Part 36 (1/2)
The A house They saw that everysure that bow cords were unfrayed, that arrow heads and spear points were firuns had received no cast froht and true The strong but cruel faces of the warriors were stanant hatred of the Red Bone tribe and the Blackbeard who enslaved their women The command to prepare for a march at dawn had not been withdrawn
”We'll be expected to go, too, and I'd sure like another crack at Umanuh, not to mention the Schwandorf outfit,” said Knowlton, ”but we have friend Rand on our hands now, and our first duty is to get him out of here safely”
”Aw, Looey, have a heart! I 'ain't had no action since that li'l' scrap down the river, and I got to have some excitement before we blow What's more, we can't beat it noith Monitaya dependin' on us to fight on his side He'd git sore, and I don't blame him”
His superior officers and the Brazilians frowned Every man of them itched to close with the enemy in one final decisive battle Yet--
”What 'll we do with Rand?” Knowlton voiced the general thought
The green eyes of the Raposa turned to hi the other faces And then, to the utter astonishht,” said Rand
Speechless, the men around him stared His face was inscrutable as ever, his eyes fathomless, his voice flat and toneless But slowly he raised his hands as if holding a boitched his right thu a shaft; let the hands sink His gaze calmly lifted from theirs and dwelt on the farthest wall Not another word did he speak
”Begorry! there's yer answer!” triu a wicked bow and arrer, at that Don't ye s'pose he wants a crack at them Red Bones, after the way they used him?”
”I think, comrades, that the man has settled the matter for us,” Pedro seconded ”None of us wants to run away; and, as Tim says, we are expected to help Monitaya We should be considered cowards, worse than dogs, if we refused If we do not fight the Red Bones we ht these Mayorunas, who now are our friends Wethe expressionless countenance of Rand
”That's settled,” he announced, crisply ”Now, Lourenco, find out Monitaya's plan of battle”
The chief had finished his examination of the women and Lourenco promptly put the question Monitaya laconically replied
”His purpose is not changed by our arrival, Capitao He and his o to-morrow to attack and destroy the Red Bones When they reach the town of Umanuh they will surround it, and all will rush in when the chief gives his yell of war”
”About what I expected An Indian has a single-track h if he had only Uame it's different Ask hione”
”He says,” Lourenco reported, ”that there will be no danger to the women, because his warriors will be between the women and their enemies until those enemies are dead”
”Very siure on the other fellow's mind at all; doesn't realize that a htaway tactics and isn't at all likely to play into his hands But that's the exact situation The Geruess the Ger for hioes into Umanuh's town, learns what's happened, finds the Red Bones frothing at the ures that we've returned here with the woainst the Red Bones, and that they'll do just what they are planning to do--march on Red Bone town and leave their women unprotected except by the old ible He is in this country for the express purpose of getting girls, and with Monitaya's men away froest slave haul of his life So he plans to out women, allow the Red Bones to massacre everyone else and burn the houses, and then move on without the loss of a et Rand, or perhaps to attack other Mayoruna _malocas_ At any rate, his first objective is this place Aht,” Knowlton nodded
”Very well Now hefound the water connection between the two creeks, the Mayorunas will coainst Umanuh by the canoe route Or he may think they'll make the overland trip In either case, the Red Bones have to coh the bush, for the sih to carry all their force Their canoes were rather fee were there, and we commandeered several of them for our own use If they decide to coo transport service, bringing the fighting men down in batches to some rendezvous from which they must finish the journey on foot Chances are that they'll disregard the canoes and all e the Mayoruna line ofhere And it's here, in the place where he's not expected to be, that Monitaya should meet them Let him fortify himself and await the assault It will co work,” Jose snificent”
”Begorry! it ain't so bad at that!” Ti out front here when the show starts and do our shootin' prone Suits me fine Put it up to the chief, Renzo”
Lourenco did Very carefully he explained it all to Monitaya, dwelling on the fact that McKay higraphically the horror of an attack by the barbarous Red Bones on the defenseless women It took hiinal plan, but in the end he succeeded
To the vast astonisheful warriors, Monitaya curtly announced that the projected march would not take place
They stared as if disbelieving their ears, and iven Lourenco But not aof orders, not a reat chief had spoken, and his as final
Reluctantly they laid aside the weapons on which they had been toiling with such purposeful zeal The chief watched them with a little smile of pride--pride in their zest for war, pride in their unquestioning acceptance of his da order Then he coolly told them to continue their work; told the all the streams were to be poisoned, new traps set, and scouts stationed far out on every trail to await and report the approach of foes Instantly their faces flaain and from every quarter of the wide house rose an excited hus, these lads, if ye ask me,” yawned Tim ”Bet ye we'll see a roorth lookin' at when she does break”