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"Yes, ma'am, that is it. Mrs. Rush says that he is going far out West, where the people have very few churches or Sunday-schools and scarcely any books, and they are very ignorant, and don't know much about God or how Jesus came to die for them, and I am afraid Miss Winslow wont be very comfortable out there, mamma, 'c...
"But Bessie and I are not to do it by ourselves, mamma. Gracie Howard and Lily Norris are to help; it is to come from the class, and Mrs. Rush says if we cannot do it alone, she will help us; but she thinks the little log-cabin children will like it better if they hear it was all sent by other little children here, and...
"Yes'm, that is it. Gracie says she will give half of the money her grandmamma sent the other day, and Lily has a hundred dollars in her father's bank, and he pays her money 'cause she has it there." "That is called paying interest," said Mrs. Bradford. "And she has some of that saved up," said Maggie, "and she will ha...
"And am I to have money put by for me, too, mamma?" asked Bessie. "Yes, dear, if you wish it, I will do the same for you." Maggie did not look as pleased as her mother had thought she would. "What is it, Maggie?" she asked. "Does not this please you? Are you not willing to try both to help those little children, and to...
"Oh, yes'm, I am willing, and I think you are very kind. But Bessie will keep a great deal more money than I shall. You know you said the other day that I had three pairs of gloves where Bessie had one." "Never mind, Maggie," said Bessie, "I think I'll lose a few gloves." "No, no," said Mrs. Bradford, laughing and shak...
"You may do just as you please about that, dear. Each one may give as much or as little as she likes, if it is fairly earned or saved. And I can put Maggie in the way of earning money by work if she wishes for it." "How, mamma?" asked Maggie, eagerly. "I have several dozens of towels to be hemmed, and I intended that J...
"But, mamma," she said. "Well, dear?" "Mamma, you know I cannot bear to sew. I do so _hate_ it! And a dozen towels,--that means twelve, don't it?--why, I should never, never have them done." "It shall be just as you choose, dear. I do not say you _must_ do them, only that you may. But, Maggie, we can seldom do much goo...
"I do not know what self-denial is, mamma." "Self-denial is to give up something we would like to have, or perhaps to do something that is disagreeable or troublesome to ourselves, for the sake of another. This morning I gave you two plums,--one for yourself, one for Bessie. One was much larger than the other, and I sa...
"Oh, yes'm, it was so kind of him; and he read 'most all the afternoon." "When he was on his way to our house, Mr. Howard met him and asked him to go with him to see the wreck, but although Tom had been wishing very much to go, he refused because he thought you would like him to come and read to you. That was self-deni...
"Mamma," said Bessie, "do you mean when Jesus left his heaven and came to die for us?" "Yes, dear; and when we find it hard to give up our own wishes for the sake of others, let us remember all the dear Saviour has done for us, and that will make the task easier and pleasanter. And the Bible says, 'Inasmuch as ye have ...
"Twelve towels at five cents apiece will make sixty cents," said Mrs. Bradford; "and perhaps by and by you will find some other way to gain money." "May I earn money any way I can, mamma?" asked Maggie. "I cannot promise that," said mamma, smiling. "You might wish to earn money in some way I might not think proper, eve...
"What shall we find for those little hands to do, Maggie?" said mamma, catching the two tiny hands Bessie held up and patting them softly against her own cheeks. "Work for those little hands to do?" said papa, who just then came in and heard the last words. "I should think they were at their proper work now,--petting m...
"But they want to make money, papa." "Ho, ho! that is it; is it? Well, I do not know that they can do much at that business, or that they could hold any great sum if they made it. Let us see what they can do in that way;" and putting his hand into his pocket, Mr. Bradford pulled out a number of bright new pennies. "Put...
Maggie was standing at her father's knee with a very eager face, for she knew her turn would come next. "One, two, three," began Mr. Bradford, and counted out fifteen pennies into Maggie's hands. "And now what is to be done with all that money?" he asked, looking from one to another of the bright faces. "It is not to b...
"But it is not a big library with stupid books in, like yours, papa," said Maggie; "but a nice little one with pretty Sunday-school books; and it is not for ourselves we want it." Then papa was told about Mr. Long and Miss Winslow, all of which he knew before, though he listened as though it was quite new to him, and o...
"There," said mamma, "put the pennies in this,--fifteen of Maggie's and twelve of Bessie's make twenty-seven. Pretty well for a beginning. All the money you earn may go in this." "And the glove money too, mamma?" asked Maggie. "No, not the glove money. I shall keep that, and at the end of each month will give you what ...
