Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 67: what you’re looking at

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

A POUND OF RUBBER. 507 riot, and even while he was stamping and cursing this savage very boldly stepped from the jungle into the shadow of Pedro’s tambo, forced an entrance, and freed his savage woman. The men saw a flash of brown bodies disappearing into the darkness of the forest and sent a volley of rifle bullets in pursuit, but without result. That next day there was no working at the rubber. Instead, Pedro sent his caboclos scouring the jungle for the run- aways. They knew that the young chief was hampered with many pounds of heavy iron chain, and that he had no weapons, so they thought they could easily find him. But he was far more cunning than they knew. He wound the chain with grass so it would not clank as he walked, and hid his trail so cleverly that not even a jaguar could find it. It was not until the end of the second day that the men came upon any evidence of the runaways. Then one of them found the heavy iron chain beside a small stream. They discovered where the man and woman had laid securely hidden while they worked at the iron leg band with a rough stone. The job must have been long and tedious, but in the end the shackle was worn through and the young chief was free. With those savages loose there was only one thing for Pedro to do. He should have hastily’packed up his rubber, marched to the river and embarked for home before the Mangeromas, hot for revenge, came to exterminate them. But Pedro could not de- cide to leave the rubber. He reasoned that without weapons the young chief would starve in the jungle and his hunters had reported that the raided maloca was burned and abandoned. He must have a few more days at the rich harvest! Never did ma- chetes ply more quickly, and the forest fair- ly echoed with the falling rubber trees. The remaining savages were beaten with sticks to make work the faster, and the two wo- men were set to work a a: the gum to the defumadores. Bi-to-ya, and his savage woman, once free from the chain, slipped through the forest as easily as monkeys, and hurried back to their village. When they reached there the maloca was in ashes and the tribe had hidden away in the far jungle. It would be days and days before they might find their comrades, and by that time it would be too late to rescue their captured la men, This young chief was a diabo, like all the rest of the Mangeromas. He knew not feat and his red heart burned for savage ven- geance because of Pedro’s blow. And— I speak from a thorough knowledge of their customs—it was thus he planned his mur- derous business: In the ruins of the maloca he found an earthen pot and set about brewing a devil’s broth. From a peculiar vine growing be- ide the creek he collected a handful of bark. A bush yielded certain purple berries? Irom the jungle he brought the fat roots of another plant. These he crushed to pulp and set simmering over a fire, adding a handful of brown beetles to complete the charm. While the woman tended this pot he set about making himself a weapon to combat with the repeating rifles. From the bank of the stream he plucked a tall reed and with a stone knife cut off a length of about ten feet, thus making a long, slendet, hollow tube. This tube was too light and brittle et handle, so he cunningly provided it with a strong cover by hollowing out a bamboo of the same length, then slipped the tube in* side. This kept the tube straight and guarded it against breakage. Next he fash- ioned a mouthpiece from a section of a wild gourd and his wonderful blow-gun was com- plete and ready for its victims. Then he made from the leaf stems of a palm a bun- dle of little thin arrows, each about ten inches long. These he sharpened and notched at one end and fitted with a tuft of wild cotton, so that it would fit the tube of his blow-gun. By the time this work was done the con- tents of the pot had simmered down to a thick brown sirup, and into it this savage devil dipped the notched tips of his little arrows. As I said, Pedro was driving his men with all speed, fearing that the wild Mangero- mas would arrive any day. Give them credit, sen/or, for being very brave, for those men did not fear the savages. Those Gomicbookstcom