The words had scarce passed his lips, when a loud clangour reverberated
upon the air. It was a confused mixture of noises,--a screaming and
chattering,--that bore some resemblance to the human voice; as if half a
score of Punches were quarrelling with as many Judys at the same time.
The sounds, when first heard, were at some distance; but before twenty
could have been counted, they were uttered close to the ears of the
Mundurucu, who was highest up, while the sun became partially obscured
by the outspread wings of a score of great birds, hovering in hurried
flight around the top of the seringa. There was no mystery about the
matter. The new-comers were the parents of the young macaws--the owners
of the nests--returning from a search for provender for their pets,
whose piercing cries had summoned them in all haste to their home. As
yet, neither the Indian nor his young companion conceived any cause for
alarm. Foolish indeed to be frightened by a flock of birds! They were
not allowed to indulge long in this comfortable equanimity; for, almost
on the moment of their arrival above the tree, the united parentage of
araras plunged down among the branches, and, with wing, beak, and
talons, began an instant and simultaneous attack upon the intruders.
The Indian was the first to receive their onset. Made in such a united
and irresistible manner, it had the effect of causing him to let go the
chick, which fell with a plunge into the water below. In its descent it
was accompanied by half a dozen of the other birds,--its own parents,
perhaps, and their more immediate friends,--and these, for the first
time espying a second enemy farther down, directed their attack upon
him. The force of the assailants was thus divided; the larger number
continued their onslaught upon the Indian, though the young Paraense at
the same time found his hands quite full enough in defending himself,
considering that he carried nothing in the shape of a weapon, and that
his body, like that of his comrade, was altogether unprotected by
vestments. To be sure, the Mundurucu was armed with a sharp knife,
which he had brought along with him in his girdle; but this was of very
little use against his winged enemies; and although he succeeded in
striking down one or two of them, it was done rather by a blow of the
fist than by the blade.