias said, "if the beast had attacked you."
"I think you showed no end of pluck," Bertie said. "If he had come close to me, and I had got nothing but that little dagger in my hand, I should have bolted like a shot."
"I am sure that you would not, señor," she said. "You are a great deal too brave for that."
Bertie laughed.
"It is all very well to be brave with a rifle in your hand and another gun ready, to say nothing of the pistols. By the way, I thought Harry had given you one of his?
"So he did, but I had forgotten all about it. If I had thought of it I should have used it."
"It is just as well that you did not," Harry said. "If you had done so, the brute would have made for you instead of turning round to attack us."
"Now, señor," Dias put in, "we had better drag the jaguars away; the mules will never get quiet with the bodies so close to them."
It needed all his strength and that of his companions to drag each of the bodies fifty yards away.