Now his last arrow was really gone, and the vultures seemed more numerous than ever. Reinforcements had come to their depleted ranks. Bomba stooped over and picked up his machete. But to his dismay he found that he could not lift it above his head. His numbed muscles had rebelled at last and refused to obey his will. T...
Then he heard the cries and whimperings of the monkeys. At the same time Bomba heard the rushing of wind through the jungle. It came with a roar like that of surf pounding upon the shore. “The great wind!” cried Bomba, and raised his bleeding arms toward the sky. CHAPTER XV
THE WRATH OF THE STORM The great wind, the forerunner of the tropical thunderstorm, had come at the moment of Bomba’s greatest need. All creatures of the jungle fly to shelter before the fury of the storm. Bomba knew this full well, as did all living creatures of these wilds, large and small. At the first blast of that...
Even the savage vultures retreated before the onset of the gale and the rain of castanha nuts shaken from the bending trees. Broken wings and broken heads would have resulted from the downfall of those dreaded missiles, heavy enough with their cups to kill a man. Scarcely had the vultures winged upward in retreat befor...
He gave a sharp word of command to the monkeys, dazed by the loss of their chief, and bade them seek shelter in the upper branches of the trees. They obeyed slowly, bewilderedly, scarcely seeming to care much what happened to them, leaving their dead behind them on the ground. They would furnish a fine feast for the hu...
Bomba had scarcely taken a dozen steps carrying his heavy burden when the tempest broke. The rain came down in a stinging, blinding deluge that scourged him as though with whips. The wind increased to a gale, which, luckily, was at his back. No living thing could have faced it without being swept from its feet. Bomba w...
The walls had been made of the same material, but now only two sides were left standing, the others being open to the assault of wind and weather. A light framework of thinner saplings supported the flimsy roof. This was made of the leaves of the ubussu palm, placed so that they overlapped one another. Hundreds of cree...
But the storms of the jungle, fierce while they last, are seldom of long duration. When at last the rain ceased and the last reverberating peal of thunder died away in the distance, Bomba rose with a sigh and for a few moments left Tatuc alone on the broken flooring of the hut. Then with the machete and a sharp stick t...
“The vultures shall not have you, Tatuc,” he said simply. Then he covered the body with palm leaves and over them put earth. He finished his work by piling up a cairn of heavy stones, so that no marauding beast of the jungle should search out the resting place of his friend. Then Bomba threw himself face downward near ...
But he had talked once, had almost remembered! Perhaps if Bomba were patient he would remember more one day. Then perhaps Bomba would learn more of what he meant when he had spoken those words that were indelibly engraven upon the boy’s memory, “Bartow,” “Laura.” Bomba raised himself from the ground and for the last ti...
Turned, though he knew it not, toward a more grisly peril than he had yet encountered! CHAPTER XVI GRIPPED The fury of the storm was over, but evidences of it remained.
Castanha nuts lay thick upon the ground. Here a tree had been riven by lightning from top to base. There a forest monarch, uprooted by the gale, lay prostrate. Again and again Bomba was compelled to make detours. But he advanced rapidly, nevertheless, so much was he a part of the jungle. He avoided upflung roots and in...
From these he hoped to obtain a pair of cotton hammocks to replace those that had been burned in the fire that had visited the hut. He would gather something on the way to pay for them, perhaps a jaboty or agouti, or possibly some eggs of the forest tortoise, which were always acceptable to natives of the region. He mi...
But it was likely that the Araos would know something of the whereabouts of the head-hunters, who were as much a foe of theirs as of the two whites. Bomba thought he might make some kind of a treaty with the more friendly natives to help him and Casson in case of need, or at least to keep him informed by some swift cou...
Bomba had the soul of a poet, and the beauty of it all sank deep. For a time he almost forgot his errand, so entranced was he by the glories spread so lavishly about him. He paused to look about in delight mingled with wonder that such loveliness could exist. Not only the living things, but the plants and trees and flo...
With a feeling of sick distaste Bomba left the region that had almost made him lose himself in dreams and began to thread the mazes of the swamp. Part of it was intersected with deep pools, in which he had to wade, sometimes to the waist. Other sections were comparatively free from water, but deep in mud. But Bomba kne...
In a shallow, muddy pool, about thirty feet in front of him, he saw a mass of writhing snakes, gray in color like the mud in which they wallowed. “Sucurujus!” muttered Bomba, as he saw that the group embraced scores of the dreaded anacondas of the Amazon. They were of all sizes, some of them six or seven feet in length...
