Adventure Magazine Cover — page 104: what you’re looking at

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

102 “Graca Deus, it is true,” I said. “We can hold them for a month if need be.” And TI laughed. For the situation was not without humor. There were those brigands, having stolen our ‘agua nuts; and here were we, able to keep them there at our will till we should hit upon some plan of recovering our property. And the plan, after much talk during the following day, was that I should come down with all speed, paddling a double crew night and day, to Manaos, where I have friends, who are even now ready to come back with me and take back what is ours. Only one further danger I foresaw before I came; and that was that some of them might make the farther shore under cover of the night and the bulk of the ship, and so row down-stream and across again and men creep upon the Pelloroxo through the jungle. But he was supremely confident. He leaned back against his comfortable bed of leaves and lighted first one of those terrible cigarets. Then he blew smoke into the clean jungle and grinned without care. “Psha,”’ said he. “Have no fear on that score. I will post my Indians in a circle to watch. They have their blow guns. I Shall be safer than in a city. Have no fear, amigo; but go swiftly and return with help. The ship at least will be here. I can guar- antee you that. And I will be here, keeping watch with my rifle and my good Indians _ Over our wealth. And of those robbers, ' some may still be here. Some, I think, may be dead; others may well get a bellyful be- fore our little bickering is over, and they may stealaway. What matter? They can notsteal away our cargo any more.” SO there he is, Senhor. Your Fire-Head son, eating and drink- | ing and sleeping with a rifle across _ his knees, holding down a ship load of robbers. And here am I, ready to laugh at the situation; for all things have Adventure now turned in our faver, and the situation is in our hands and complete. For, look — you, this is that Fire-Head’s plan, a plan which has my approval. That I charter here quickly a small river steamer and go up with our friends and transfer our stolen cargo right at the sand spit. Come with us, Senhor, to witness this jest that will be your son’s triumph. For © consider what will then happen. We shall chase those robbers, any who may still re- main, into the jungles. We shall not hunt them down; for we are not vindictive. Dientro, let them suffer a while from the insects before we let them return to the com- munity of respectable folk. When that time comes they will have learned to leave alone such men as Theophilo da Costa and Pelloroxo. Ana the Da Sylvestra, if we do not have to kill him, being caught with his charter of the regular steamer, must needs accept for transport the castanha of all those other padréos at whatever price he can get— which, ho-ho, it will not be much, I can tell you. So shall the goodwill of the rest of that community of Santa Isabel swing back to us. And the last words of that incorrigible Fire-Head to me as I left him, were: “Tn that institute in my home town they taught me that the third most important principle for conducting a business is, so to conduct it that you have the respect and goodwill of your neighbors. Por Deus, a true teaching. But he did not assimilate it for a long time. Not till he came up to us of the upper rivers. But he has learned much. He has learned, and he is established now as one of us. King of the tagua he will be. And I, I shall have a one-third interest in the king’s business. Come with us then, Senhor, and join in the fiesta which we shall make with our friends over that kingship. Gomichbooks.com ree etapa