way might suddenly come a pack of those swift-footed, unspeakably
terrible hunting-leopards, from which every living thing in the
forest flies with shrieks of consternation or else falls
paralysed in their path to be instantly torn to pieces and
devoured.

A slight rustling sound in the foliage above me made me start and
cast up my eyes. High up, where a pale gleam of tempered
sunlight fell through the leaves, a grotesque human-like face,
black as ebony and adorned with a great red beard, appeared
staring down upon me. In another moment it was gone. It was
only a large araguato, or howling monkey, but I was so unnerved
that I could not get rid of the idea that it was something more
than a monkey. Once more I moved, and again, the instant I moved
my foot, clear, and keen, and imperative, sounded the voice! It
was no longer possible to doubt its meaning. It commanded me to
stand still--to wait--to watch--to listen! Had it cried "Listen!
Do not move!" I could not have understood it better. Trying as
the suspense was, I now felt powerless to escape. Something very
terrible, I felt convinced, was about to happen, either to
destroy or to release me from the spell that held me.

And while I stood thus rooted to the ground, the sweat standing
in large drops on my forehead, all at once close to me sounded a
cry, fine and clear at first, and rising at the end to a shriek
so loud, piercing, and unearthly in character that the blood
seemed to freeze in my veins, and a despairing cry to heaven
escaped my lips; then, before that long shriek expired, a mighty
chorus of thunderous voices burst forth around me; and in this
awful tempest of sound I trembled like a leaf; and the leaves on