Page:Dapples of the Circus (1943).pdf/210

 awful persistence. This was produced by a colony of roaring monkeys, that were having a midnight carousal.

The jaguar was also out that night for prey. Several times Freckles heard his cry in the distance. Then, for a long time, he was still, but presently there was a terrific struggle in the underbrush within a hundred feet of them. The boy heard a pathetic bleating, and wondered what sort of animal had paid the price of being smaller and more defenseless than his fellow.

The jaguar had obtained his midnight supper. He had surprised a doe and her fawn, and had pulled the fawn down and killed it. It was a small South American deer, just the sort of supper for a hungry jaguar.

Later on, farther away in the woods, Freckles heard another death struggle.

This time a huge snake had reached down from an overhead branch where it was watching, and taken an ant-eater,