Then all disappeared as suddenly as they had come.
Truly the student of Nature who betakes himself to lonely woods sees many wonders!
It was time now to lie back in the moss and enjoy the _dolce far niente_.
The sky was as blue as blue could be, all between the rifts of slowly-moving clouds. The whisper of the wind among the forest trees, and the murmur of the falling water, came like softest music to Roland"s ears. Small wonder, therefore, that his eyes closed, and he was soon in the land of sweet forgetfulness.
But Peggy had a tiny book, from which she read pa.s.sages to Brawn, who seemed all attention, but kept one eye on the ponies at the same time.
It was a copy of the "Song of Hiawatha", a poem which Peggy thought ineffably lovely. Hark to her sweet girl voice as she reads:
"These songs so wild and wayward, These legends and traditions".
They appealed to her simple soul, for dearly did she love the haunts of Nature.
"Loved the sunshine of the meadow, Loved the shadow of the forest, Loved the wind among the branches, The rushing of great rivers Through their palisades of pine-trees."
She believed, too:
"That even in savage bosoms There are longings, yearnings, strivings For the good they comprehend not; That feeble hands and helpless, Groping blindly in the darkness, Touch G.o.d"s right hand...
And are lifted up and strengthened".
Roland slumbered quietly, and the day went on apace.
He slept so peacefully that she hardly liked to arouse him.
The little red book dropped from her hand and fell on the moss, and her thoughts now went far, far away adown the mighty river that flows so sadly, so solemnly onwards to the great Atlantic Ocean, fed on its way by a hundred rapid streams that melt in its dark bosom and are seen nevermore.
But it was not the river itself the little maiden"s thoughts were dwelling on; not the strange wild birds that sailed along its surface on snow-white wings; not the birds of prey--the eagle and the hawk--that hovered high in air, or with eldritch screams darted on their prey like bolts from the blue, and bore their bleeding quarries away to the silent forest; not even the wealth of wild flowers that nodded over the banks of the mighty stream.
Her thoughts were on board a tall and darksome raft that was slowly making its way seaward to distant Para, or in the boats that towed it.
For there was someone on the raft or in those boats who even then might be fondly thinking of the dark-haired maiden he had left behind.
But Peggy"s awakening from her dream of romance, and Roland"s from his slumber, was indeed a terrible one.
CHAPTER II--STRANGE ADVENTURES IN THE FOREST--LOST!
Fierce eyes had been watching the little camp for an hour and more, glaring out on the sunny glade from the dark depths of a forest tree not far off; out from under a cloudland of waving foliage that rustled in the balmy wind. Watching, and watching unwaveringly, Peggy, while she read; watching the sleeping Roland; the great wolf-hound, Brawn; and watching the ponies too.
Ever and anon these last would come closer to the tree, as they nibbled gra.s.s or moss, then those fierce eyes burned more fiercely, and the cat-like tail of a monster jaguar moved uneasily as if the wild beast meditated a spring.
But the ponies, sniffing danger in the air, perhaps--who can tell?--would toss their manes and retreat to the shadow of the rocks.
Had the dog not been there the beast would have dared all, and sprung at once on one of those nimble steeds.
But he waited and watched, watched and waited, and at long last his time came. With a coughing roar he now launched himself into the air, the elasticity of the branch giving greater force to his spring.
Straight on the shoulders or back of poor Boz he alighted. His talons were well driven home, his white teeth were preparing to tear the flesh from the pony"s neck.
Both little steeds yelled wildly, and in nightmarish terror.
Up sprang Brawn, the wolf-hound, and dashed on to the rescue.
Peggy seized her loaded rifle and hurried after him.
Thoroughly awake now, and fully cognizant of the terrible danger, Roland too was quickly on the scene of action.
To fire at a distance were madness. He might have missed the struggling lion and shot poor Boz, or even faithful Brawn.
This enormous dog had seized the beast by one hock, and with his paws against the pony was endeavouring to tear the monster off.
The noise, the movement, the terror, caused poor Roland"s head to whirl.
He felt dazed, and almost stupid.
Ah! but Peggy was clear-headed, and a brave and fearless child was she.
Her feet seemed hardly to touch the moss, so lightly did she spring along.
Her little rifle was c.o.c.ked and ready, and, taking advantage of a few seconds" lull in the fearful scrimmage, she fired at five yards"
distance.
The bullet found billet behind the monster"s ear, his grip relaxed, and now Brawn tore him easily from his perch and finished him off on the ground, with awful din and habbering.
Then, with blood-dripping jaws he came with his ears lower, half apologetically, to receive the praise and caresses of his master and mistress.
But though the adventure ended thus happily, frightened beyond measure, the ponies, Coz and Boz, had taken to the bush and disappeared.
Knowing well the danger of the situation, Roland and Peggy, with Brawn, tried to follow them. But Irish wolf-hounds have but little scent, and so they searched and searched in vain, and returned at last to the sun-kissed glade.
It was now well on towards three o"clock, and as they had a long forest stretch of at least ten miles before them ere they could touch the banks of the great queen of waters, Roland determined, with the aid of his compa.s.s, to strike at once into the beast-trodden pathway by which they had come, and make all haste homewards before the sun should set and darkness envelop the gloomy forest.
"Keep up your heart, Peggy; if your courage and your feet hold out we shall reach the river before dusk."
"I"m not so frightened now," said Peggy; but her lips were very tremulous, and tears stood in her eyes.
"Come, come," she cried, "let us hurry on! Come, Brawn, good dog!"
Brawn leapt up to lick her ear, and taking no thought for the skin of the jaguar, which in more favourable circ.u.mstances would have been borne away as a trophy, and proof of Peggy"s valour, they now took to the bush in earnest.