“And here you’ve been ever since, huh?”
“Here I’ve been. But tell me about yourself?”
Hal told him briefly, yet missing no important detail, and summed it upwith his singular interview with the Coronel Goncalves.
“And here I am, Rene, too. By special permission of Col. Calves Liverout there. You can be certain there are rats in his garret. He talkedlike a madman.”
“Great Heavens, Keen! You don’t think he really intends to play the_Pallidas_ onto my sister and grandfather, do you? Not that!”
“Rene, I wouldn’t tell you only that I think he means to do just that. Itell you the bird isn’t right! He means to make short work of us, too.”
Renan clenched his hands together.
“I’ve got friends in this outfit—all these men trust me and like me.They liked Ceara, too, but, like everyone else, they fear Goncalves likepoison. But maybe I can work something, Keen. Don’t get discouraged.”
“I’m not, only Calves Liver told me the glad news that Ceara died offever.”
“He lied,” Renan muttered darkly. “He’s had the poor man shot. He wasjealous of everybody. Now that he’s got Ceara out of the way, andmyself—he can rule. _Maybe._ We’ll see, Keen—we’ll see!”
“And what a mess for a couple of Americans to get into, huh? Excuse methough, Rene, I forgot.”
“Don’t, Keen! I rather like being taken for an American. If I had to doit all over again....”
“Yes?”
“Oh, I went into this more because I liked Ceara. It was fascinating andGrandfather talked radically to me. I got to think we were abused, butnow I see differently—I have ever since I met you on the field that day.I got to realize that we Civil War refugees are nothing but a lot ofsoreheads and anything but a sporting lot. Our grandparents andgreat-grandparents who are responsible for bringing us down to thisdesolate corner of the world weren’t big enough to stay on in the Southand come up smiling like the rest. Oh, how I see it! We’ve been broughtup on bitterness and prejudice and our terrible poverty’s made us thinkeven worse things about this land of our adoption. But no more. If Iever get out of here I’m going to the Brazilian Government and get downon my knees for forgiveness. Goncalves has made me see what a pack offools we are. What does he care about political freedom or a square dealfor the jungle plantation owner? Not a darn thing. Goncalves is rootingfor Goncalves!”
“Rene, you’re simply great! My uncle would be tickled pink to hear thatkind of talk. I do believe you’d be given a full pardon by bothgovernments if you’d only tell who the munitions manufacturers are fromwhom Ceara got his stuff.”
“I couldn’t tell you from Adam, Keen. That’s the work Goncalves did. Heused my name, that’s all. So I got the credit for it, eh? No, what I didwas to run up and down the jungle for recruits, that’s all. Now you’veheard it all.”
“Well, my story is that, if we get out of here, the most sensible thingfor you to do is to get that mine working and see that your kid sisterlives in a country where she’s going to be healthy. I never saw anybodyso sad—honest!”
“I know it—I know it, Hal. And I will! I’ll see that I do! Tonight!We’ll get out of here somehow!”
And somehow they did!
CHAPTER XXXIV A FEAR
Hal was witness to a miracle that midnight. It was one of those rareoccasions when a vast body of men are all inspired with one thought, onemotive at one time. And Renan, that friend of all men, achieved it.
It began in the early evening with the sentry guarding their hut. Renanwhispered to him what horrors the self-styled Coronel was planning forthe Pemberton family that evening and what extreme measures would haveto be taken to prevent death and destruction.
Toward mid-evening, after Coronel Goncalves left the camp with a pickedguard, word had gone around to every man. By midnight they were allassembled to carry out a common purpose, Hal and Renan in the lead.
A half hour later a line of dark canoes glided silently and swiftlythrough the water. Overhead, the stars gleamed and from the surroundingjungle strange noises came and went. Now and again the men mutteredsoftly, but on the whole there was a deep silence.
After an interminable time they reached the _Pallida Mors_ and Hal heardRenan sigh with relief.
“Not so long now,” he said gravely. “If only....”
“Hope for the best, Rene,” Hal said comfortingly.
