“Macu kill for head,” added Ubi.

At last the Xanadu reached an old, dilapidated landing, where half a dozen men stood beside some huts on the high bank. Mr. Brewster indicated one man who was wearing khaki shorts, white shirt, and pith helmet.

“That’s Whitman,” said Mr. Brewster. “He’s too far away to hail him.” He brought out a leather case containing a flat metal mirror and handed it to Biff.

“Whitman understands Morse,” Mr. Brewster said. “Signal him to send out a boat for us, Biff.”

Biff turned the mirror toward the sun, then slanted it in Whitman’s direction. Covering the mirror with his hand, he flashed the message in dots and dashes: S-E-N-D B-O-A-T.

Whitman pointed to a canoe on the shore. Biff watched two figures hurry down and clamber into the craft, a small figure at the bow, a big one in the stern. They paddled out to the waiting cruiser and swung alongside. The man in the stern, a husky, barrel-chested native, furnished a broad, friendly smile.

“Me Jacome,” he announced.

The bow paddler was an Indian boy about Biff’s age and size. He was wearing faded blue denim trousers, ragged at the knees, and a shirt that matched it in color and tattered sleeves. He reached up to grab the cruiser’s side, adding, “I’m Kamuka.”

Biff extended his own hand and responded, “I’m Biff.” In that unexpected handshake, the two boys established an immediate friendship. They grinned at each other as Biff helped Kamuka swing the canoe about so that Jacome could hold the stern alongside.

As soon as Biff and his father stepped into the canoe the Xanadu sped off like a startled creature. Joe Nara at the wheel, waved good-by, while Igo and Ubi simply stared back like a pair of reversed figureheads. Jacome and Kamuka did fast work with their paddles to prevent the canoe from tipping in the cruiser’s swell. Then they headed toward the dock.

Kamuka looked over his shoulder and said to Biff, “I like the way you send message. You show me how?”

Biff nodded. “I’ll show you how.”

During the short paddle, Mr. Brewster talked to Jacome in Portuguese and Biff, listening closely, understood most of what was said. Mr. Brewster asked about the luggage and was told that it had arrived by air. Also, he wanted to know if 

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