back.

"It's Mauko," he said. "Kwaque did for him, and he crawled in there and
died. That's two accounted for. There are ten more. Don't you think
you've got enough of it?"

She nodded.

"It isn't nice," she said. "I'll go back and wait for you with the
horses."

"But you can't go alone. Take two of the men."

"Then I'll go on," she said. "It would be foolish to weaken the pursuit,
and I am certainly not tired."

The trail bent to the right as though the runaways had changed their mind
and headed for the Balesuna. But the trail still continued to bend to
the right till it promised to make a loop, and the point of intersection
seemed to be the edge of the plantation where the horses had been left.
Crossing one of the quiet jungle spaces, where naught moved but a
velvety, twelve-inch butterfly, they heard the sound of shots.

"Eight," Joan counted. "It was only one gun. It must be Papehara."

They hurried on, but when they reached the spot they were in doubt. The
two horses stood quietly tethered, and Papehara, squatted on his hams,
was having a peaceful smoke. Advancing toward him, Sheldon tripped on a
body that lay in the grass, and as he saved himself from falling his eyes
lighted on a second. Joan recognized this one. It was Cosse, one of
Gogoomy's tribesmen, the one who had promised to catch at sunset the pig
that was to have baited the hook for Satan.

"No luck, Missie," was Papehara's greeting, accompanied by a disconsolate
shake of the head. "Catch only two boy. I have good shot at Gogoomy,
only I miss."

"But you killed them," Joan chided. "You must catch them alive."

The Tahitian smiled.

"How?" he queried. "I am have a smoke. I think about Tahiti, and
breadfruit, and jolly good time at Bora Bora. Quick, just like that, ten
boy he run out of bush for me. Each boy have long knife. Gogoomy have
long knife one hand, and Kwaque's head in other hand. I no stop to catch
'm alive. I shoot like hell. How you catch 'm alive, ten boy, ten long
knife, and Kwaque's head?"

The scattered paths of the different boys, where they broke back after
the disastrous attempt to rush the Tahitian, soon led together. They
traced it to the Berande, which the runaways had crossed with the clear
intention of burying themselves in the huge mangrove swamp that lay
beyond.

"There is no use our going any farther," Sheldon said. "Seelee will turn
out his village and hunt them out of that. They'l