sitting on a camp stool beside a tent. In front of him was a small anvil, and he gave it a ringing stroke with a hammer as the boys watched. Kamuka was the first to recognize the hawkish face that turned in Luiz’s direction as the guide approached.

Kamuka whispered, “Urubu!”

Biff had scarcely noticed Urubu. Instead, he was staring in total amazement at two other men who had come from the tent.

“One of those men is Nicholas Serbot,” he told Kamuka. “The other is his sidekick, Big Pepito. But they were in Manaus, the night we left there. How did they get here?”

“Airplane come upriver ahead of you,” replied Kamuka. “Stop at maloca near rubber camp.”

By maloca Kamuka meant a native village some distance back from the Rio Negro. Quickly, Biff exclaimed:

“That’s where they met Urubu! They must have paid him to make trouble for us!”

Kamuka gave a chuckle. “Look like they pay Luiz, too.”

Urubu was introducing Luiz to Serbot and Pepito. In the background were several native bearers, apparently under orders to keep their distance. Serbot and Pepito were watching them to make sure they did. Biff took advantage of that.

“We can move up closer,” he told Kamuka. “Maybe close enough to hear what they are saying.”

Kamuka silently agreed, for he crawled along with Biff until they reached the very fringe of the thinner brush, only a dozen yards from where the four men stood. There, Kamuka whispered, “This far enough.”

The grass here was tall and studded with brilliant flowers and shrubs that had cropped up since the brush was thinned. By keeping almost flat on their stomachs, the boys remained completely hidden. Most of the discussion was in Portuguese, with a sprinkling of dialect, so between them Biff and Kamuka were able to understand most of what was said.

“I come for money, Senhor,” Luiz told Serbot. “Like Urubu said you would give me if I delay safari.”

“You will get your money later,” promised Serbot. “You can’t spend it here in the jungle anyway. If you even showed it, Brewster and Whitman would wonder where it came from.”

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