Adventure Magazine Cover — page 149: what you’re looking at

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

There the Peccaries loaded themselves with the rubber, cursing and growling be- cause there were not more men to carry it. They loaded me and Paulo, too, until we could scarcely walk under our burdens. The yellow man, scowled at Paulo’s broken arm a minute before he was loaded up, and fingered his knife as if half-minded to kill him because he was crippled. But then he looked him all over, and saw how big and strong he was, and decided to keep him alive because he would be able to carry much weight when the broken arm should mend; so he had that arm tied up roughly with creeping vines. When we had all we could carry the raid- ers took the weapons from the dead and hid them in the forest, where they could get them when they came again with more men. Then they started westward, driving us like beasts. For two days we marched, Paulo and I plodding on-silent and sullen. Paulo was suffering much from his broken arm, but our captors showed him nomercy. Because - of this he soon developed a fever, and be- tween this and his pain he could not sleep at night, but turned and groaned so that ¥. could not sleep much either. Of course, I did what little I could for him, and whispered encouragement, telling him we would live to repay these murderers for all they had done to us and our com- rades. But he said: “Chief, I shall not live. I feel that I shall see few more dawns, and I am glad.” And he was right. For whenever the band paused to drink from a stream they always let us drink first, and waited a while before taking water themselves, which puz- zled us somewhat. And on the third day Paulo drank heavily from a little brook while I lay where I dropped to snatch a mo- ment’s rest, too; tired even to creep to the water. And mee soon after that be began to writhe and squirm, while the Peccaries looked at him with gleaming eyes and nodded to one another as if they had ex- pected this. » I went quickly to him, and said— “Comrade, what is it?” He gasped— “Poison!” And soon he died in great pain. I turned on those caboclos then and cursed _ them. But they only aes and the leader said: “4 The Peccaries _ 135. “Why waste your temper? He was only a cripple. Do not curse us, but the Indians who poisoned the water because we took some of their women and made them happy. We have been very polite, and have always allowed you to drink first; is it not so?” Then he cackled his hideous laugh, and I burned to kill him. But there was nothing I could do, and so I swallowed my hate and went on with them, trying to comfort my- self with the thought that now Paulo was at, peace. .- WE REACHED a river, and they drew out canoes from concealments under the bank, and we went down- stream for quite a long distance. Then we landed on the western shore, hid the canoes again and kept on westward. Though I staggered on under my load like an unseeing brute, I was really using my eyes all the time and remembering our course, so that I could use it again by my- self if the chance came. And at last, when it seemed I could go no farther, we came intoa village which was the lair of the Peccaries. It was a filthy little town with bar- racdos built much like ours, except that these houses did not stand high on poles as ours do; for the place was in hilly country, far above the reach of the floods. There were few men about, but quite a number of women—Indian women, all young, some not bad-looking, but all seeming sullen and hopeless. The men were as hard-looking and foul-smelling as those with us, and they had the same white-daubed jaws. I soon learned from their talk with our leader, whom they called El Amarillo— probably because of his yellowness—that there were more robbers, but that they now were out on raids of their own, led by sub- chiefs. And during the next few days these bands came in, bringing some rubber, and a large amount of raw: gold which they had won by murders somewhere in_ the hills. In all, there were fully fifty of them, and I doubt if such a brutal crew ever was gath- ered before in any place. They were beasts —beasts that walked and talked like men, but had no human hearts. Nobody paid much attention to me, ex- cept to curse me or throw vile jests at me, and see that I did not escape. This I made no effort to do, for two reasons: I was so - a ee * a = 7 : pt ee A= we a , \ VI ]/ \ . . = - al eS a <_— ae eg Ply aint ae a nl } | (| |] ~ | | = = ang - “a <> — > a le ina me foe ee - ww EF | LI fn : | = | \ 3 be" 43 < car S ag