<h2 id="c13"><span class="small">CHAPTER XIII</span> <br/>The River of Death</h2>
<p>The twang of the head-hunter’s bowstring was
drowned by an explosive burst from farther up the
trail. With it, the Macu marksman gave an upward,
sideward jolt at the very instant the arrow was leaving
his bow.</p>
<p>The feathered missile zimmed high and wide by a
matter of scant inches, for Biff could hear it whirr
past his ear and stop with a sharp thud in a tree trunk
just behind him.</p>
<p>A piercing yell seemed to echo the timely gunshot.
The Macu had dropped his bow and was gripping his
left arm with his right hand as he dived off into the
jungle. The bullet had jolted the bow from the Macu’s
grasp, sending the arrow wide.</p>
<p>Now, looking up the trail, Biff saw his father
hurrying in his direction, rifle in hand. Biff started to
meet him, shouting, “Dad!” only to have Mr. Brewster
wave him back. Next, Biff saw his father take a
quick shot at another Macu huntsman who had
popped up in the brush, only to drop from sight again.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_111">111</div>
<p>Now, from the other side of the trail, a brown
head and arm poked from among a mass of blossoms
that sprouted from the thin bark of a fallen tree
trunk. Biff heard the familiar call: “Biff, come this
way! Quick!”</p>
<p>It was Kamuka. Biff vaulted the log and took shelter
behind it, but tried to shake off Kamuka’s restraining
hand as he saw his father come along the
trail with Mr. Whitman and Jacome. All three were
taking long-range shots at distant Macus.</p>
<p>“I have to warn Dad,” Biff explained. “Serbot’s
party is just around the bend.”</p>
<p>“He knows,” assured Kamuka. “We were coming
back when we heard their guns. So we hurry
fast.”</p>
<p>“Coming back along this trail?”</p>
<p>“That’s right. When they couldn’t find us on the
main trail, they think maybe we take this one. So today,
they take it to look for us.”</p>
<p>“Then you sneaked ahead of Serbot’s party after
you ducked from sight. But how did you know to
take this side trail when you reached it?”</p>
<p>“Jacome leave special message that I understand.
Twist of grass and broken jungle branch are as good
as mirror signal, sometimes.”</p>
<p>Mr. Brewster and his fellow-marksmen had rifles
with a longer range than the Macu weapons. Also,
they were able to shift positions along the trail, preventing
the Macus from picking a point of attack.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_112">112</div>
<p>Serbot’s party, on the contrary, had first let the
Macus close in on them. Then, in solidly entrenching
themselves, they had lost all chance of mobility. Soon
they would have been surrounded if Mr. Brewster
and his companions hadn’t come along to scatter the
foe. Kamuka called Biff’s attention to that fact.</p>
<p>“Macu run like scared deer,” said Kamuka. “But
now your father is telling Mr. Whitman and Jacome
to stop shooting. Why?”</p>
<p>“I guess Dad wants to keep the Macus around as a
threat,” returned Biff grimly, “until he sees what Serbot
intends to do. Urubu might take a pot shot at
anybody.”</p>
<p>Kamuka gave a knowing nod. “You tell me!”</p>
<p>“Then you saw it was Urubu who fired after
you?”</p>
<p>“Sure, Biff. I look long enough to see him aim. I
tell Mr. Brewster all that happened, too.”</p>
<p>Evidently, Mr. Brewster had profited by Kamuka’s
report. He had reached the bend where he was in
direct sight of Serbot’s entrenched party, but he
was motioning for Whitman and Jacome to stay behind
him.</p>
<p>Serbot looked up from behind a pack, then gave a
wary glance in the direction the Macus had gone. A
few arrows came whizzing from high among the
tree boughs, but they landed wide. They were sufficient,
however, to shape Serbot’s next decision.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_113">113</div>
<p>Serbot ordered Pepito and Urubu to resume their
shooting after the Macus. At the same time, Serbot
clambered over the packs and came along the path to
meet Mr. Brewster, who in his turn ordered Mr.
