<h2 id="c15"><span class="small">CHAPTER XV</span> <br/>Bandits!</h2>
<p>Biff shot a quick look at Chuba. He wanted to see his
friend’s reaction to the startling appearance of these
men who looked as if they had sprung from the age of
primitive man. Good? Bad? Chuba would know.</p>
<p>Chuba’s eyes roved over the group. He turned his
head quickly from man to man, turning around to
complete the circle. A frown on the native boy’s face
gave Biff his answer. Chuba was worried.</p>
<p>“Man, oh, man! Did you ever see anything like
that bunch?” Muscles asked. “They’re from way out
of nowhere.”</p>
<p>There was every reason for Muscles to be amazed.
The men were small but squat and powerfully built.
Their eyes were slanted in broad, dirty faces, the
color of stained copper. Wide, cruel mouths turned
down on either side. Scraggly strands of wiry hair
sprouted from ragged caps made of mangy fur.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_121">121</div>
<p>Their legs were wrapped in rags. Coats, if they
could be called coats, were made of skins of wild animals,
mountain goats, deer. One of the men wore the
skin of the Himalayan black bear.</p>
<p>They stood in silence, their small, beady eyes
watching for any move on the part of Muscles and the
boys. Two of the men held short, thick clubs in their
hands. Another held a long stick. Biff noticed that on
the end a wicked knife had been attached by thongs.
Others held long, gleaming curved knives in their
hands. Only one man carried a gun, a short, two barreled
shotgun. It was an old gun. Someone had sawed
off the barrel. It could deal out body-ripping shots at
short range.</p>
<p>“Who are they, Chuba?” Biff asked.</p>
<p>“You mean <i>what</i> are they?” Muscles cut in.</p>
<p>“Bandits. Chinese bandits,” Chuba replied. “They
bad. Very bad.”</p>
<p>“They’re not soldiers, then. Not members of any
patrol?”</p>
<p>Chuba shook his head. “No. Much worse. These
people roam the hills and mountains. They steal, kill.
They like wild men. Sometimes come into town, but
most times, live like tribe, sleep in caves, eat anything
they can kill.”</p>
<p>“What do they want with us?” Biff asked.</p>
<p>“Rob us. Maybe kill us if we try to fight.”</p>
<p>“Huh. Some chance,” Muscles cut in again. “Why,
I can take on that whole gang single-handed.” Muscles
towered over the bandits. He was bigger, and
weighed more than any two of the bandits together.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_122">122</div>
<p>“Not so sure, Muscles,” Chuba said quietly. “These
men fight and kill bears, tigers. Only use their
knives.”</p>
<p>“Only guy that worries me is that one with the
sawed-off shotgun,” Muscles decided.</p>
<p>“Why don’t they say something, Chuba? What are
they waiting for?” Biff asked.</p>
<p>Chuba shrugged his shoulders.</p>
<p>“Can’t they talk? Can you understand their language?”</p>
<p>“They talk, sure. But be hard for Chuba to understand
them. They speak what you call tribe dialect.
Some Chinese words. Some words only they know.”</p>
<p>“Can they understand you?”</p>
<p>“Sure. They understand most Chinese talk. Not all
words. But enough.”</p>
<p>“Ask them what they want.”</p>
<p>Chuba swallowed. He directed a rapid string of
Chinese words at the man carrying the gun.</p>
<p>The gun carrier grunted and spoke in a deep, guttural
voice to the man beside him.</p>
<p>“Did you get that, Chuba?”</p>
<p>Chuba shook his head.</p>
<p>The gun carrier took one step forward. He looked
Muscles carefully up and down. Next his eyes swept
over Biff. Then he spoke, turning his eyes on Chuba.
He spoke slowly. Sometimes moments of silence
would appear between his spaced words.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_123">123</div>
<p>“He says they want all things we have. Gun man
speaker says he wants clothes of the giant man.”</p>
<p>“My clothes! Fat chance,” Muscles snarled.</p>
<p>The bandit spoke again.</p>
<p>“He says open up bundles. He wants to see what
we have.”</p>
<p>Biff knelt down. His and Chuba’s bulky bundles
were together. Biff started untying the nearest one,
which happened to be Chuba’s.</p>
<p>“If we give them our things, will they let us alone?”
Biff asked.</p>
<p>“Chuba can’t say. Maybe so so. Maybe no. Maybe
they give us this.” Chuba brought his hand swiftly
across his throat. Biff felt a sickening sensation in his
stomach.</p>
<p>Feeling around in Chuba’s bundle, Biff’s hand struck
an oblong object. It felt like a box. Biff carefully
lifted the cloth from which the bundle was made. He
raised it so that the bandits would be unable to see
what the box was. If the situation hadn’t been such a
dangerous one, Biff would have laughed. Chuba had
brought with him his Evil Spirit Box—the one Muscles
had frightened Chuba with the first morning Biff
was in camp.</p>
<p>Touching the box, an idea came into Biff’s head.</p>
<p>“Chuba, quick! Tell me more about these bandits.
