"Martain Rattler" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ballantyne R.M)

what fear is; they will rush in the face of anything; and, unlike all other
animals, are quite indifferent to the report of firearms. Their bodies are
covered with long bristles, resembling very much the quills of the porcupine.
As the evening drew on, the birds and beasts and the innumerable insects, that
had kept up a perpetual noise during the day, retired to rest; and then the
nocturnal animals began to creep out of their boles and go about. Huge
vampire-bats, one of which had given Barney such a fright the night before, flew
silently past them, and the wild howlings commenced again. They now discovered
that one of the most dismal of the howls proceeded from a species of monkey, at
which discovery Martin laughed very much, and rallied his companion on being so
easily frightened; but Barney gladly joined in the laugh against himself, for,
to say truth, he felt quite relieved and light-hearted at discovering that his
ghosts were converted into bats and monkeys.
There was one roar, however, which, when they heard it ever and anon, gave them
considerable uneasiness.
"D'ye think there's lions in them parts?" enquired Barney, glancing with an
expression of regret at his empty pistol, and laying his hand on the hilt of his
cutlass.
"I think not," replied Martin, in a low tone of voice. "I have read in my school
geography that there are tigers of some sort - jaguars or ounces, I think they
are called - but there are no..."
Martin's speech was cut short by a terrific roar which rang through the woods,
and the next instant a magnificent jaguar, or South American tiger, bounded on
to the track a few yards in advance, and, wheeling round, glared fiercely at the
travellers. It seemed, in the uncertain light, as if his eyes were two balls of
living fire. Though not so large as the royal Bengal tiger of India, this animal
was nevertheless of immense size, and had a very ferocious aspect. His roar was
so sudden and awful, and his appearance so unexpected, that the blood was sent
thrilling back into the hearts of the travellers, who stood rooted to the spot,
absolutely unable to move. This was the first large animal of the cat kind that
either of them had seen in all the terrible majesty of its wild condition; and,
for the first time, Martin and his friend felt that awful sensation of dread
that will assail even the bravest heart when a new species of imminent danger is
suddenly presented. It is said that no animal can withstand the steady gaze of a
human eye, and many travellers in wild countries have proved this to be a fact.
On the present occasion our adventurers stared long and steadily at the wild
creature before them, from a mingled feeling of surprise and horror. In a few
seconds the jaguar showed signs of being disconcerted. It turned its head from
side to side slightly, and dropped its eyes, as if to avoid their gaze. Then,
turning slowly and stealthily round, it sprang with a magnificent bound into the
jungle and disappeared.
Both Martin and Barney heaved a deep sigh of relief. "what a mercy it did not
attack us I "said the former, wiping the cold perspiration from his forehead.
"We should have had no chance against such a terrible beast with a cutlass, I
fear."
"True, boy, true," replied his friend gravely; "it would have been little better
than a penknife in the ribs o' sich a cratur. I niver thought that it was in the
power o' man or baste to put me in sich a fright; but the longer we live we
learn, boy."
Barney's disposition to make light of everything was thoroughly subdued by this