Whitman and Jacome to renew their fire on the distant
head-hunters. Rifles barked in unison.</p>
<p>Biff and Kamuka joined their party in time to catch
a last glimpse of the routed head-hunters.</p>
<p>“They won’t stop until they reach their camp,”
declared Biff, “and maybe they’ll still keep on going
from there.”</p>
<p>“Until they reach the Rio Negro,” added Kamuka,
“and maybe they swim it quick.”</p>
<p>Mr. Brewster’s meeting with Serbot resulted in an
immediate, though guarded truce. Mr. Whitman and
Jacome moved up to back Mr. Brewster, while
Serbot was beckoning for Pepito and Urubu to come
and join him. The boys stayed in the background as
did Serbot’s bearers, none of whom had been injured
in the brief fray.</p>
<p>How many head-hunters might be lying dead in the
brush or limping away wounded, there was no telling,
but the battle had been won rapidly and effectively.
Serbot seemed duly appreciative as he purred:</p>
<p>“We owe you much, <i>amigo</i>. You have helped us.
Perhaps there is some way we can help you.”</p>
<p>“None at all,” Mr. Brewster said curtly. “Now
that we have driven off the Macus, we can go our
separate ways.”</p>
<p>“But how can you go anywhere? You have no
bearers.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_114">114</div>
<p>“They are waiting farther up the main trail, with
our equipment. We left them while we came back to
look for the boys.”</p>
<p>Serbot promptly raised a new line of inquiry.</p>
<p>“Perhaps you are surprised to see me here,” he suggested,
“So far from Manaus, where we last met.”</p>
<p>“Why should I be surprised?” returned Mr. Brewster.
“We are both looking for <i>balata</i>, aren’t we?”</p>
<p>“I am not looking for rubber,” Serbot declared. “I
am looking for a man named Joe Nara, who claims
to have a gold mine somewhere near the headwaters
of the Rio Negro. He came down to Manaus in a fast
boat shortly before you left your hotel.”</p>
<p>“Who told you I had left?”</p>
<p>“The manager at the Hotel Jacares. He also said
that your room appeared to have been robbed. The
next day your jeep was found near an empty boathouse.
I learned that Senhor Whitman had started
from there on a rubber exploration trip upriver.”</p>
<p>“And you thought I had joined him?”</p>
<p>“Exactly, Senhor. So I came by plane to find you.”</p>
<p>Biff realized that Serbot’s plane must have been one
of those that had passed over Nara’s cruiser on the
trip up the Rio Negro.</p>
<p>“After I hired Urubu as a guide,” continued Serbot,
“I learned that you had arrived on Nara’s cruiser. So
I assumed that you planned to meet Nara later.”</p>
<p>“So you bribed Luiz to kill me, to make sure of
meeting Nara first.”</p>
<p>“No, no, <i>Senhor</i>. I only wanted Luiz to delay your
safari, as Pepito and Urubu will tell you.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_115">115</div>
<p>Serbot gestured to the pair, and Pepito smiled
broadly while Urubu showed his usual ugly grin.</p>
<p>“I wanted to talk to Nara,” continued Serbot
earnestly, “because I had heard that he was willing to
sell his gold mine to the highest bidder. That is, if
he really has a gold mine. Perhaps you could tell me
that?”</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t know,” returned Mr. Brewster. “As
you say, I am only interested in rubber. And it’s time
that I was starting off to look for some.”</p>
<p>With that parting, Mr. Brewster motioned his companions
back toward the main trail. They had only
gone a dozen paces, when Mr. Brewster undertoned:</p>
<p>“Take turns glancing back to see what that crowd
is doing. I don’t trust any of them, particularly
Urubu.”</p>
<p>Biff took the first look and reported that Urubu,
like Serbot and Pepito, was leaning on his gun while
the trio apparently discussed what to do next. Soon
Kamuka reported the same thing. Then Mr. Whitman
looked back and announced that the group was now
out of sight.</p>
<p>Mr. Brewster called for a quicker pace, and when
they reached the main trail, they moved even faster—so
fast in fact, that Biff and Kamuka had to jog along
to keep up with the three men.</p>
<p>“We came back to look for you at dawn,” Biff’s
father told the boys, “so our bearers will be packed
and waiting for us when we reach our last night’s
campsite. If Serbot pushes his crew to overtake us,
they will be worn out, while we’ll be starting fresh.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_116">116</div>
<p>Mr. Whitman was feeling the heat, for he removed
his white helmet to mop his forehead.</p>
<p>“More likely,” he said, “Serbot will try to overtake
Nara by going up the bank of the Rio Negro. That
makes all this hurry useless.”</p>
<p>“No, we still must keep ahead of Serbot,” Mr.
