n end. Fortunately I had made memoranda covering the life and
customs before this.

CHAPTER X

THE FIGHT BETWEEN THE MANGEROMAS AND THE PERUVIANS

I was sitting outside the _maloca_ writing my observations in the
note-book which I always carried in my hunting-coat, when two young
hunters hurried toward the Chief, who was reclining in the shade of
a banana-tree near the other end of the large house. It was early
afternoon, when most of the men of the Mangeromas were off hunting in
the near-by forests, while the women and children attended to various
duties around the village. Probably not more than eight or ten men
remained about the _maloca_.

I had recovered from my sickness and was not entirely devoid of
a desire for excitement--the best tonic of the explorer. The two
young hunters with bows and arrows halted before the Chief. They
were gesticulating wildly; and although I could not understand what
they were talking about, I judged from the frown of the Chief that
something serious was the matter.

He arose with unusual agility for a man of his size, and shouted
something toward the opening of the _maloca_, whence the men were
soon seen coming with leaps and bounds. Anticipating trouble, I
also ran over to the Chief, and, in my defective Mangeroma lingo,
inquired the cause of the excitement. He did not answer me, but,
in a greater state of agitation than I had previously observed in
him, he gave orders to his men. He called the "wireless" operator
and commanded him to bring out his precious apparatus. This was soon
fastened to the gunwales of the canoe where I had seen it used before,
on my trip to the neighbouring tribe, and soon the same powerful,
xylophonic sounds vibrated through the forest. It was his intention
to summon the hunters that were still roaming around the vicinity, by
this "C.Q.D." message. The message I could not interpret nor repeat,
although it was not nearly as complex as the one I had learned
before. After a while, the men came streaming into the _maloca_
from all directions, with anxiety darkening their faces. I had now my
first inkling of what was the cause of the commotion, and it did not
take me long to understand that we were in danger from some Peruvian
_caboclos_. The two young men who had brought the news to the Chief
had spied a detachment of Peruvian half-breeds as they were camping
in our old _tambo_ No. 6, the one we had built on our sixth day out
from Floresta. There wer