196 MARTIN RATTLER.

the mountain district they loosed the hands of their
prisoners, in order to enable them to climb more easily.
Indeed in many places they had to scramble so care-
fully that it would have been impossible for any one
to climb with his hands tied behind his back. But
the Indians knew full well that they ran no risk of
losing their prisoners; for if they had attempted to
escape, dozens of their number were on the watch,
before, behind, and on either side, ready to dart away
in pursuit. Moreover, Barney had a feeling of horror
at the bare idea of the poisoned arrows, that effect-
ually prevented him from making the smallest attempt
at escape. With a cutlass or a heavy stick he would
have attacked the whole tribe single-handed, and have
fought till his brains were knocked out; but when
he thought of the small arrows that would pour upon
him in hundreds if he made a dash for the woods,
and the certain death that would follow the slightest
scratch, he discarded all idea of rebellion.

One of the animals killed by the Indians at this
time was a black jaguar—a magnificent animal, and
very fierce. He was discovered crouching in a thicket
backed by a precipice, from which he could only escape
by charging through the ranks of his enemies. He
did it nobly. With a roar that rebounded from the
face of the high cliff and echoed through the valley