Page:Young Hunters in Porto Rico.djvu/96

92 "Yes."

"What for?"

"Because you don't want to swallow a lizard or worse. These waters are full of small animal life, so I've been told."

Dick did as the Englishman suggested. And he was glad of it, for while bending down he saw several tiny lizards or leeches swimming near at hand. "None in me, not if I know it," he murmured as he drew back. "I'll inspect everything that goes down my throat after this."

By noon they had covered several miles. The sun was out clear, and now the heat began to tell on them.

"I move we rest," suggested Leander; and this was readily agreed to, and they sat down under an immense plantain, covered with half ripe fruit—that fruit which we commonly know by the name of banana, although the real banana is red.

"Are there any wild animals in Porto Rico?" questioned Don.

"I'm sure I don't know," answered Robert Menden. "I shouldn't look for anything very large on an island of this size. All the large stock has probably been killed off by the natives."

"I reckon you'll find wild-cats here an' wild hogs," put in old Jacob. "An, let me tell ye