om the _tambo_ itself came a
low mumble of voices. Knowlton stepped swiftly into it. As noiselessly
as they had gone the two bushmen had returned.

In his usual concise phrases McKay was informing them of the capture of
the Raposa. With his back to the stream and the flashlight held close to
his body, he played the light for an instant on the face of the still
unconscious man. Then, once more in darkness, he asserted:

"Now that we have him, we must get out of here. Only chance to do that
is to get the canoes. With them we can at least be away from this town
by sunrise, and it will take the Red Bones just so much longer to find
our trail where we take to the bush. We'll get a flying start that way.
Anything else to suggest?"

"That is the best plan, Capitao," Lourenco agreed. For the first time
since the Americans had known him his voice held a note of suppressed
excitement. "It is the only plan worth while. And I do not think we
shall have to take to our legs soon--if at all. I believe this creek
connects with that which flows past the Monitaya _malocas_. We have
learned some things. _Por Deus!_ If only we had known the Raposa was
here!"

"Why?"

"Because then we could have brought company with us. Senhores, guess
what the barred house holds."

"Well?"

"Women of the Mayorunas! Girls stolen from Monitaya and other
settlements!"

"Jumping Judas!" ejaculated Knowlton. "Are you sure?"

"Sure, comrades! These foul Red Bones are the men who have been lurking
around the Mayoruna tribe houses and capturing girls who went into the
bush. They have taken the prisoners to the water, where the trails
always were lost and where they could find hiding places until night,
then drive their canoes past the clearings and get out of that country.
So there must be some water connection by which these men travel, and by
which we too can travel. If we go downstream we are almost sure to find
it by daylight."

"But why--what's the idea of their stealing the girls? For victims? If
so, how are the girls still alive?"

"Do you not see, senhor?" Pedro broke in, impatiently. "Did not Umanuh
ask if we would pay more than the other Blackbeard for the Raposa? What
other Blackbeard?"

"Schwandorf!" the Americans blurted, simultaneously.

"Not so loud! Schwandorf, of course! Umanuh works with the German. He
catches girls by stealth and sells them to the German to add to his
slave gangs. While the Mayorunas all blame the Peruvians for