Are they superstitious? I mean, frightened by strange
things, things they’ve never seen before?”</p>
<p>“Much afraid. Big fear of spirits.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_124">124</div>
<p>Biff nodded his head. “I’ve got an idea. Think we
could scare them with your Evil Spirit Box?”</p>
<p>Excitement danced in Chuba’s eyes. “They be
scared like crazy. More scared than Chuba was.”</p>
<p>“Okay. We’ll try it. Now you tell them something
like this. Tell them we are protected by magic of the
gods. The evil spirit will put its hand on them unless
they let us go. They are not to bother us. Make it
good. Bow down and stuff like that. Look to the sky
and make like you’re calling the spirit.”</p>
<p>“Chuba catch wise. Make big show.”</p>
<p>“Okay. Now, at some point when you’re putting on
your act, when the bandits are all looking at you, I’ll
yell ‘Fly!’ When I do, I’ll toss your spirit box into the
air. You swing around and catch it. I’ll have it started.
You hold it up high when the siren’s going. Then
place it on the ground and jump back when the hand
comes out. Tell them that’s the hand of the evil spirit,
reaching out to touch them.”</p>
<p>Chuba was grinning now. Muscles stood there,
hands on hips, shaking his head. Chuba turned back to
the bandit leader. He hunched up his shoulders. He
twisted his face into an ugly leer. Then he began
speaking. He spoke at first in a sing-song voice. He
spoke faster and faster, raising his voice higher. He
dropped down and touched the ground three times
with his head. Up he leaped, extending his arms skyward.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_125">125</div>
<p>Chuba was putting on a good show. Biff watched
the faces of the bandits closely. There was no expression,
yet their eyes followed every movement Chuba
made.</p>
<p>Biff took the spirit box out. No one saw him. Even
Muscles was fascinated by Chuba’s writhing, his sing-song
chanting. Biff touched the button activating the
box.</p>
<p>“Fly!” he called out. He tossed the box in the air,
high enough so that as it came down over Chuba’s
head, it almost appeared to be falling from the sky.</p>
<p>Chuba caught the box deftly. Again he spoke to the
bandits. He raised the box high over his head, just as
the first faint whine of the siren began. The siren’s
scream rose higher and higher. Quickly Chuba placed
the box on the ground and stepped back. The lid of
the box slowly opened.</p>
<p>Biff looked again at the bandits. The faces without
expression now looked curious, then terrified.</p>
<p>The lid of the box raised. The plastic hand snaked
out.</p>
<p>Stark terror now seized the bandits. They cringed
back. One of them, unable to stand it any longer,
turned, broke, and ran. He was followed by another
and another. Only the leader remained, staring at the
spirit box as if spellbound.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_126">126</div>
<p>Muscles went into action. He dived for the box. He
snatched it from the ground, turned, and with the
box extended in his outstretched hands, he moved toward
the bandit chief. This was too much. With a horrified
shriek, the bandit chief turned and raced down
the slope after his companions. All were running as if
they were really pursued by demons.</p>
<p>Muscles quickly reset the box, so that the scream of
the siren, rising to its highest pitch, seemed to be following
close to the bandits’ ears.</p>
<p>Muscles put the box back on the ground. He
slapped his huge thighs, threw back his head, and
roared with laughter. Biff and Chuba joined him. All
three laughed until they sank to the ground, their
voices shaking as they tried to talk.</p>
<p>Finally, Muscles heaved his shoulders and took a
deep breath. “Ever see anything like that? Those guys
were really scared. Took off like jet fighters. When I
think that I sent to the States for that fool toy to scare
Chuba, well....”</p>
<p>“Never knew it was going to save your life, did
you? Still think twenty dollars was too much for it?”
Biff said, trying to control his laughter.</p>
<p>“I level with you now, Muscles. I real scared first
time I see spirit box,” Chuba confessed.</p>
<p>“But those guys! They really did think the Evil
Spirit was going to put the hand on them,” Muscles
said.</p>
<p>“Here’s one time I’m glad you can’t tell good from
evil,” Biff said.</p>
<p>“Think they’ll come back, Chuba?” Muscles asked.</p>
<p>“Never. They really gone. Give us the big go-round
now. Not ever want to see us and box again.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_127">127</div>
<p>“The spirit really moved them, eh, Biff?” Muscles
said.</p>
<p>Biff laughed, but Muscles’ joke was over Chuba’s
head.</p>
<p>It was almost broad daylight now. The sun was rising.
Biff stood up. “We’d better get going. Maybe we
can reach Jaraminka by nightfall.”</p>
<p>“Okay by me,” Muscles agreed. “Let’s make with
the feet, Chuba.”</p>
<p>Biff looked northward. Nestled somewhere in the
foothills of the Thanglung mountains was the outpost
of Jaraminka. Uncle Charlie might be there. He might
be the bait being used to bring Biff and his companions
into a trap.</p>
<p>It was a risk they would have to take.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_128">128</div>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />