Adventure Magazine, Mid-September 1917 — page 72: what you’re looking at

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

7O and further away from the place where this horrible thing had happened. The great affair was to go—and go swiftly. He seemed never to tire. He scarcely felt the weight of gold upon his shoulders although he bent beneath it. He was indifferent to pain of any kind. His cupidity was almost as great as his fear and he hung to the sack of gold with a grip of steel. It was weeks before he took account of the direction in which he was traveling. He was going toward the east. He had slackened his pace now to a dog-trot. He had been grasping buds and berries and filling his stomach with them as he passed. He was growing weaker and he wondered why he had not died of hunger, although he had felt scarcely any hunger. His fear had not diminished. There were many other things in the forests to fear besides the Indians. But his caution grew more pronounced. He became as stealthy as a tiger. He slipped through the jungles like a shadow. And this burden of gold made great saddle sores upon his shoulders and back. These sores scabbed and cracked and rotted with infection yet he bore the weight grimly. evey HE HAD traveled for several pe months. He was a creature of fear. Strange instincts that he did not know were within him became alive. These were the instincts of hisape ancestors. He knew the poison fruits and berries at a glance and he knew which plants had edible roots and bulbs. He was a civilized man yet a subconscious part of him had thrown back centuries into the past. There was nothing that linked him to civilization ex- cept the bag of gold he carried and suffered under. At night he climbed into the tree tops and hung there shivering until morn- ing. There were weeks in succession during which he did not sleep for an instant. He was making good time and would have made the coast in the course of six months, for it was only about three thousand miles as the crow travels had he not had to cross a great swamp or marsh. This marsh was several hundred miles across. It was dotted with hummocks and its waters were inky black. It was warmer in the marsh than in the mountains and its waters were alive with strange reptiles. He started across this swamp, springing from hummock to hummock and from tree Adventure to tree. .Often he traveled for weeks and coming to.some place which was impassable on account of the depth of the water and the absence of hummocks and trees, had to retrace his steps. In this fashion he lost track of direction and was lost for months at atime. But at last after what seemed like ages and his hair and beard had grown gray from disappointment he won his way through the marsh and into the level plains. He hastened toward the coast. His clothing had worn out and rotted upon his body. He wrapped, the blanket about him as a protection from sharp briers and gradually it was worn down to a small threadbare piece no larger than a towel. : In the low country mosquitoes and flies swarmed upon him and gave him high fevers. The beri-berti was numbing his limbs. Strange thoughts came into his head, yet he concentrated his mind and fought them away. He was a craven but the will to live was strong in him. He concentrated on making the coast. If he could only get to the coast where he could get a ship for home! This was what held him to- gether. He began to strike small towns. These people were half-civilized Caboclos and would not have harmed him. They would have helped him. But he feared them on ac- count of the gold he carried. In New Orleans he had once heard of a man killing another for a few dollars. So he slunk around the small settlements and traveled by night to keep from being seen. He stumbled upon a railroad and he shouted with joy for the first time since the day he had dashed into the stream to gather the gold. He hid himself in a thicket beside the track until night and he set out on a trot following the road east. This was near Sao José dos Campos. It was about four hundred and thirty miles to Rio de Janeiro. He made it in less than ten nights. He would have made it sooner had he not had to dodge the track guards who are stationed every few miles and whom he kept watch of by their big lan- terns. A few miles out from the city he had left the watch and slunk around through the hills to the back of the city. Here he waited until morning and stood picking out a route through the city to the water-front. COMGHOO C©