There are times when the drama of life moves so rapidly that we can do little more than get out of the way and let things pass. When Pant saw the jaguar and the deer there was not even time for that. The best he could do was to flatten himself against his couch of leaves.
On they came. The deer decided to brave the terrifying light. On came the deer and on came the jaguar. Pant dared not breathe. Now they were upon him. Then came the cutting dig of hoofs in the boy’s back, followed by a whirl of air.
What of the killer? Was that breath of air the sign of his passing? Had he cleared the green heap that was Pant, at a leap? Pant could not tell. For a long time he dared not move. Even after he had caught a distant splash which told that the deer had taken to the water, he did not move at once.
At last, cautiously snapping off his light and gripping his rifle, he sprang to his feet.
He listened intently. There was no sound. He tried to pierce the darkness but could see nothing.
At last, after throwing his lighting apparatus over his shoulder and adjusting his rifle for a quick shot, he made his way back over the trail to the boat. Even here nothing moved. What had happened? Had the killer followed the deer into the river? Had he given up the trail to go prowling back into the forest? One thing was certain; the hunt was ended for that night. Pant’s nerves were too unsteady to give the red flash a second trial. Besides, he was not at all sure it would work; in fact, he felt reasonably certain it wouldn’t.
“I’ll get you yet,” he said stoutly with the shake of a clenched fist in the general direction of the jungle. With that he took to his dugout and paddled home.
CHAPTER XVII
THE SPANISH GIRL REAPPEARS
For three nights Pant had not visited Daego’s camp. Nor had he in all this time seen Johnny’s ghost walking out upon the air. That it had walked, he felt quite sure. The night before, a large dugout, loaded with the half-caste’s men, had been seen to go slipping down the river.
“Just go gliding about up there in my dugout,” Pant told himself an hour after darkness set in.