"Not a wink. I wanted to; but some kind of a big animal came prowlin' around the tree I'd chosen as my sleepin' apartment, and after that I couldn't so much as shut my eyes without takin' the chances of fallin' off the branch."
"It seems as if I'd had time to go across the whole country since I saw you last. Say, give me some water and a mouthful of anything that's eatable, an' then I'll get a little sleep before tacklin' Cummings again. I suppose its a case of goin' way down on my marrow bones before he'll forget what I've done."
"I fancy you are right in that respect," Teddy said gravely, as he overhauled the stores to procure the food, "and he can't be blamed, for you have put us in a very bad position without even the poor excuse of having tried to benefit the party."
"From this out I won't so much as yip," Jake replied earnestly, as he made a vigorous attack on the roast tapir. "Getting lost in such a forest as this is enough to make a fellow's hair turn white."
"If it will prevent you from playing the fool any more I shall be satisfied," Cummings, who had come up unperceived, said emphatically.
Although it was nearly noon, the time when the natives of Yucatan believe a siesta is absolutely necessary, Cummings insisted that the flight should be continued without further delay.
"It would not be surprising if the Chan Santa Cruz sentinels had seen that idiotic Jake, and followed him in order to learn where we were hiding," he said when Neal asked why they had left the ravine during the hottest portion of the day. "If the Indians should besiege us here, it would only be a few hours before surrender must be made, because of lack of water, therefore we can render our position no worse, and may succeed in bettering it by going now."
Poyor evidently looked at the matter in the same light, for he made no protest; but began at once to prepare for the tramp.
Jake, after eating a hearty meal, had stretched out at the further end of the hiding place, and was just giving himself up to the luxury of slumber when Teddy aroused him by saying:
"Come, what are you lying here for? We are ready to start, and there's a good deal of satisfaction in knowing that this time you'll have to carry your share of the load."