Adventure Magazine Cover — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

18 Still, one can not always tell, from the ap- pearance of a house, what sort of people are inside it; and men who were peaceful . yesterday may be ugly foes today. - I took my gaze off the place to look at Senhor Tom, who now had come up and stood quiet behind me. His face seemed drawn, and I judged that the heat and the fatigue of marching without sight had made his head ache again; but he made no mur- mur. Quietly I told him what was before us. “Uh-huh,” he breathed. “Regular Tu- cuna maloca. All inside looking at the pris- oner. No use in our sticking here. What are you waiting for?” I looked again at the house and back at- him. Then I slid his revolver back into its holster and loosened my machete. “Tf trouble comes, senhor,’’ I said, ‘‘your gun will not be of much use to me among half a hundred Indians. At close quarters I can do much work with cold steel. So you had best keep it.” “Tf trouble does come,” he answered, his mouth tightening, “you fellows try to cut your way out with Miss Marshall and make your getaway. I’ll guarantee to dam- age whatever is in front of me, and I’ll make such a riot that maybe you can break out with her. You two chaps are wicked scrap- pers with machetes, and among the three of - us we can make a sizable hole in this town’s population—if we have to. But maybe a bold front will turn the trick without a row.” . Then, for the first time, he showed the strain of sightlessness. His blank eyes flickering, he blurted bitterly: - “God! What wouldn’t I give for a pair of realeyes just now?” “Perhaps you will need no eyes, com- rade,’ Pedro soothed him. “Let us walk three abreast, with you in the middle. Hold your head high and look grim, and with us to guide you nobody need know you can not see.” “Right! That’s the dope. Run a bluff on them if we can. When you're dealing with Tucunas, even if ee re friendly, it doesn’t pay to ‘look wea With that we stopped « our muttering and walked out into the open. _ Shoulder to shoulder we strode across the open space, steering the explorer’s steps by slight touches on the arms, but never look- ing at him. With heads up and eyes ’ friends. Adventure straight ahead, we came to the narrow door of the tribal house, swung so that I was ahead of Senhor Tom and Pedro was be- hind him, and stepped boldly inside. VI give THE place was very dim. =f So dim it was, indeed, that after our march through the brilliant sun- shine I found myself almost* blinded by the abrupt change to murky twilight. I had to halt a moment to let my eyes adjust themselves. And in that moment several things happened. Senhor Tom, unwarned of my pause, bumped me hard from behind. I lurched forward and rammed my face into a stout pole upholding the roof. The unexpected thump knocked a grunt out of me and brought from my blind follower a sharp question. ‘““What’s the matter there?” At the same instant a droning voice some- where among the Indians before us stopped suddenly. There came a hiss of indrawn breath, an outbreak of hoarse mutterings from men and squeals of fright from wo- men, a voice of authority grunting com- mands, and a scuffling, shuffling sound which soon ended. Silently cursing my luck, I drew away from the post and faced a number of Indian men advancing grimly up a small aisle be- tween hammock-hung roof-poles. All the effect of our bold entrance was spoiled by that mischance; for instead of striding among the Tucunas before they knew of us we had bumped about like drunkards. We had lost our dignity at the outset; and to white men unexpectedly invading an In- dian maloca such a loss may prove serious. Now I saw that the men filing toward us held spears. A growling voice spoke, and the spears were leveled at our stomachs, I reached for my machete. But a quick thought made me halt my hand and lift it, empty. | “Hold, Tucunas!”? I barked. ‘“‘We are Here is Tupahn the Thunder- storm, friend of Tucunas and killer of that Black Hawk who enslaved the Tucuna war- riors. Is this your welcome to such a man?” . It was a shrewd shot. I - remembered that Senhor Tom was known among the Tucunas as Tupahn because of the roaring Eomichboo S Teo St a= Ga Ne ee ee ee — ee Fete mS eae C SxS. > — sae Se oo + (E@)