CHAPTER XX.
THE MILK-TREE.
Guapo kept his promise with the tapir, and on that very same day. Shortly after the macaws had been brought in, little Leona, who had been straying down by the water's edge, came running back to the house, and in breathless haste cried out, “Mamma, mamma! what a big hog!”
“Where, my pet?” inquired her mother, with a degree of anxiety, for she fancied that the child might have seen some fierce beast of prey instead of a hog.
“In the water,” replied Leona; “among the great lillies.”
“It's the tapir,” cried Leon. “Carrambo! it's our tapir!”
Guapo was busy plucking his macaws, but at the word tapir he sprang to his feet, making the feathers fly in all directions.
“Where, señorita?” he asked, addressing little Leona.
“Down below,” replied the child; “near the edge of the river.”