Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 3 — page 189: what you’re looking at

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

~~ LAND OF THE SHADOW PEOPLE: shiny material wound a number of times around his middle, and a necklace of sim- ilar stuff. Both Tomas and the curaca walked well aloof from this individual, at which the- white men did not wonder; for he brought into the malocca a stench beside which the odor of a tannery would have ranked as a sweet perfume. . ‘““ Red dog, stand near, and speak my words to the big white chief,’”’ the curaca - ordered Tomas and seated himself on the foot of Zalmon’s bed, with an expression almost of amiabilfty on his cruel, intelli- gent face. The stinking old man squatted near the wall, peering through his hanging elf-locks at the white men with evil, blood- shot eyes, and crooning to himself in a monotonous, singsong undertone. “In his land behind the mountains the white man is a great chieftain, is he not? Ask him,” directed the curaca. Tomas put the question in Spanish. Grimshaw explained that he came from a land much farther than beyond the moun- tains, and that he was a great chief indeed, having been commander of many ships upon the sea. . ‘““T know that my brother does not lie; for I have heard of the mighty lake of bitter water which flows into the sky, and in which the sun sleeps at night,’’ answered the Aguaruna gravely. ‘I have heard, too, of the great birds which swim in that lake, carrying many men on their backs. “So my brother has been the chief of these? I was sure that he was a great man. It is an honor to entertain him in a poor Aguaruna village. I shall not forget his greatness when I look upon his face in the days to come.” ' ““What does he mean?” challenged Grimshaw. -“ He deesn’t want to keep me here very long, does he? Tell him that I eat too much.” Tomas’s sullen features were lighted by a saturnine grin. “He means to keep you for always, Sefior Grimshaw—and you will not eat,” he replied. “ Did I not tell the sezor once before that these people take the heads of strangers?” “That is nonsense, Tomas, my son. af ~~ 471 Why, he has been very friendly. See him smile.” And Zalmon returned with interest the amiable look of the curaca. ‘““He smiles because the sevor’s head pleases him so much ,” rejoined the inex- orable Tomas. ‘“ The senor must know that he has a wonderful head,” “Ask him if that is what he wants,” said Grimshaw shortly; for something in Tomas’s manner had told him that the Aymara was not joking. When the question was repeated to him, the curaca raised his eyebrows. ‘“ Surely,” he answered; “ and I hope that /my brother will give it to me willingly, and not make trouble about it. It was so . that I might have his head that I bade my young men save my brother when the Huachipairi war-arrows flew thickly about him. It is better that his head should hang in the malocca of a wise Aguaruna, who knows how to appreciate its worth and to preserve its beauty, than in that of an ignorant Huachipairi, who is content with ~ an empty and ugly skull only. ‘That is why I am questioning my brother. Seeing that I am to have his head, it is right that I should know what is in it—and not even I can find that out when it hangs on the wall of my malocca.” Not without malice, Tomas translated. Grimshaw’s cheeks lost just a shade of their rosiness, but a shade only; and he did not change countenance. ‘“‘ Ask him when this little ceremony is coming—is going to take place,” he di- rected. ‘“‘ To-morrow—if it is a fine day,” was the answer. Zalmon arose and stepped to the door of the melocca, the cane flooring bending and creaking under the ponderous tread of his bare féet. Above the tree-topg which fringed the compound he studied the brazen sky. The others watched him curiously, “Well, it will be a fine day,” he said distinctly in English, and he returned ¢com- posediy to his seat. ““T have heard that the white men do not believe that they die when they are dead, but that they go to a very pleasant piace somewhere a great ways off,’’ pursued Original f from ClO} STATE UNS @ =< THE OHIO DOO CO