"Bully for us!" shouted the excited Andy, ready to dance in his delight over the success of his labors. "Didn't we send 'em a flying, though?

Perhaps they just dare to come snoopin' around here again, when they're not asked! Frank, I guess you nailed that critter, all right. Dast we look and see?"

"Sure we will," returned Frank, instantly. "Pick up another bit of burning wood. Then let me go just ahead of you, so that I can shoot if I have to."

They thus boldly advanced toward the spot where Frank had first sighted the blazing yellow orbs.

"I can see something there!" declared Andy, who possessed sharp eyes.

"Yes, it's the beast, all right. But I can't say for sure whether he's down on his back, or crouching for a spring. Careful, not so fast, Andy." And Frank kept covering the object with his rifle as foot by foot they kept on.

"He's lying on his side! He's a dead duck, all right!" sang out Andy, waving his fire vigorously to and fro.

"You're right, he's stone dead!" observed the other, a touch of natural pride in his voice; for it was no mean feat to kill so ferocious a beast as a jaguar, after seeing only his two eyes shining in the darkness beyond the fire-light.

Frank stooped down, and catching hold of one of the dead animal's hind legs, started dragging it toward the fire.

"Hold on there," said Andy; "don't tell me we're going to have a steak off that old cat? I can stand for a good deal, but I'd go hungry a long time before I'd eat any of _him_!"

"Don't worry about that," laughed Frank. "But think what a bully old rug his hide will make some day. I'm going to try and take it off, if I can, while you're getting breakfast in the morning. It's worth while."

Andy looked as though he doubted the ability of his chum to accomplish the feat; but then he was counting without his host; for when the chance came Frank deftly removed the pelt, and kept it for a reminder of his hazardous shot.

Andy insisted on taking his turn at playing guard, when he found out what time it was. First of all Frank saw that the fire was revived, with plenty of fuel handy. Then, after giving his chum a few last instructions, he consented to lie down. But his sleep could not have been very sound, for frequently he would raise his head, and take a look around; seeing nothing suspicious he would again lie down.

So the night pa.s.sed away.

Frank was on deck an hour and more before the dawn came. He felt too anxious concerning the possibilities of the coming day to sleep much.

So Andy started to get breakfast, such as it was, before the night had really gone. He excused himself by saying that while he was not at all hungry, the operation had to be gone through with, and the sooner he was at it the quicker they might be free to mount upward.

Frank knew what a terrific load was on his chum's mind, and how he thrilled with suspense, now that they were so near the realization of his highest hopes or worst fears.

And so he too set to work to remove the jaguar skin, for it would make a pretty decent rug, if it could be properly preserved.

Morning was just breaking as they sat down to partake of the simple meal. Neither of them seemed to care for much. It was indeed no time for feasting, or making merry, when the day had probably dawned that was to settle their mission, one way or the other.

"One thing good," remarked Andy, hopefully, "there doesn't seem to be any strong wind blowing this morning."

Frank had been studying the lay of the land in the glade.

"I tell you we're going to have all we can do to squeeze up out of here without sc.r.a.ping against any tree before we can rise above them," he observed, presently.

"But don't you think we can do it?" demanded his chum, anxiously watching his expressive face.

"I think it is possible," came the slow reply; which after all gave Andy new cause for distrust; since his cousin was so cautious a fellow that he seldom if ever gushed over anything; at the same time he never expressed doubts when he felt positive.

"But!" cried Andy, "there's no other way to fly; we couldn't take the aeroplane to another place; and I reckon there isn't a cleared field within ten miles of here."

"No, it must be done right where we are. Now, I'm going to measure the opening to find out its widest dimensions. Then we will take the monoplane as far back as we can, and make all arrangements for a rapid start. But to rise above those trees, even the shortest of them, is going to call for considerable management, and some great good luck in the bargain."

"But, Frank, you've done it before," declared Andy. "You know you made lots of short starts that beat all the records. That's your best hold. And, Frank, we've just got to get out of here. Everything depends on it."

"Sure," responded Frank, cheerily enough; "and we'll manage somehow, never fear. Now to foot off the s.p.a.ce. Count to yourself, and we'll compare notes when I get to the other side. This looks the widest range, according to my eye."

So they both started off, Frank placing one foot close in front of the other, and Andy keeping alongside in order to do his own counting. In this way they pa.s.sed from one side of the glade to the other; and Frank was secretly pleased to find that the distance was considerably more than he had judged possible.

Besides, the trees happened to be much lower on this side, which fact would be of considerable benefit to them when they started to make the run, and rise.

Frank was still muttering the number of feet to himself, and had arrived within something like five yards of the nearest trees, when, without the slightest warning, he heard Andy let out a screech that could have but one meaning.

He had surely sighted something that spelled peril to one or both of the Bird boys. Frank had wisely kept the rifle in his hand, and instinct caused him to throw this up to his shoulder, though as yet he had not the slightest suspicion as to what the nature of the danger might be, nor the quarter in which it lay.

CHAPTER XX.

THE AEROPLANE BOYS ONCE MORE AFLOAT.

"Frank! Oh! Frank!"

More than a few times had it fallen to Frank Bird to drag his cousin and chum, Andy, back from some impending danger. Now the shoe seemed to be on the other foot.

Even as he looked hastily up, startled by these sudden cries, Frank felt his arm seized in a frenzied clutch, and himself jerked backward.

"What is it, Andy? Here, hold on, let my arm free, and tell me!" he exclaimed.

"Look there; and you were going to walk right up against it! Oh! Frank, what a horrible monster!" Andy replied, in trembling tones, as he strove to point toward something that he had seen just in the nick of time.

"Whew! I should say you were right! Ain't he a dandy, though? And if I saw him at all, I thought it was a great big vine hanging from that tree! Ugh! look at him stretch his mouth, would you? Andy, thanks to your sharp eyes I'm here, instead of in his slimy folds. I guess he could crush an ox. They say nothing can stand the pressure, once they get a couple of folds around."

"Is it a python?" gasped Andy, his horrified eyes glued on the spectacle of the slightly swaying ten feet of snake that hung from the limb of a great tree, in part as thick as Frank's thigh.

"About the same thing," replied Frank. "Down here they call them anacondas, and in other parts of the world they're boa-constrictors. I guess the whole bunch belongs to the same family of squeezers. But that fellow is in our way."

"Well, yes, if you're still determined to run the aeroplane across lots toward this side of the opening," Andy remarked with a shudder. "Why, perhaps that old chap might get gay, and grab hold, just when we expected to go sailing off. That would be a calamity, not only for him, but the Bird boys in the bargain."

"All right. Then he's got to get his," Frank observed.

"What are you going to do?" demanded the other, nervously.

"Take a crack at his head," came the reply. "Once let a flat-nosed bullet from this little Marlin hard shooter smack him on the coco, and there'll be a funeral in the anaconda family."

"But for goodness' sake make sure work of it, Frank. What if you just wounded the monster? He'd come whirling along at us like a hurricane. And I'm sure he must be thirty feet long, if he's a dozen. Look at the thickness of his neck, would you? Be mighty careful, for his head's swinging a bit, you notice. That was what made me get sight of him. Say, Frank!"

"Well, hurry up. He may take a notion to move off, and I'd lose my chance, Andy."

"How'd it do for me to get some fire, and shoo him away?" suggested his cousin.