“You weren’t with the Big Boss as long as I was, see, and maybe you never heard his orders to steer clear of green rings, ’specially emerald ones. Lord amighty, his brother shot a guy one night fer taking them two rings.”

“Shot him!”

Through the Flying Buddies’ minds flashed the recollection of the night when the De Castro plane had been driven through a raging storm only to be brought down by members of the Big Boss’ gang, including young Gordon. That was the time when the four were bound on a ledge and a fellow who wore a tight green costume and close fitting mask, had appeared, called the men to task for what they had done, and later been frightened away from the spot by the ingenious Ynilea.

“Yes. He said his brother’s orders were not to touch the rings, and don’t I know once in Chicago a guy brought one in, said he’d picked it up in a hock shop, and the Big Boss kicked it through the window into the lake, that’s what he done.”

“Yeh. Well, what do you reckon’s the matter with them rings?”

“Sounds like a lot of stewed tripe to me,” declared the chap who was determined to possess himself of the jewels.

“Maybe it does,” retorted Mills, “But I’m tellin’ you to leave ’em be. I asked one of the lieuts en’ he told me that a long time ago, when there wasn’t no white folks in the U. S. er down in these parts either, there were rich Indians.”

“Go on, Indians aint rich.”

“Shut up, some of ’em were and are. Well, the whites came along, and saw them all dressed up in gold feathers, the women wearing ropes of diamonds and pearls big as eggs. It made ’em sore so much wealth goin’ ter waste, so they shot a mess of ’em and took the stuff. Only a few was left and they were good and sore, so they dug hiding places, deep ones in these here mountains, and they took a lot of the best green stones they could find and made ’em into rings—nice ones that a fella would like to want fer himself en maybe fer his girl. Then, when the rings was all ready they took them to their temple on top of one of the peaks, and they prayed fer weeks and weeks, then they cussed them rings up one side and down the other. Cussed everybody who got a look at one, cussed all his family, and put some extra cussin’ on the white guy who carried one, even fer a minute. Then they prayed some more to make it stronger, and they cooked up a lot of meat on the temple and the smoke all went straight into the sky, meanin’ that the 

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