Part 16 (1/2)
”You can find the place again?”
”Yes But I much doubt if we shall find hi to start with now, and that's worth a lot
Get busy with your boats and supplies, boys, right away Ti out our essentials and start We're on a hot trail at last
Let's go!”
CHAPTER XI
OUT OF THE AIR
Again the sun fought the ht on the livid green roof of the lih up under that roof,alarm clock went off with a screa after a few hours of silence Down on the eastern shore of the river, in a little natural port where the shadows still lay thick, men stirred under their black ht before starting another day's journey
To three of the five s the so Reh they had grown so, they never had approached the drab dinginess of the barriers draping the hammocks of the Peruvian rivermen In fact, their owners had been at so the them carefully
Wherefore they were somewhat taken aback when infor in this part of the world
”Up to this place, senhores, they have done no harrounds ”But froht--yes, even starlight--would make them stand out in the darkness like tombstones A few days more and we shall be in the cannibal country And it is an old trick of those eaters ofa camp until all are asleep, and then sneak up with spears ready A rush and a swift stab of the spears into those white nets, and you are dead or dying from the poisoned points I would no more sleep under a white net than I would lie in ht nets must stay here We will find dark ones for you”
Thus the voyagers learned another of those little things on which soes life or death Even McKay, with his experience of other jungles, had never thought it necessary to drape hiht But when his attention was called to it he recognized its value at once, and the white nets were forthwith abandoned
Now, on the firstout from the Nunes place, the three Aht passed without a sentinel The stretching evoked sundry grunts due to the discovery that theirsteamer journey from their own land, followed by the daily confinement of the Peruvian canoe, had afforded scant opportunity for keeping the their own paddling had found everyfast, and the steady swing of the paddles was proving a physical joy These werein enforced idleness for weeks on end
Matches flared under the nets and cigarette s to fresh activity the rily outside
Gradually the shadows paled and the weak light reflecting frorew into day The nets lifted and the bloodthirsty insects swooped in vicious triuain rew, and in its s hordes Soon the fragrance of coffee floated into the air
Tihed explosively, and swore
”Fellers can't even take a gape for his down his throat,” he coot one skeeter the size of a devil's darnin' needle stuck inneedle? What is that, Senhor Ti him a cup of hot coffee When the liquid--and the ”skeeter”--had passed into Tihtened the inquirer
”Ye dunno what's a devil's darnin' needle? Gosh!+ I'ht on this here river He's a bug about so long”--he stuck out a finger--”and he's got jaws like a crab and a long li'lar needle in the end, and inside hih as spider web And he's death on liars Any tiot to look out, or all to oncet one o' therab him by the nose with the, I h the feller's lips and sew his ht Then he flies off lookin' for another liar”
”_Por Deus!_ And the liar starves to death?”
”Wal, no O' course he can git soood thick one and it leaves a row o' holes all along the feller's lips Any tiuy with li'l' round scars around hisgot hi handkerchief Lourenco squinted sidewise at Ti, bent forward and scrutinized Tim's mouth
”You have been fortunate, senhor,” he said, simply--and stepped around to the other side of the fire
”Huh? Say, lookit here, ye long-legged gorilla--”
Knowlton exploded McKay and Lourenco snickered
”It's on you, Ti the hole yourself
Nol in and pull it in after you”