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The first howl was followed by a second, then by a third, and a fourth, and soon all the araguatoes in the neighborhood joined in, and the din became so agonizing that I was fain to put my fingers in my ears and wait for a lull.
Thunder rolled at a distance; the clouds seemed suspended on the top of the lofty mountains of the Guacharo; and the plaintive howling of the araguatoes, which we had so often heard at Caripe, denoted the proximity of the storm. We now for the first time had a near view of these howling apes.
No force could have shaken them from this hold, without dragging out their tails or tearing their bodies to pieces, indeed, it was necessary they should be thus firmly seated, as the exertions of the mothers, their quick motions and long springing leaps from tree to tree would otherwise have been impossible. On reaching the bank of the igaripé, the araguatoes were evidently at fault.
A loud screaming, and gabbling, and chattering, and howling, proceeded from the band of araguatoes, who, up to this time, had watched the manoeuvres of their comrades in silence all except the old chief, who occasionally had given directions both with voice and gestures. But the general gabble that succeeded was, no doubt, an expression of the satisfaction of all that the bridge was built.
They were true howlers, as they had already proved by the cries they had been uttering for the half-hour past. There are several species of howling monkeys, as we have already stated. Those that had arrived on the igaripé Guapo pronounced to be araguatoes.
The araguato of Caripe is a new species of the genus Stentor, which I have above described. Its eye, voice, and gait, denote melancholy. I have seen young araguatoes brought up in Indian huts. They never play like the little sagoins, and their gravity was described with much simplicity by Lopez de Gomara, in the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Even though one branch may have broken and failed it, in the great concave sphere which it can so quickly trace around it by means of its five long members, it is sure of finding a second. No; the araguatoes might spend a life-time in the flooded forest without even wetting a hair farther than what is wetted by the rain.
This time the speech of the leader appeared to refer to the business in hand in short, to the crossing of the igaripe. He was seen repeatedly pointing in that direction, as he spoke, and the rest followed his motions with their eyes. The tree upon which the araguatoes were assembled stood near the edge of the water, but there was another still nearer.
He showed great forbearance in not having used the gravatana long before, for he was all the while quite within reach of the araguatoes; but this forbearance on his part was not of his own free-will. Don Pablo had, in fact, hindered him, in order that he and the others should have an opportunity of witnessing the singular manoeuvres of the monkeys.
Such were the questions and doubts expressed by Leon, and indeed by all except Guapo, but Guapo had seen araguatoes before, and knew some of their tricks. Guapo, therefore, boldly pronounced that it was their intention to cross the igaripé by these two trees.
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