Part 8 (2/2)

Biff pa.s.sed a turn in the trail and knew then that he was safe from gunfire, but he had his eye on an opening in the jungle another hundred feet ahead. There, Biff was sure that he could duck from sight the way Kamuka had. But Biff was becoming too hopeful too soon.

Less than halfway to the spot, Biff halted in his tracks as the foliage parted and a painted Macu warrior loomed in sight. Armed with bow and arrow, the deadly marksman was already taking aim at Biff with his bowstring fully drawn.

Another moment, and the poison-tipped arrow would be in flight, allowing Biff no chance of escape at such close range!

CHAPTER XIII.

The River of Death THE tw.a.n.g of the head-hunter's bowstring was drowned by an explosive burst from farther up the trail. With it, the Macu marksman gave an upward, sideward jolt at the very instant the arrow was leaving his bow.

The feathered missile zimmed high and wide by a matter of scant inches, for Biff could hear it whirr past his ear and stop with a sharp thud in a tree trunk just behind him.

A piercing yell seemed to echo the timely gunshot. The Macu had dropped his bow and was gripping his left arm with his right hand as he dived off into the jungle. The bullet had jolted the bow from the Macu's grasp, sending the arrow wide.

Now, looking up the trail, Biff saw his father hurrying in his direction, rifle in hand. Biff started to meet him, shouting, ”Dad!” only to have Mr. Brew-ster wave him back. Next, Biff saw his father take a quick shot at another Macu huntsman who had THE RIVER OF DEATH 111.

popped up in the brush, only to drop from sight again.

Now, from the other side of the trail, a brown head and arm poked from among a ma.s.s of blossoms that sprouted from the thin bark of a fallen tree trunk. Biff heard the familiar call: ”Biff, come this way! Quick!”

It was Kamuka. Biff vaulted the log and took shelter behind it, but tried to shake off Kamuka's restraining hand as he saw his father come along the trail with Mr. Whitman and Jacome. All three were taking long-range shots at distant Macus.

”I have to warn Dad,” Biff explained. ”Serbot's party is just around the bend.”

”He knows,” a.s.sured Kamuka. ”We were coming back when we heard their guns. So we hurry fast.”

”Coming back along this trail?”

”That's right. When they couldn't find us on the main trail, they think maybe we take this one. So today, they take it to look for us.”

”Then you sneaked ahead of Serbot's party after you ducked from sight. But how did you know to take this side trail when you reached it?”

”Jacome leave special message that I understand. Twist of gra.s.s and broken jungle branch are as good as mirror signal, sometimes.”

Mr. Brewster and his fellow-marksmen had rifles with a longer range than the Macu weapons. Also, they were able to s.h.i.+ft positions along the trail, preventing the Macus from picking a point of attack.

112 .

Serbot's party, on the contrary, had first let the Macus close in on them. Then, in solidly entrenching themselves, they had lost all chance of mobility. Soon they would have been surrounded if Mr. Brewster and his companions hadn't come along to scatter the foe. Kamuka called Biff's attention to that fact.

”Macu run like scared deer,” said Kamuka. ”But now your father is telling Mr. Whitman and Jacome to stop shooting. Why?”

”I guess Dad wants to keep the Macus around as a threat,” returned Biff grimly, ”until he sees what Ser-bot intends to do. Urubu might take a pot shot at anybody.”

Kamuka gave a knowing nod. ”You tell me!”

”Then you saw it was Urubu who fired after you?”

”Sure, Biff. I look long enough to see him aim. I tell Mr. Brewster all that happened, too.”

Evidently, Mr. Brewster had profited by Kamuka's report. He had reached the bend where he was in direct sight of Serbot's entrenched party, but he was motioning for Whitman and Jacome to stay behind him.

Serbot looked up from behind a pack, then gave a wary glance in the direction the Macus had gone. A few arrows came whizzing from high among the tree boughs, but they landed wide. They were sufficient, however, to shape Serbot's next decision.

Serbot ordered Pepito and Urubu to resume their shooting after the Macus. At the same time, Serbot THE RIVER OF DEATH 113.

clambered over the packs and came along the path to meet Mr. Brewster, who in his turn ordered Mr. Whitman and Jacome to renew their fire on the distant head-hunters. Rifles barked in unison.

Biff and Kamuka joined their party in time to catch a last glimpse of the routed head-hunters.

”They won't stop until they reach their camp,” declared Biff, ”and maybe they'll still keep on going from there.”

”Until they reach the Rio Negro,” added Kamuka, ”and maybe they swim it quick.”

Mr. Brewster's meeting with Serbot resulted in an immediate, though guarded truce. Mr. Whitman and Jacome moved up to back Mr. Brewster, while Serbot was beckoning for Pepito and Urubu to come and join him. The boys stayed in the background as did Serbot's bearers, none of whom had been injured in the brief fray.

How many head-hunters might be lying dead in the brush or limping away wounded, there was no telling, but the battle had been won rapidly and effectively. Serbot seemed duly appreciative as he purred: ”We owe you much, amigo. You have helped us. Perhaps there is some way we can help you.”

”None at all,” Mr. Brewster said curdy. ”Now that we have driven off the Macus, we can go our separate ways.”

”But how can you go anywhere? You have no bearers.”

”They are waiting farther up the main trail, with 114 .

our equipment. We left them while we came back to look for the boys.”

Serbot promptly raised a new line of inquiry.

”Perhaps you are surprised to see me here,” he suggested, ”So far from Manaus, where we last met.”

”Why should I be surprised?” returned Mr. Brew-ster. ”We are both looking for balata, aren't we?”

”I am not looking for rubber,” Serbot declared. ”I am looking for a man named Joe Nara, who claims to have a gold mine somewhere near the headwaters of the Rio Negro. He came down to Manaus in a fast boat shortly before you left your hotel.”

”Who told you I had left?”

”The manager at the Hotel Jacares. He also said that your room appeared to have been robbed. The next day your jeep was found near an empty boat-house. I learned that Senhor Whitman had started from there on a rubber exploration trip upriver.”

”And you thought I had joined him?”

”Exactly, Senhor. So I came by plane to find you.”

Biff realized that Serbot's plane must have been one of those that had pa.s.sed over Nara's cruiser on the trip up the Rio Negro.

”After I hired Urubu as a guide,” continued Serbot, ”I learned that you had arrived on Nara's cruiser. So I a.s.sumed that you planned to meet Nara later.”

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