Free Ken Ward in the Jungle (1998) by Zane Grey

Do you think we'll see one?" asked Hal.
    " Just you wait!" exclaimed George, replying for Ken. "Pepe says we'll have to sleep in the boat, and anchor the boat in the middle of the river."
    " What for?"
    " To keep those big yellow tigers from eating us up."
    "How nice!" replied Hal, with a rather forced laugh.
    So, talking and laughing, the boys resumed their down-stream journey. Ken, who was always watching with sharp eyes, saw buzzards appear, as if by magic. Before the boat was half a mile down the river buzzards were circling over the remains of the deer. These birds of prey did not fly from the jungle on either side of the stream. They sailed, dropped down from the clear blue sky where they had been invisible. How wonderful that was to Ken! Nature had endowed these vulture-like birds with wonderful scent or instinct or sight, or all combined. But Ke n believed that it was power of sight which brought the buzzards so quickly to the scene of the killing He watched them circling, sweeping down till a curve in the river hid them from view.
    And with this bend came a welcome change. The bluff played out in a rocky slope below which the green jungle was relief to aching eyes. As the boys made this point, the evening breeze began to blow. They beached the boat and unloaded to make camp.
    "We haven't had any work to-day, but we're all tired just the same," observed Ken.
    "The heat makes a fellow tired," said George.
    They were fortunate in finding a grassy plot where there appeared to be but few ticks and other creeping things. That evening it was a little surprise to Ken to realize how sensitive he had begun to feel about these jungle vermin.
    Pepe went up the bank for fire-wood. Ken heard him slashing away with his machete. Then this sound ceased, and Pepe yelled in fright. Ken and George caught up guns as they bounded into the thicket; Hal started to follow, likewise armed. Ken led the way through a thorny brake to come suddenly upon Pepe. At the same instant Ke n caught a glimpse of gray, black-stnped forms slipping away in the jungle. Pepe shouted out something.
    " Tiger-cats!" exclaimed George.
    Ken held up his finger to enjoin silence. With that he stole cautiously forward, the others noiselessly at his heels. The thicket was lined with well-beaten trails, and by following these and stooping low it was possible to go ahead without rustling the brush. Owing to the gathering twilight Ken could not see very far. When he stopped to listen he heard the faint crackling of dead brush and soft, quick steps. He had not proceeded far when pattering footsteps halted him. Ken dropped to his knee. The boys knelt behind him, and Pepe whispered. Peering along the trail Ken saw what he took for a wildcat. Its boldness amazed him. Surely it had heard him, but instead of bounding into the thicket it crouched not more than twenty-five feet away. Ken took a quick shot at the gray huddled form. It jerked, stretched out, and lay still. Then a crashing in the brush, and gray streaks down the trail told Ken of more game.
    " There they go. Peg away at them " called Ken.
    George and Hal burned a good deal o f powder and sent much lead whistling through the dry branches, but the gray forms vanished in the jungle.
    " We got one, anyway," said Ken.
    He advanced to find his quarry quite dead. It was bigger than any wildcat Ken had ever seen. The color was a grayish yellow, almost white, lined and spotted with black. Ken lifted it and found it heavy enough to make a good load.
    " He's a beauty," said Hal.
    " Pepe says it's a tiger-cat," remarked George. " There are two or three kinds besides the big tiger. We may run into a lot of them and get some skins."
    It was almost dark when they reached Camp. While Pepe and Hal skinned the tiger-cat and stretched the pelt over a framework of sticks the other boys got supper. They were all very hungry and tired, and pleased with the events of the day. As they sat round the camp-fire there was a constant whirring of