anchor in the port of Saint Juan de Porto
Rico, requesting him to send over his second
mate for a week or so, as he stood sorely in
need of him and his rifle.

The mate, though a sailor, was known to be
a dead shot. He was a little in the nigger
trade just then, but he had gone through a
great deal in his life, and for three years
he had been engaged in the tiger trade
in the Sonora in Mexico and, slow
work as that is, yet he had contrived to
make a little money by it. The Mexican
tigers—jaguars as they are called—are very
dangerous animals, much more so than their
Asiatic kinsfolk, which are said to be but
cowardly beasts after all, who frequently
take to their heels when they are charged by
men.

Whenever a jaguar has been seen or heard
of in the neighbourhood of an Indian village,
the whole tribe—men, women, and children—
will rather decamp at once than run the risk
of being exposed to a night attack from this
terrible animal. Only one class of men there
is that seek the jaguar, and make it a
particular business to fall in with as many
of these beasts as they can trace out.

The Mexican government pays a premium
of thirty to forty dollars for each head of
a jaguar, presented to a magistrate in any
part of its vast territories, and as the delicate
fur of this dangerous game is worth another
sum almost as great, it has become a trade to
hunt them. I have known one of these tiger
traders, and although he was no talker, there
used to ooze from him strange recollections of
his perils.

As soon as the mate had arrived, the
siege was re-opened, the camp pitched again,
sentinels posted, and strict vigilance
enforced.

It turned out to be no easy work, even
for this intrepid and daring hunter, who
had climbed many a crag in the Rocky
Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, to get
down that abyss and to find an accessible
spot on the rock opposite from which he
might get a shot at the eagles. He thought
it best to make sure of his ball, and not to
alarm the negroes by waste firing that would
indicate to them the station he had chosen
and cause them to hurl stones down upon
him.

He had risked his life, however, many a
time for less than the good sum Don Gomez
was sure to pay, as amateur, for those two
splendid birds of prey, and he went to work
with a will.

After a couple of houts he was seen at a
height of six hundred feet, suspended over
the dark precipice beneath him, and
sheltered by a prominence over his head against
any stones or blocks which might be hurled
upon him. On the platform nothing unusual
could be discovered. The Marrons, hidden
behind the stony ramparts which enclosed
their place of refuge, remained secure.

Several hours went by, and it was late in
the afternoon, when at last the report of the
mate's rifle was heard for the first time.
Many a spy-glass was directed at once
to the spot where the audacious shooter was
stationed, but as nothing particular could be
remarked, except, perhaps, the coolness with
which he was reloading his rifle, most of the
caballeros returned to their tents. Those,
however, who still watched the daring man.,
had their reward, when, about half-an-hour
afterwards, the steep rocks around
re-echoed once more the report of his gun.

A blackish object of the size of a pigeon
was seen darting up into the air with the
swiftness of a cannon-ball, then it stopped
short on a sudden, remaining suspended
immovable for some moments at an enormous
height, then it began to lower in a spiral
line, slowly at first, then quicker and quicker,
till at last it disappeared rapidly behind the
huge mass of the rock.

It was the second eagle. The first had
been shot already from the top of the peak,
and, being killed on the spot, had fallen down
at once into the sea.

The mate had done his work. His retreat
was accomplished with some difficulty, as
many a block, the hundredth part of which,
would have been more than sufficient to
crush him to atoms, rolled close by his head.
He managed, however, to escape them all,
and when on the morning of the next day
he stood before Don Gomez, announcing to
him his complete success, the man was as
sound and as cool as ever.

On the two following days the dogs were
heard barking in their usual manner, and
the pillar of smoke was still to be seen
whirling from the top of the platform
upwards to the sky. On the morning of the
third day, however, the dogs were silent,
and even with the aid of the most powerful
spy-glasses, it was impossible to descry
the slightest sign of smoke upon the
platform.

On the evening of that same day, shortly
after the setting in of the neap-tide, the
blood-hounds were heard all at once barking
most furiously. Almost, at the same time,
the sentinel nearest to the shore gave the
alarm.

When the whole party came up in a hurry
to ascertain what was the matter, they were
not a little surprised at the unexpected turn
which the affair seemed to take.

The Marrons were in the sea! They
struggled against the fury of the mighty breakers;
they were striving with all their energy to
gain a rocky bay not very far from their
abandoned place of shelter.

"Carramba! Those fools must be mad!"
exclaimed the mate.

A shriek was heard, sudden, and horrible;
another yet more frightful pierced the thunder
of the breakers; the sea-water became
purple.