Of a sudden, in a deep hollow, he saw a body through the
gloom! Yes! A corpse, still clothed, stretched out like a man asleep,
with his arms folded under his head!
Was that Torres? In the obscurity, then very dense, he found it
difficult to see; but it was a human body that lay there, less than
ten paces off, and perfectly motionless!
A sharp pang shot through Benito. His heart, for an instant, ceased
to beat. He thought he was going to lose consciousness. By a supreme
effort he recovered himself. He stepped toward the corpse.
Suddenly a shock as violent as unexpected made his whole frame
vibrate! A long whip seemed to twine round his body, and in spite of
the thick diving-dress he felt himself lashed again and again.
"A gymnotus!" he said.
It was the only word that passed his lips.
In fact, it was a _"puraque,"_ the name given by the Brazilians to
the gymnotus, or electric snake, which had just attacked him.
It is well known that the gymnotus is a kind of eel, with a blackish,
slimy skin, furnished along the back and tail with an apparatus
composed of plates joined by vertical lamell?, and acted on by nerves
of considerable power.
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