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But won't they be apt to see a fire?" asked the other, as hereluctantly placed the rifle down and started to gathering wood, no easytask in the increasing darkness. "Do you mean Puss and that other fellow?" Frank asked, with alaugh. "Oh, they're a mile or two off, and even if they could see thebiggest of fires I'd defy them to get half way here if they took thewhole night to cut their way through that mass of trailing vines andbrush. Don't bother your head about that crowd, Andy. I hope we're donewith them for good." His reassuring words seemed to have considerable effect on his cousin,who up to recently had himself been a most cheery fellow. "Well," he said, "we've sure got a whole bunch of gratitude on tap forthe lucky way we dropped in here. Chances looked twenty to one itcouldn't be done. And I'd like to wager that no other air pilot couldhave made the ripple so well." "You're prejudiced, old fellow, because I'm one of the Bird boys,"laughed Frank as he struck a match and applied it to the bunch of deadgrass he had gathered in the spot selected for their fire. It was a dozen yards away from the aeroplane and about the same from thenearest line of great bushy trees. Immediately the flame sprang up,dispelling the darkness to some extent. "Shucks! but that makes a big improvement and no mistake," said Andy,stooping to drop some wood on the fire. "I always like to see what I'mdoing. And more than ever when I'm in a strange place. Hark! what wasthat, do you suppose, Frank?" A sound had come from the depths of the forest not unlike the wailing ofa babe. Frank could give a guess what made it, but he did notimmediately say so. "Say, we must have landed close to some native shack, and that's a babycrying!" Andy declared. "Hardly," came from Frank. "That's only one of our cat friends givingtongue, perhaps calling to his mate to come and see the funny objectsthat dropped from the skies." "Wow! reckon now you must mean a yellow boy, a jaguar! I bet you, Frank,there's a heap of 'em around us right now. How do we know but what everytree hides one of the critters, watching everything we do? I can tellyou right now that I don't wander far from this jolly little blazetonight. And besides, one of us has just got to keep a grip on this gunall the time. I don't hanker after being carried away and made a meal ofby a big hungry cat." "Oh, the fire will scare them away all right, I believe. There isn't ananimal that doesn't dread fire. Always keep that in mind, Andy, whentrouble comes," said Frank, earnestly. "I mean to," replied the other, as he once more started to pick up wood,but it could be noticed that while doing so Andy always kept on eye onthe alert, as if he really believed what he had said about the chancesof their being watched by an army of jaguars. "There's another sort of cry, Frank," he remarked, presently. "Yes, and although I couldn't say for sure, I believe it is made by acolony of monkeys, traveling through the woods at night," the otherreplied, after stopping to listen for a minute to the odd sounds. "Monkeys!" cried Andy, smiling broadly. "Well, I declare I hadforgotten that they have them all through the tropical regions aroundthe Orinoco, the Magdalena and the Amazon. And so that's a menagerietraveling over the treetops, is it? Wish I could just get a look." "Well, I don't think they're far away," remarked his chum. "Not for me. I know when I'm well off. This camp looks good enough,without my wandering around in that awful place. Let 'em jabber, and theyellow cats snarl; but Andy Bird stays right at his fireside tonight." "And I guess you're right," said Frank, as more noises arose all aroundthem.
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