wn from the tree.

"Now the Peccaries before this had stolen some women from a Mayoruna
_maloca_ and were treating them like dogs--I saw one of those women
brutally murdered while I was captive in the outlaw camp. I managed to
tell the two hunters I could lead them to the Peccary stronghold and
give them revenge. They carried me to their _maloca_--I could not
walk--and told their chief what I had said. The chief caused my hurts to
be cured, and then I kept my promise.

"I guided the savages to the outlaw camp; they surrounded it, and in the
fight that followed every Peccary was killed except their leader. Now
that cannibal chief has not forgotten me--"

"Wait a minute," protested Knowlton. "Did that Peccary leader escape?"

"No. He was kept alive until a big herd of peccaries was met. Then,
because he called himself 'King of the Peccaries,' he was nailed to a
tree, as I had been, and told to make the peccaries take out the thorns.
The wild pigs tore him into ribbons with their tusks."

Calmly he donned his shirt again. Tim, staring at him, twitched his
shoulders as if a chill had gone down his back.

"Ugh!" muttered Knowlton.

"So now," Lourenco resumed, "if I can find that chief again--he may have
been killed in some tribal fight before now--he may be friendly to all
of us. Or he may not. Savages cannot be relied on with much certainty.
But if any of the Mayorunas will help us, he will. It is worth trying."

"And if he is not friendly--" Knowlton paused.

"We do not come back," Pedro finished. "Have you a better plan?"

All shook their heads.

"Laurenco's idea is excellent," said McKay. "I was thinking along the
same line, though I did not know he had any such friendly relations with
a chief. That makes it all the more advisable to try it, unless we find
the Raposa first. We, of course, will not land at the place where
Schwandorf told us to go ashore, seven days from here."

"By no means," Lourenco concurred. "In five days we leave the river and
travel along the _ygarape_. If we go to the _maloca_ it will be from
another direction than the river."

He began preparing to travel. The others also went about the work of
breaking camp. By the time the canoes were loaded the mists had lifted
and the river lay open and empty before them. In the bush around and
beyond, gloom still lay thick and the forest life yelped, howled,
clattered, and wailed. But out on the water it was broad day, and far
overhead sounded