Lucky for him, thought Bomba, that he had not been crossing the ygapo after the setting of the sun had bathed the swamp in darkness. To have stepped into that crawling mass would have meant certain and horrible death. Bomba hated the anaconda more than he did any other denizen of the jungle. That hate dated back to the...
But he restrained himself. It would be well to let well enough alone. They were lazy and somnolent, scarcely aware of his presence. Why provoke a conflict which he might avoid? Besides, cartridges were precious, and he must conserve them. So, with a sigh, he restrained the impulse and, edging his way to the right, he m...
A dark, sinister, rope-like body slithered silently from a tree above Bomba’s head. The next instant what seemed a band of iron tightened about the boy’s chest! CHAPTER XVII IN THE FOLDS OF A BOA CONSTRICTOR
A thrill of terror ran through Bomba. He knew in an instant what had happened. A great boa, lying in wait for whatever living thing might pass beneath the tree, had darted down upon him. The coils of the great snake were tightening upon him inexorably. For a moment he gave himself up for lost. And lost he inevitably wo...
The great body fell with a thud. The coils did not relax. But on the other hand they could not tighten until the snake, lashing wildly about, could find some stump or tree to encircle with its tail and use it as a lever. Bomba felt as though his lungs were bursting, his ribs cracking. He expected every second to be cru...
Again and again Bomba lashed out frantically with his knife. Each time the weapon found its mark. Bomba could feel that the coils were relaxing slightly. Once more the terrible head was raised high in the air for another blow. And at that instant a lucky slash went deep and severed the spinal cord. The threatened blow ...
He had been close to death. Only the slipping of the snake’s tail from the slippery bough had saved him. His brave heart alone would not have availed. With a shudder of repulsion he examined his foe, after the thrashing had subsided and the great snake lay quiet. Bomba had seen much larger snakes, but this was quite la...
Now, as well as he could, he examined the wound. It was causing him severe pain, but no apprehension. He knew that the boa constrictor carried no poison in its jaws. Its terrible crushing power was its main reliance. His shoulder would be sore for a few days, and that was all. He cleansed the wound with water from a po...
Bomba loved the waterfall. It spoke to him in a vague and mystic way of forces unchained. As he came now in full sight of it, there was something in the power and wild beauty of the rushing waters that struck an answering chord in his soul, causing his blood to run more swiftly and making his eyes kindle with delight. ...
Bomba had not known himself then. He had started back from the image in the pool as though from some mysterious thing hiding beneath the surface of the water. But when, gaining courage, he had again peered over the rim, his face looked back at him, and he knew it was his own. But the face now was puzzled and solemn. It...
Bomba felt sure that the native tribes who lived within sight and sound of the great cascade, who could feast their eyes on it whenever they would, did not love it as he did. They thought of it only as the abode of spirits, some good, most of them bad, and believed that the evil spirits walked at night. During the dark...
He had been so absorbed in his broodings that he had become almost oblivious of the passage of time. A glance at the sun startled him. He must hurry. With a last lingering look at the beautiful cascade and a mental resolve to return to it soon, he struck off at a tangent into the jungle, gliding along silently and swif...
In his path were the freshly made tracks of a jaguar! CHAPTER XVIII AT THE WATER HOLE Bomba’s hand went swiftly to his revolver as his keen eyes swept the surrounding jungle.
Nothing ominous met his straining sight. There was no sign of the dreaded monarch of the forest. This, however, was but little reassuring. Bomba knew the stealth of the cruel beast, as subtle as it was ferocious. Its tawny hide was little discernible from the grasses and shrubs of the jungle. Perhaps at this very momen...
With his revolver held ready for instant use, Bomba started again through the forest, his keen eyes searching every tuft of underbrush and scanning the branches of every tree under which he passed. Only after half an hour had passed without incident did his tense nerves relax, though he abated not a jot of his vigilanc...
Monkeys followed his course through the branches of the trees, chattering at him and playfully throwing handfuls of leaves and small nuts down on his head. The parrots shrieked and screamed at him, and once one of them dropped on his shoulders, accompanying him on this moving perch a considerable distance through the w...
He looked around in the hope that he might find a cactus. This he could slit with his machete and secure as much as he wanted of the cooling delicious waters that these plants store up, a fact that, if known, would have saved the lives of many of those who have perished of thirst in the very shadow of the thorny plants...
