A herd of deer was timidly approaching its favorite drinking-place, out in the open where the nervous animals had a clear view of their surroundings for many yards.
“But the tigers! I don’t see a sign of them anywhere except these tracks leading away from here.”
“They must be laying up in their lairs among the rocks, or in caves, maybe. Perhaps they come out only at night.”
“That makes our work all the harder,” Ted returned. “We cannot follow them in there without rifles. And if they remain hidden all day long, how are we going to get at them?”
“I thought of something just this minute. See that ledge right above us? That must be fifty feet from the ground. Why not hide up there to-night and shoot the beasts as they pass? There will be a full moon, so we shall have no trouble in seeing.”
“Great! The very thing! We can stick a fluff of white wool on the sights to make them plainer,” Ted exclaimed enthusiastically. “We have a number of hours to get ready in, but not one too many, so let’s get busy right away.”
While two of the soldiers crouched in the opening as sentinels, ready to give the alarm at the first sign of danger, the others, under the direction of Ted and Stanley, rigged up a ladder by winding thongs around a spliced pole, up which the two could climb to the rock shelf. This required a good deal of time, but when the work was finally completed the Americans ascended to the lofty perch, after which they hoisted up the guns. There were other ledges above them, but the lower one, they thought, was high enough for security.
The guards then removed the pole-ladder. Ted and Stanley found themselves alone on a narrow ledge, and confident that from this strategic position they could easily stop the murderous marauders when nightfall should induce them to leave their hiding-places in quest of victims.
The soldiers, with their officers, departed immediately, with instructions to barricade themselves in the nearest houses. At first the officers were reluctant to leave, but they dared not disobey the command to go now and to return early on the following morning. They left their woollen cloaks to be used as blankets by the watchers, and also a sufficient quantity of food.
Ted and Stanley, from their point of vantage, scrutinized the saucer-like expanse before them. Probably they were the first men to behold the strange world within the crater. So long as daylight lasted, life in that weird place was peaceful enough. Animals were abundant, almost everywhere. Species they had not observed before appeared here and there. Besides the tortoises and deer, there were herds of wild pigs, armadillos of such great size that they must have weighed a ton, ant-eaters resembling the large, banded kind, not uncommon in the Amazon country, and monkeys with short tails. The creatures seemed to live in perfect harmony; they frolicked in play or busied themselves searching for food. To look at them engaged in their peaceful occupations, one would never suspect that such terrible monsters as the tigers lurked in their very midst. It was a curious conglomeration that defied description, but of the kind that the men of ages ago saw and struggled with daily.