food.

“Anything interesting?” Jim whispered.

“No. See the other chap?” Bob asked.

“Not yet.”

Their tasks were resumed and by that time Caldwell saw the stranger walking away from his fire. He seemed to have appeased his own appetite, but he did not put out the blaze, merely piled coals over it, left some sort of cooking utensil near by, then started briskly toward the great stones which were all that remained of that section of the edifice. His jaws were working vigorously and in his hand was a hunk of bread and meat which he doubtless determined to consume as he went. The boy wondered what he was doing in the locality, then suddenly he thought there was something familiar about that striding figure. He stared an instant longer as the man drew closer, then he gave a soft whistle.

“What is it?” Jim whispered. Bob sat up, or rather wriggled back.

“Take a good look at that lad,” he said, “I’ll watch here.” They exchanged places, and Jim scowled when his eyes rested on the hurrying man. “Ever see him before?”

“Surely,” Jim answered excitedly.

“The thoughtful lad who carted the gas to the plane when we were on the Island coming down with your dad?”

“I’ll say so,” Jim answered. He distinctly remembered the day in Montego when he had gone to the little town to purchase extra gas. A group of children had been tormenting a hunch-back but had been stopped in the midst of their sport by a military-looking chap who had vanquished them in short order by the effective use of his cane. Later, the seemingly kindly man had volunteered to cart the heavy cans in his automobile to where the plane was roosting. He was most cordial and obliging, but the Flying Buddies later discovered that he had secretly brought not only the gas but the powerful dwarf, who stowed away in the “Lark” when he got a chance. Hours later, when they were over the Caribbean Sea, he attacked them viciously. Jim had been the one who fought and finally sent the rascal off the “Lark” but it had been one experience he expected he should never forget, and now he was staring at the man who had made such a villainous attempt to prevent Mr. Austin from reaching Cuzco. The recollection made him shudder and he wondered how the fellow happened to be in this particular section of the globe.

“He won’t be a friend of ours,” Jim said softly.

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