Adventure Magazine Cover — page 147: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Peccaries We first heard of them from our fellow workmen down the river, who had the news of them from other men who brought sup- plies. We ourselves were toiling in a rub- ber district which was very rich, but very far out from headquarters, so that we had to go a long distance through the jungle at intervals in order to renew our food, which was brought up in boats to a large tambo where another of the coronel’s gangs was working a number of good estradas. On our trips to this tambo we always car- ried out with us some rubber to be sent down-stream, but there was much more of it which we left behind; for the journey through the bush was so long that it had been decided to pile up the rubber we made until the flood-time drew near, when a large band of men were to be sent in to take it away. So we had many balls of it, worth much money, waiting out there in the forest when we heard of the Peccaries. Our friends told us the Peruvian side was being raided by a large band of marauders whose leader was a yellow half-breed, and who painted their jaws a whitish color like the white-lipped peccaries; and from this, and their savagery, they got their name. That was all that our men knew of them at that time. So we went back to our district, talking about this new peril of a region that is always perilous enough, but fearing it not at all; for none of us thought those robbers would ever come into our place, so far away from the hills of Peru. j NOW, as you have been among pec- A caries, senhores, you must know the fetid smell that comes from them, pata: when there are many of them to- gether. It comes from a gland in their loins, and if you kill one for his meat— which you probably will not do if you can find anything better—you must cut this thing out at once. And one day some time after our trip out- side, while we were lounging around the tambo in the heat of noon, this smell floated to us from the thick forest round about. It grew strong and rank in the heavy air, and we looked at one another and arose to get our rifles. But the beasts that burst out upon us were not what we expected. A voice snarled an order, the bush rus- tled, and we were surrounded by a score of evil-looking men. They were Indians and half-breeds, almost naked, armed with rifles, revolvers and knives, and smelling most foul. We saw at once that they were Peruvian caboclos, for they had the slanting eyes and high cheek-bones. Then I grew cold inside, for I observed that their lips and jaws were daubed a dirty white; and that and their peccary-smell told me who they were, Shots crashed out, and I turned to see two of my men, fall dead, killed because they had seized their rifles. Then the yellow- faced, black-mustached leader of the raid- ers strode before me and snarled in Span- ish— “Who commands here?” “T do,” I snarled back. He grinned a mocking grin, and said: “Then, sevor el capitan, tell your men to make‘no fight, or they will all go the way of those two.dogs on the ground. We are the Peccaries—you know of us, yes? Then you know what we do to those who oppose us. But we would spare you for a time, be- cause we can use you.” “For what?” I demanded. “For beasts of burden, illustrious sefior. You have much rubber, which will be car- ried out-for us. And you will do the carry- ing.” As my rifle was not near my hand I leaped at him with my machete drawn. He sprang “away from before me and hissed something through his yellow teeth. A sud- den shock smote the back of my head, and T fell. When I came to myself the fight was over, and of my eleven men only two were left alive. One was Jorge Tourinho, who was very ill with fever; and the other was’ Paulo Pereira, a big fellow who was ve powerful but rather slow of thought and action. All the other nine lay where they had died fighting those devils who would not only rob us but enslave us too. And though they had been outnumbered, surrounded, and caught by surprise, they had fought well, those mates of mine. Among their bodies lay those of six dead Peccaries, and four more of the raiders were shot and slashed so that they would soon die. The yellow leader, however,- was un- harmed, and as I started to rise he sprang and kicked me'down. And then, grinning that cruel grin, he said: “Stay where you are, dog, until I tell you to get up. And look ‘around you and see what has come to your men. If I had not 133 : rs +