On that day, also, during the midday halt, a hissing passed through the
air, which made Mrs. Weldon very uneasy, because it was so strange.

"What is that?"' she asked, rising hastily.

"A serpent!" cried Dick Sand, who gun, in hand, threw himself before
Mrs. Weldon.

They might fear, in fact, that some reptile would glide among the
plants to the halting place. It would be nothing astonishing if it were
one of those enormous "sucurus," kinds of boas, which sometimes measure
forty feet in length.

But Harris reminded Dick Sand that the blacks were already following,
and he reassured Mrs. Weldon.

According to him, that hissing could not be produced by a "sucuru,"
because that serpent does not hiss; but he indicated the presence of
several inoffensive quadrupeds, rather numerous in that country.

"Be reassured, then," said he, "and make no movement which may frighten
those animals."

"But what are they?" asked Dick Sand, who made it like a law of
conscience to interrogate and make the American speak--who, however,
never required pressing before replying.

"They are antelopes, my young friend," replied Harris.

"Oh! how I should like to see them!" cried Jack.