And truly Benito showed more than virtue, and even genuine heroism,
when he came across some tapirs, called "antas" in Brazil,
diminutives of the elephant, already nearly undiscoverable on the
banks of the Upper Amazon and its tributaries, pachyderms so dear to
the hunters for their rarity, so appreciated by the gourmands for
their meat, superior far to beef, and above all for the protuberance
on the nape of the neck, which is a morsel fit for a king.
His gun almost burned his fingers, but faithful to his promise he
kept it quiet.
But yet--and he cautioned his sister about this--the gun would go off
in spite of him, and probably register a master-stroke in sporting
annals, if within range there should come a _"tamandoa assa,"_ a kind
of large and very curious ant-eater.
Happily the big ant-eater did not show himself, neither did any
panthers, leopards, jaguars, guepars, or cougars, called
indifferently ounces in South America, and to whom it is not
advisable to get too near.
"After all," said Benito, who stopped for an instant, "to walk is
very well, but to walk without an object----"
"Without an object!" replied his sister; "but our object is to see,
to admire, to visit for the last time these forests of Central
America, which we shall not find again in Para, and to bid them a
fast farewell.
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