Still, we were not out of our imminent peril. We were in an unknown forest, completely at a loss as to which way to turn, without supplies or food. I was ravenously hungry and I presume my Indian companion was as famished as I was. The first thing to be done was to secure something to eat, and to do this in the tropical forest is not such a simple matter. Had the chief possessed weapons, he no doubt could have secured game of some sort in a short time; but he had lost his bow and arrows somewhere in the cañon; he could not use my revolver, and our only chance appeared to lie in stalking some bird or quadruped that I could kill with my pistol. And I well knew, from past experiences, that game is always scarcest when it is wanted the most. Luck, however, was with us still. We flushed a big wild turkey from her nest. As she ruffled her feathers and gobbled defiance at us, I brought her down with an easy shot, and to my delight--though it mattered little to my companion--the eggs proved fresh. I still had matches in a watertight case, and presently a fire was blazing and the appetizing odor of broiling turkey filled our nostrils. * * * * * IT was while we were dining on the half-scorched, but delicious-tasting meat, that I made an important discovery. Hitherto I had been able to make no headway in my efforts to converse with my companion. I had tried again and again to learn something of his dialect, but without success, although I had acquired a few simple words and could now and then catch the meaning of what he said. I had tried every Indian dialect I could remember--in vain. But now, as I gnawed a drumstick of the turkey, it brought to memory a meal that I had eaten under somewhat similar circumstances in Honduras years before. And with that memory came sudden recollection of the Tecun dialect I had once known. Some of the words and phrases came back to me, and with no least expectation that he would understand them, I repeated them to the chief. He dropped the bone he was gnawing, a gleam of understanding illuminated his face, and to my unbounded joy and amazement, he answered me in Tecun.