stealers of his women and that the German was with them,
knowing that if he believed me he would go on the war trail against them
and kill them all. But if Senor Tim had not befriended me I should have
died too soon to tell my tale. That is all, senores. Now can you spare a
little more tobacco?"

They could and they promptly did. With a new cigarette glowing he lay
back and looked quizzically at the women lined up before Monitaya.

"How many men has Schwandorf?" asked McKay.

"About twenty in all, Capitan. There were eight in his crew, and they
were to meet a dozen more at a place on the Peruvian side."

"All riflemen?"

"_Si._ He brought many cartridges for them. They are to raid tribe
houses of these people."

"Capture women and run them into Peru?"

"_Si._" Jose yawned as if speaking of a deal in salt fish.

The Americans looked thoughtfully around the big house. They saw that
every man near them was inspecting some kind of weapon--making sure that
bow cords were unfrayed, that arrow heads and spear points were firm,
that the long blowguns had received no cast from suspension, and that
darts were absolutely straight and true. The strong but cruel faces of
the warriors were stamped with malignant hatred of the Red Bone tribe
and the Blackbeard who enslaved their women. The command to prepare for
a march at dawn had not been withdrawn.

"We'll be expected to go, too, and I'd sure like another crack at
Umanuh, not to mention the Schwandorf outfit," said Knowlton, "but we
have friend Rand on our hands now, and our first duty is to get him out
of here safely."

"Aw, Looey, have a heart! I 'ain't had no action since that li'l' scrap
down the river, and I got to have some excitement before we blow. What's
more, we can't beat it now, with Monitaya dependin' on us to fight on
his side. He'd git sore, and I don't blame him."

His superior officers and the Brazilians frowned. Every man of them
itched to close with the enemy in one final decisive battle. Yet--

"What 'll we do with Rand?" Knowlton voiced the general thought.

The green eyes of the Raposa turned to him, rested long on his, traveled
deliberately along the other faces. And then, to the utter astonishment
of all, the dumb spoke.

"I'll fight," said Rand.

Speechless, the men around him stared. His face was inscrutable as ever,
his eyes fathomless, his voice flat and toneless. But slowly he raised
his hands as if holding a bow; twitched his right th