"The desired position was gained without disturbing the animal at his bath, and under cover of the bank we drew quite near. Only his head was visible; Frank aimed and fired, and the head disappeared. Soon it came to the surface, and there was a loud snort which showed that the beast had been thoroughly alarmed.
"The rowers now did their best, as further concealment was unnecessary. With loud cries they urged the raft forward, but the unwieldy concern could not be turned as quickly as the tapir was able to double on us. Fortunately for us, he only tried two or three times to double, or he would have escaped altogether; after these efforts he struck straight across the river, where we came up to him and were able to throw a harpoon into his back. He had been severely wounded by Frank, and after the harpoon was thrown he was easily secured. It is always desirable to harpoon a tapir after shooting him in the water, as he dives to the bottom, and if he dies there his body does not rise.
"We had tapir steaks for breakfast, and found them very good. They resembled beef, though they were rather more dry than that well-known article of food; we had been rather limited in our supply of fresh provisions, and consequently the tapir steak was not to be despised. The flesh of this animal is highly prized by the natives; it is eaten fresh, like beef or pork, and is preserved by drying or salting.
"But this is not the fight I was going to tell about. One day we stopped at a village where there was a tame tapir running among the houses; it was perfectly docile, and allowed the boys to ride on its back as often and as long as they liked. The alcalde of the village told us how it was caught, a few months' before, in a hunting-excursion, only a few miles from the place.
HUNTING THE TAPIR.
"The alcalde kept several dogs especially for hunting the tapir. The hunter takes his position in a canoe carefully concealed in the bushes near the end of a tapir's road. The tapir lays out his own path with the skill of an engineer; he goes along this path regularly every morning, from his haunt to his bath in the river, and then from the river to his haunt again. The dogs are let loose near the tapir's retreat, and the frightened animal runs to the river for safety.
"He dives and swims with great rapidity, but the hunter is generally successful in capturing him. He is shot or speared as he takes to the water, evading the dogs only to fall into the hands of his human enemy.
"On the occasion I speak of the alcalde had gone for his customary sport, and roused a tapir. The keeper of the dogs was with these animals, while the alcalde was waiting at the river ready to shoot the game when it appeared. But it happened to be a female anta, this time, and she had a young tapir with her. The male flees before the dogs, but the female with a cub does nothing of the sort; she remains in her lair and defends the little fellow, who crouches beneath her and indicates his alarm by short, shrill whistles. She never yields, and is a terrible foe for the dogs. Her teeth do effective work on any of them that come too near, and her powerful fore-legs crush their ribs as though they were made of paper.