Presently the student was able to make out in the distance the little canoe gliding over the water, with the two adventurers seated in the stem and stern. At intervals, the Indian, accustomed to this sort of navigation, was seen to drop his oars and hold the shell to his mouth. Lantejas then saw that it was from this instrument the sounds that had so puzzled him were proceeding. Absorbed in their odd occupation, neither Costal nor Clara had as yet perceived the student of theology--hidden as he was by the thick network of the hammock, and almost afraid to make the slightest movement. Just then, however, a muffled voice, as of some one speaking from under a mask, reached their ears. "Did you hear anything, Costal?" inquired the negro. "Yes, I heard a sort of cry," replied Costal; "like enough it's the poor devil of a student who is calling us. _Carrambo_! where can he be? I see only a hammock hung between two trees. Eh! as I live, he is inside it. _Carrai_!" As Costal finished speaking, a loud peal of laughter burst from his lips, which to him in the hammock appeared like heavenly music. It told him that the two men had discovered his situation; and the student at once fervently returned thanks to God for this interposition of His mercy. Clara was sharing the mirth of the Indian, when music of a very different sort stifled the laugh upon his lips. It was the cry of the jaguars, that, suddenly excited by the voice of the student, had all four of them sent forth a simultaneous scream. "_Carrambo_!" exclaimed Clara, with a fresh terror depicted upon his face; "the tigers again." "Rather strange!" said the Indian. "Certainly their howls appeared to come from the same place as the voice of the man. Hola! Senor student," he continued, raising his voice, so as to be heard by him in the hammock, "are you making your siesta alone, or have you company under the shade of those tamarinds?" Don Cornelio attempted to reply, but his speech was unintelligible both to the Indian and the negro. In fact, terror had so paralysed his tongue, as to render him incapable of pronouncing his words distinctly! For a moment his arm was seen elevated above the folds of the hammock, as if to point out his terrible neighbours upon the tree. But the thick foliage still concealing the jaguars from the eye of Costal, rendered the gesture of the student as unintelligible as his cry. "For the love of God, hold your oar!" cried Clara; "perhaps the tigers have taken refuge on the top of the tamarinds!" "All the more reason why we should get up to them," replied the Indian. "Would you leave this young man to smother in his hammock till the waters had subsided?" In saying this, Costal plied his oars more vigorously than ever; and, in spite of the remonstrances of his companion, headed the canoe in a direct line towards the hammock.