He had left the trail to take a short cut to the water hole, for he knew the regular trail used by the jungle beasts was still some distance ahead. Suddenly he paused, his machete with which he had been hewing his way, raised. He held himself rigidly motionless. What was that he had heard? It was the slithering of a sn...
But even the terrible thirst that tormented Bomba could not rob him of his caution. He knew that the creatures of the jungle resorted there. So with extreme care he advanced toward the fringe of trees that still hid the water hole from view. Silently he parted the bushes and looked through. What he saw there caused him...
Three pumas, the panthers of the Amazon, had gathered at the water’s edge and were drinking contentedly. Again the growl in Bomba’s throat. He raised his revolver in an impulsive gesture, but quickly lowered it. Caution told him it was wiser not to enrage such powerful foes. They were three to one. Bomba still desired ...
CHAPTER XIX A BATTLE ROYAL There came the padding of feet and a pushing aside of the bushes, and Bomba could see the outlines of a great body of some member of the four-footed tribe advancing toward him. Some other denizen of the jungle coming to refresh himself at the water hole. Bomba’s pulses beat fast. There were e...
He gripped his weapon tightly, prepared to sell his life dearly, though he knew that against such odds he had no chance of escape. The bushes parted and a great head looked through. Bomba raised his weapon, but he dropped it again when he saw that head more distinctly. At the same moment the newcomer raised his paw in ...
“Polulu!” Bomba cried, and clapped the great beast upon the flank, as a civilized boy might have fondled a pet dog. “You have come in time. You will get me my drink. Look!” The puma rubbed his head against the boy, and they went together toward the fringe of trees. When Polulu saw the other pumas at the pool his eyes g...
He had gathered that Bomba was thirsty but was afraid to go near the pool because of the foes that clustered there. Very well, Polulu would see to that! His friend should have his drink! Bomba watched his companion with breathless interest and curiosity, as Polulu stalked majestically through the heavy brush and approa...
When he had almost reached them, Polulu stopped and growled warningly. Three growls answered him, and Polulu knew that, confident in their numbers, they were accepting the challenge. They were defying his authority, a thing that none of them would have dared do if alone. Jungle bred as Bomba was and used to fighting fo...
Polulu started forward, his big head swinging from side to side, yellow eyes gleaming, lips drawn back wickedly from his fangs. Before him the other beasts gave ground slowly, grudgingly, growling with increasing irritation as they were crowded back toward the jungle. They were not really angry yet. Polulu’s strange co...
But they had been crowded a considerable distance away from the pool, and Polulu turned and looked at Bomba as though to assure him that the way was clear. Bomba would gladly have waited until the trio of enemies were fairly out of sight. But he knew now that Polulu would feel hurt and bewildered if he did not come. It...
So sudden was the action that the great cats, their eyes fastened on the least movement of Polulu, were taken completely by surprise. Bomba flung himself on the ground and had drunk great draughts of the clear cold water before they fairly grasped the situation. Here was a new enemy. An enemy easier to fight than Polul...
With a horrible scream of rage and pain, the wounded puma sprang at Polulu. But the old puma was quicker than the young one. His powerful jaws clamped about the throat of his adversary and worked savagely. No amount of thrashing about or raking with claws could shake off that grip. The other pumas, temporarily daunted ...
The report seemed to madden the remaining brute. With a howl of fury it sprang at Bomba. Quick as a flash, the boy dodged, missing by a fraction of an inch the impact of that heavy body and the death-dealing blow of the terrible paw. As Bomba leaped, his foot caught under a root, and he almost fell. In his struggle to ...
But even as the puma launched itself in its spring, a great body shot across Bomba’s vision and met the assailant in mid-air. It was Polulu who had finished his first opponent and now came to the rescue of his friend. Teeth tearing, claws going like piston rods, the ferocious brutes fell to the ground and rolled over a...
Bomba could see now that Polulu, wearied from his first victorious battle, was at a disadvantage against the fresh young puma. The boy circled about the duelists, seeking for an opportunity to help the friend who had so loyally helped him. The chance came sooner than he had expected. The young puma sprawled across the ...
It did not kill him, but it stunned him and made him relinquish his grip. The next instant a second bullet penetrated to the brain. The brute struggled convulsively for a moment, then straightened out and lay still. Bomba went over to Polulu. The old puma was exhausted and bleeding from a dozen wounds. Bomba put his ar...
