Adventure Magazine, April 10, 1924 — page 106: what you’re looking at

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

104 the Jivero bodies inside and stacked them like wood. When that. was done, great heaps of thatch torn from other houses were piled around the walls, and on this in turn dry logs and chunks were built up. Soona hissing, crackling pyre flamed high, and a tower of black smoke ascended and mush- roomed out in the upper breezes. “Roast, you demonios!” was the vale- dictory of José. “Roast here today and burn forever in the place where your father, El Diablo, has welcomed you back home. And you, Manuel mio, laugh! Laugh loud and long, while above you the chief of this tribe and his men turn to ashes upon your grave. While white men walk this land the murder of a white man shall not go un- avenged. And, though we white men may not always agree, we must stand together until death—and afterward.” CHAPTER XIX THE BIRD OF EVIL OMEN [ THE same house where Nuné and Tim had entered into tentative con- spiracy that afternoon, she and her four companions slept. The doorway was open, and the moon alternately shone brilliantly and vanished behind drifting clouds. To all appearances, it was an ideal time for such a stealthy departure as Nuné had suggested. Yet things were not as they seemed; for out- side, squatting against the wall on either side of the door, wide-awake sentries kept vigil. She knew this; knew, too, that the three Americans were once more at peace with her captor and would not now go from him. So, stoically awaiting some future opportunity for escape, she had given her- self to tranquil slumber. The vigilance of the night guards was not confined to the house of the king. Among the other habitations, too, motion- less sentries kept watch, lurking in the shadows of the low eaves, resting easily, yet alert to every sound or movement in the settlement. The Jivero wizard, lying among @ score of sleeping Sumataras, also had a couple of personal jailers whose eyes never closed, and whose ready machetes were an effectual discouragement to any attempt at departure. The other two male prisoners had mys- teriously disappeared as soon as it was Adventure known that José did not need them—the disappearance being made permanent by a couple of Sumatara spearmen and by the funeral pyre. As for the Jivero women and children, they were to be left free when the White Ones moved on westward, since the army could not encumber itself with them; but they now were being guarded on general principles. The fire at the central house now had done its work and burned itself out. Within the clearing all was quiet; spying eyes would have seen only a village apparently buried in slumber. And when at length spying eyes did rise above the palisade, that was all they did see. The dusky, long-haired head in which those slant orbs were set hung just above the top of the wall at the rear, the body beneath it dangling from a length of twisted vines which it had deftly looped over the peak of a stake. That head remained motionless for minutes, scanning the houses within, listening to the muffled snores stealing from them. From the point where it poised, the destruction of the chief’s house was not noticeable, as other roofs were in the way. Reassured, and tiring from the strain of hanging by the hands, the apparition drew itself up and scrambled over. It landed with a slight thump of bare heels and a clatter of bow and arrows slung down its back. Warily it glanced around. Then it stole toward the space where the chief’s house should be. The moon, flashing out more brightly as a thin cloud passed off, showed the newcomer to be a gaunt Jivero youth, who limped as he advanced. Around one calf was wrapped a bungling bandage— evidently his breech-clout, as he was stark naked. At the impact of his fall, hidden guards had tensed. In the black shadows under the eaves, wolfish eyes turned on the limping figure. After a few steps he seemed to sense the menace. He slowed, reaching up to unsling his bow. With the dazing speed of a pouncing jaguar a sinewy Sumatara sped at him. A hoarse croak burst from the invader. Beforc he could assume the offensive he was knocked sprawling. ‘The captor fell har« on him, crushing him down. Other sentries leaped irom the shadows and swept the top of the palisade with their eyes. No other head showed. . The in- truder had come alone, and from afar. His GomGdooksEeo S|