"Oh!" he said, as he rose with marks of terrible anxiety, "What is taking place in the forest?"
The roar of the tiger burst forth like a clap of thunder.
A horrible shriek responded to it, and the wild gallop of a horse was heard, approaching at headlong speed.
"Quick! Quick!" Tranquil shouted, "Someone is in danger of death—the tiger is on his trail."
The two hunters rushed intrepidly in the direction of the roars.
The whole forest seemed quivering; nameless sounds issued from the hidden lairs, resembling at one moment mocking laughter, at another cries of agony.
The hoarse miauling of the jaguars went on uninterruptedly. The gallop of the horses which the hunters heard at first seemed multiplied and issuing from opposite points.
The panting hunters still ran on in a straight line, bounding over ravines and morasses with wonderful speed; the terror they felt for the strangers whom they wished to help gave them wings.
Suddenly a shriek of agony, louder and more despairing than the former, was heard a short distance off.
"Oh!" Tranquil shouted, in a paroxysm of madness, "It is she! It is Carmela!"