A monster alligator, the cayman of the Amazon region, was tugging at the tapir, from which it had already torn a piece of the flank.
Then, as Bomba looked, the water was broken in several places by the horrid snouts and hideous jaws of other caymen, that had smelled the blood of the tapir and were hastening to have their share of the feast.
Bomba’s first feeling was that of chagrin at losing his prey. But this gave way at once to an overpowering sense of his own danger.
Those great jaws tearing at the tapir were sure to upset the canoe. He must cut the rope.
He drew his machete, sprang to the stern, and commenced to hack madly at the rope. Before he could cut through a single strand, there was a terrific jerk, the canoe turned over, and Bomba was thrown into the river.
By this time the river was swarming with alligators!
CHAPTER VI
PURSUED BY AN ALLIGATOR
Bomba was hurled headlong into the green depths of the river. This in itself would not have bothered him. He could swim like a fish and was almost as much at home in the water as on land.
But a thrill of terror passed through him as he realized that not far away was a group of monsters that could swim faster than he could, and whose terrible jaws, once clamped on him, could bite him in half.
His mind worked with lightning swiftness. He must remain under water as long as possible. His instinct for direction told him where the land lay.