Adventure Magazine, April 10, 1924 — page 103: what you’re looking at

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

The King of No Man’s Land men and true friends of Rana. Nuné is a true friend of Rana. That José is not a friend of Rana. He goes to kill Rana and my people who are the friends of Rana. He laughs at you and your friends. He makes monkeys of you three strong men, “Why do you not leave him? He thinks he is very wise. Yet he does not know where Rana can be found. With his many men he can kill Jiveros who did not see him coming. A woman could do that. But with all his men he can not find Rana. Nuné can find Rana. Nuné would go fast to Rana. Nuné can lead you to him. Why do you not leave this José behind and go with Nuné to your friend?” The red man’s eyes widened. “Cémo? How?” “It is easy—if you dare. See. The day is old. All will stay here tonight. At the water are many canoes. The moon will shine. Speak quietly to the tall man and the light one. When all sleep, come with Nuné to the water. We go. We go fast. We go long. We go far ahead of these others. Nuné is strong. She will work hard. With four paddles, with your guns, with Nuné to guide and show you the tricks of the forest, we speed to Rana. So you shall find your friend. So you shall make a monkey of the so-wise man José.” For a moment Tim was swept by hot impulses. The alert girl had plucked shrewdly at the most vibrant strings in his make-up. To reach Rand—to ‘beat Hozy to it” and thus, as Nuné said, to make a monkey of him—that would be a retalia- tion which appealed tresistibly to his present mood. Too, the lure of romantic adventure, of swift action, of a death-de- fying dash through head-hunter land with only his two partners and the girl—this struck a resonant chord. And those subtle words—“‘if you dare’”—spoken by a girl whose impelling gaze burned into his and whose seductive will strove to bend him to the fulfillment of her desires! For ages, men with blood far colder than that of Tim Ryan have fallen before those three words spoken in that way. Yet Tim’s was an honest soul, and a belligerently straight-forward one. To sneak away at night, like a deserter, was an idea which did not appeal. To him it smacked of cowardice, of treachery. His way of leaving José, if he should leave, would be to walk off in broad daylight and 10] truculently defy the Spaniard and all his gang to stop him. Cunning and stealth were foreign to his nature, just as they were instinctive to jungle-bred Nuné. was playing the game fairly enough. She was a captive, seeking only to escape and reach the man of her heart in time to save him; the three Americans would be stal- wart defenders for her in a land where she would need them, and they claimed to be friends of Rana; so she was frankly taking advantage of her opportunity. While Tim wavered, she added: “To stay with José will do no good. To him Nuné will never show the way. With- out the word of Nuné he will fail. When we reach my count ce She did not finish, but he understood. At the Morona she would escape alone somehow, or die in the attempt. Again he felt the impulse to turn his back on José and fare forward with his own countrymen. “Bien. I will speak to my friends,” he promised. She smiled again. “It is well. Now let us go back to them. Nuné would hear what is said.” 7 “Do you understand their talk?” “St. The man José asks how the head of the white man was taken. Come.” They emerged again into the sun. As they walked back, Tim was thinking hard; but not too hard to affect carelessness for the benefit of any watching eyes. In fact, he yawned as if bored by the whole place, and stopped a couple of times en route as if vainly seeking something of interest. Reaching the house, he and Nuné sauntered inside as casually as they had come out. The “third degree” was still in progress, and nobody gave them any attention. A change had come over the Jivero. His eyes had become steady, and in growling tones he was talking. José, who seemed to have a little knowledge of the Jivero language, apparently understood some of the talk but not all of it. | When the captive was silent Curac translated. José nodded, looked down thoughtfully at the head of Montez, and carefully laid it aside. At that moment a warrior of the White Ones walked in, stepped to the side of his king, and muttered several sentences. He was one of those who could speak and understand Spanish quite well, but now he Yet Nuné * used his own language. When he had done, José sat very still. Presently he voiced one COmicoooks. CO