sunken so deep in his head that they looked like burnt holes in a blanket, his huge mouth was wide open and from the upper jaw was the lone tooth. His only garment was an irregular bit of tiger skin suspended from a narrow woven grass belt which looked as if it might once have been decorated with a long fringe but only a few of the strands of its ancient grandeur remained. It was impossible to tell, either by his features or color if the man was a native Indian or one of white blood who had been tanned and re-tanned through the long years spent in the tropical climate. He stood perfectly still facing the plane but the boys were not sure if he was staring at them or not.

“Suppose he’s alive?” Jim whispered.

“He looks as if he’d been there as long as the trees,” said Bob, then he raised his voice. “You’re looking hearty,” he called. At that the queer creature of the forest gave a slight shudder which went from the top of his bald head to the soles of his bare feet, one bony arm was raised a few inches from the side of his body, and almost instantly he disappeared. “Exit, the gentlemen from where!”

“Where in the name of Mark Antony did he go?” exclaimed Austin in amazement.

“Reckon we came, he saw, and fled,” supplemented Bob. “Let’s have a look about. Perhaps we’ll have the pleasure of seeing him again, but we don’t want to get too far from the plane, Old Timer, and we’d better watch our step. We are two little lads far, far from the home corrals and my guess is that that lad wasn’t impressed with our looks.”

“Too bad,” lamented Bob.

“Yes, reckon you wanted to study that vegetable,” Jim grinned.

“He didn’t look like any variety of life I’ve ever run across.”

The Sky Buddies climbed out of the cock-pit carefully surveying their surroundings and listening intently for a sound of the vanished ancient, but if he had never been near the spot it could not have been more quiet; not even the buzz of an insect disturbed the silence. From the air the boys had soared above a dense forest and it was only by chance that Caldwell had noticed the small clear space and suggested that they land and see what it was like. The clearing was less than an acre of hard soil with a ridge of sharp rocks which protruded like saw-teeth diagonally across. It looked as if sharp-edged slabs of stone had been dropped when the soil was less packed; or it might, hundreds of years before, been the top-most edge of a wall so 

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