“Polulu!” exclaimed Bomba, as he caressed the great head, “you are brave. You are strong. You are the best of all the beasts of the jungle.” Polulu purred complacently, as though to say he knew it. CHAPTER XX AN UNEXPECTED RECEPTION
The puma and the boy rested for a time, while Polulu licked his wounds, and when Bomba went on again the puma accompanied him for some distance through the jungle. It was getting late, and Bomba began to wonder whether he would be able to visit the village of the Araos and return on the same day. He could spend the nig...
He pushed on as fast as he could, the faithful Polulu still beside him, the jaboty slung over his shoulder. He was getting close to the maloca now, and if there was any chance of accomplishing his errand and getting back before midnight, he meant to take advantage of it. Still faster he went, Polulu padding beside him ...
Bomba began to be troubled now because he had no more to take as a present to the Araos than the jaboty. He had had so much to do in preserving his life through the course of the momentous day that he had had but little time to look for game. Once he thought that fortune was going to favor him. It was when he caught si...
The sound of a drum rang through the jungle. Bomba halted, head up, every sense alert. He was hard upon some Indian maloca, that was certain. The medicine man of the tribe was beating the drum to propitiate the particular god worshipped by his people. Was it the village of the Araos he was approaching? It should be, by...
He went on, therefore, trying to stifle some vague premonition that was stirring within him. He had a feeling, an instinct, that something unpropitious was in the air. Soon the increasing signs of human habitation warned him that he was in close proximity to a village. In accordance with Indian etiquette, which resents...
Bomba waited stoically, betraying no outward sign of uneasiness. After a few moments he shouted more loudly than before. Still there was no answer, and he began to be seriously perturbed. If the Indians had been in a friendly mood, they would already have sent out a scout to see who the visitor was, what he wanted, and...
And now Bomba had the impression that the jungle was filled with shadowy, furtive forms. He felt that each tree and thicket might be hiding an enemy, ready the next instant to make the intruder a target for his arrow. Still the lad remained quietly where he was, not moving a muscle and showing no signs of alarm. There ...
The face of the Indian bore no welcoming smile. On it was a scowl so black that Bomba’s heart sank within him! CHAPTER XXI BY A HAIR’S BREADTH In a moment’s time Bomba had taken a grip on himself.
He returned the scowl of the Indian with a flashing smile that showed all his white teeth, and, beating with his two clenched hands upon his bronzed chest, cried in a loud voice that held no sign of quavering: “Karo Katu Kama-rah!” thus declaring himself “Good white friend!” Without any relaxing of his scowl, the India...
The latter received it with another grunt, and, beckoning Bomba to follow, threaded his way through the bushes to the maloca. Bomba followed, knowing by a sixth sense that he was himself being followed and spied upon. He could feel eyes boring into his back. Yet not once did he catch sight of a dark-skinned form, nor d...
The “huts” were of the simplest sort. Some were merely hammocks, swung between two poles. Palm leaves formed the roof of these rude abodes, wholly insufficient to shelter their owners from the mildest of tropical storms. But the dwelling of the chief was more elaborate. This was more like the cabin that Bomba shared wi...
Bomba stood motionless, the target of all these unfriendly eyes, while the man who had first met him advanced toward the chief and laid the jaboty at his feet. There followed a brief harangue in the Indian tongue that was carried on in so low a tone that Bomba could not hear what was said. Then the chief motioned to hi...
Could it be that this tribe had made some sort of treaty with the head-hunters and had joined with them in the attempt to kill the two whites? This was possible, Bomba thought, but hardly likely. There was a deadly antipathy between the two tribes, and the head-hunters probably planned to make the Araos their victims a...
So, on the innocent heads of Casson and Bomba they were prepared to vent the irritation caused by this invasion. And here was one of the troublemakers who had walked right into their hands. What better opportunity to get him, at least, out of the way? Casson could be dealt with later. So Bomba’s instinct had not played...
As Bomba reached the circle of Indians about the chief a dozen sinewy hands reached out to grasp him. In a moment more he would be helpless, a prisoner where he had expected to be a guest. And none knew better than Bomba what it meant to be a prisoner of the Indians. But before one of the reaching hands could close upo...
“Kama-rah!” she exclaimed impetuously. “Kari Katu Kama-rah!” and touched the white boy on the chest. CHAPTER XXII THE TURN OF THE WHEEL A babble of excited exclamations broke out at this sudden intervention of the girl in Bomba’s behalf.
“Pirah!” said the chief, in a voice where sternness was mingled with affection. “Da-rah!” But Pirah showed no intention of going away. She stamped her foot and clung the more tightly to Bomba’s hand. The boy recognized her then as the youngest child of the chief, Hondura. He had seen her more than once when he had skir...