Brewster insisted. “If Serbot has guessed where Nara
is going, he will move up the Rio Del Muerte while
we are coming down it.”</p>
<p>The bearers were waiting when they reached the
campsite, and fell promptly into line. There was little
difficulty in spurring them on. The mere mention
that the Macus were behind them was enough. During
the next few days, the bearers toiled steadily along
the inland trail. Apparently, there was nothing that
they feared more than the Macus.</p>
<p>Nothing, at least, until the safari reached a deep but
narrow stream that the bearers promptly identified as
Rio Del Muerte. Then they broke into a babble of
Indian talk that only Jacome was able to translate.</p>
<p>“They say they leave us here,” declared Jacome.
“It is death, they say, to go down this river.”</p>
<p>Mr. Brewster studied the narrow trail that flanked
the riverbank and dwindled off into the thick green
of the jungle.</p>
<p>“Tell them that if they go back the way they came,
they may meet the Macus.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_117">117</div>
<p>Jacome translated Mr. Brewster’s comment. The
bearers chattered back excitedly, and Jacome announced:</p>
<p>“They say they would rather meet Macu than stay
near Rio Del Muerte. They say they go home now.”</p>
<p>While Jacome spoke, the bearers picked up their
few belongings and started on their homeward trek.
Biff and Kamuka noted that they did not even stop to
fill their water bags from the stream that they seemed
to dread so much.</p>
<p>“What do you make of it, Kamuka?” Biff asked.</p>
<p>“I do not know,” Kamuka replied. “I cannot even
understand the things they say to Jacome, except that
they are afraid to go downriver.”</p>
<p>However, the expedition was far from being
stranded. The pack bags that the native bearers had
abandoned contained three rubber boats, complete
with aluminum seats and paddles. Biff and Kamuka
helped pump them full of air, so that they took on a
squatty, roundish shape.</p>
<p>Then, after a survey of the rubber flotilla, Mr.
Brewster decided to take Biff and Kamuka with him
in one boat, while Mr. Whitman and Jacome manned
the second, each carrying whatever equipment it
could bear. The third boat was converted into a raft
and loaded with all the remaining packs. Biff’s father
took it in tow, letting Hal Whitman pace the trip
downstream.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_118">118</div>
<p>To Biff, this was a fine change after the long,
sweaty hours on the trail when he and Kamuka had
helped relieve the bearers. They were floating
through a maze of jungle green that at times actually
arched into a tunnel above them.</p>
<p>Though heavily loaded, the boats moved easily,
more swiftly as the jungle banks narrowed and the
river itself deepened. Whitman was waving back
cheerily as they skimmed off the mileage. Suddenly
they saw him rise and wag his paddle frantically as he
shouted:</p>
<p>“Stay back—stay back—”</p>
<p>His words were drowned by a mighty roar as they
turned the bend and saw what Whitman had already
viewed. No wonder the natives called this the Rio
Del Muerte, the River of Death! Just ahead, a curved
crest of foam showed where the stream took a sudden
drop in the form of a mammoth waterfall—a sheer
plunge to doom on the rocks a hundred feet below!</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_119">119</div>
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