She it was who liked to play at hunting, shouldering a bow as big as herself and learning to shoot at a target when her baby hands could barely stretch the strings. Her fire and spirit and playful antics had amused the old chief, who scarcely checked her in anything, and the little Pirah had gradually grown into the sp...
But the eyes of the little maiden flashed and she pushed the nearest Indian away with her tiny hand. “Kama-rah!” she cried again, appealing to her father. But Hondura scowled, and his black face so frightened Pirah that she shrank back against Bomba. “Da-rah!” again commanded her father, and this time the child obeyed ...
With his little defender gone, strong hands gripped Bomba and drew him within the ring of savages. Bomba felt that this was the end. But again there came an interruption. Peto, the shaman, or medicine man, of the tribe, came up to Bomba in a slow dreamy way, eyes closed, as though he were walking in his sleep. The brav...
Peto took hold of Bomba and began to feel all over him, his face, his hands, his chest, his legs. Then Peto went into a violent spasm, twitching and trembling, showing the whites of his eyes and foaming at the mouth. Bomba had stood the hauling and mauling without protest, though without much hope of any good coming fr...
The Indians watched him breathlessly, though they sought to repress any show of emotion. Peto continued to open and shut his eyes rapidly, while the muscles of his face twitched convulsively. At times he would reach out and pinch Bomba’s legs until the lad winced. Finally, when Bomba had begun to feel that he could not...
The words had a magical effect upon the Indians. The scowls disappeared instantly from their faces and they echoed in chorus: “Kari Katu Kama-rah!” Bomba was saved. Peto had declared that the jungle boy was a friend, and Hondura and his braves were willing to accept the medicine man’s word. The chief motioned Bomba to ...
It had been a matter of touch and go. Bomba marveled at his good fortune in winning Peto’s approval. Apart from saving his life for the present, it would have other consequences. It was no light matter to have the Araos on his side, in view of the presence of the head-hunters on their deadly mission. While the chief wa...
The chief seemed pleased, and looked at Bomba with a more friendly expression than before. To Bomba’s inquiries about Nascanora and his people Hondura replied that the chief of the head-hunters had visited him and professed friendship with the Araos. Hondura knew, though, that Nascanora’s heart was black and that the i...
Hondura admitted that he, too, had thought that Casson might be a Man of Evil, as Nascanora had said. But now that Peto had spoken, he knew that Casson and Bomba were good. So he, Hondura, would do nothing to aid Nascanora in his designs against the whites. This was balm to Bomba’s anxious soul. The chief object of his...
The chief had noticed that Bomba’s arrows were all gone, and as a parting proof of friendship insisted on supplying him with a dozen choice ones from his own stock. Thanking him warmly and promising to return again within a short time bringing gifts, Bomba took leave of Hondura and little Pirah, who clung to him up to ...
The jungle seemed to him unnaturally still. The screaming of the parrots was less strident than usual and the chattering of the monkeys sounded muffled and far away. His eyes fell on the track of a tapir, and this roused him from his musings. He followed it for a short distance, and came upon his quarry so suddenly tha...
The missile sped swift and true. It struck the tapir at the base of the skull, and the animal toppled over and died with scarcely a struggle. Bomba covered the distance between him and his prey in a few leaps. Good luck, thought Bomba. He would have something good to take back to the hut. It would be good to have meat ...
Bomba was jubilant. The day was ending in accordance with his fondest hopes. He had gained the friendship of the Araos and put an obstacle in the way of Nascanora. He had with him hammocks, the comfort of which he and Casson had sadly missed. He had replenished his stock of arrows. And there was the tapir meat, which w...
As silently now as a panther he glided on, not a twig snapping beneath his sandaled feet. Soon a smell of a campfire warned him of human proximity. He crept cautiously nearer and, peering through the undergrowth, saw dark forms squatting about a fire. He edged a little nearer until he could hear fragments of their gutt...
These, then, were the head-hunters, the men who were seeking Casson’s death and his own! CHAPTER XXIII WORDS OF DOOM Bomba’s eyes swept round the circle and rested on the scarred, hideous face of a powerful savage, the symbols on whose chest proclaimed him chief.
He knew it was his arch-enemy, Nascanora! Bomba drew a long breath and thanked the jungle instinct that had warned him of danger and kept him from blundering right into the hands of the enemy. Some sort of incantation had evidently been in progress, as was manifest from the presence of a kettle over the fire in which t...