But the best was not pleasant, for when they sailed through the dawn andinto the settlement, there was naught but charred bits of thatched hutsto tell the tale. Overhead, the sky was black with vultures.
Renan sickened at the sight, but Hal kept up and searched every inch ofthe place. The Indian servants had expired, each with a fancy poisonedarrow in his heart. But of Felice and her grandfather there was not asign.
“We’re going up to pay the _Pallidas_ a visit, Rene,” Hal said darkly.“And unless they cut short their ceremonies we ought to be on time.”
“You may be right about it, Hal,” Renan said anxiously. “I know they’rehours sometimes with those ceremonies for driving out the evil spirits.Perhaps poor Felice and Grandfather....”
“Might be the cause of future happiness,” Hal said, trying to be ascheerful as he could. “Sometimes things _do_ happen for the best, evenwhen they look to be their worst.”
“These _Pallida_ Indians are the worst of their kind, Hal,” Renanreminded him. “Their superstitions are limitless.”
“I know. I’ve given quite a lot of thought to this so-called _Phantom ofDeath River_.”
“The jaguar in whom my father’s supposed to have been reincarnated?”
“Yes,” Hal answered thoughtfully. “They were pretty tricky thinking thatup. But do you know what, Rene? I think that they made it up to keeppeople from getting too snoopy about that poor wretch in the hut.”
“The demented native?”
“Native?” Hal returned. “Listen, Rene—I heard that supposed native cryright near me and it didn’t sound any more native than you do. Thatwretch had the cry of a white man, not a native.”
“_Hal!_”
“Yes. Believe it or not. They even tried to make me believe those crieswere from the jaguar, but I know what I heard. It was a white man’scry.”
“Why didn’t you say so before?”
“Because I couldn’t quite bring myself to thinking that such a horriblethought could be true. Besides, Felice assured me that it was a nativeand consequently none of the white man’s concern. But somehow yesterdayand today—especially after I talked with Calves Liver this afternoon, Ifigured it out. It’s been going on for ten years, hasn’t it, Rene?”
“Yes, as far as we know. That’s about the time we got wind of thestory.”
“And, Rene, I hope it’s just an hallucination, but your father ... he’sbeen gone ten years....”
“Great Heavens, Hal! Why ... it couldn’t be ... yet ... it’s just tenyears!”
CHAPTER XXXV A PHANTOM OF HOPE
The massacre of the _Pallidas_ will come down in history, for a massacreit was. Renan and Hal leading the rebel volunteers were met that morningwith a rain of poisoned arrows issuing from every conceivable bit offoliage on the banks of the settlement. War cries trembled in the air,shrieks of women and children.
Hal was stunned by it for a moment, but an arrow skimming off his tannedarm brought him to action. He leaped out of the canoe with Renan,pulling back the trigger of his gun with every step they took up thebank. Behind them came the rebels, shouting as they ran forward.
It was the work of minutes, but Hal lived a lifetime and he could see byRenan’s haggard face that he did also. And when the smoke cleared awaythey ran for the deserted _maloka_, deserted, save for Felice and hergrandfather, who had been tied to the pillars, preparatory to making thesupreme sacrifice for their companionship with the evil spirits.
The white men had
come none too soon, she told them when she hadregained her composure. And in a few words she explained how the_Pallidas_ had descended upon her and her grandfather and carried themoff to their settlement. Goncalves had been with them, but what becameof him she did not know.
Hal led the men on the next inspection, an inspection which heinstinctively feared the results of. But Renan urged him on, asking himto go first and see if their worst fears were well-founded.
Unfortunately, they were.
No sound greeted Hal as he walked ahead of the men. Not even a whispergreeted him as he stepped into the gloom of the hut. All was still asthe tomb and a tomb it was indeed! For the withered remnants of a whiteman lay silent in death.
Hal brought out with him a notebook, yellowed with age and soiled. Everypage of it was written on, some of the writing rational and legible, andother pages scribbled on in moments of frenzy and despair. Taken as awhole, it depicted a man tortured by constant confinement and lost hope.
“For me, Hal?” Renan asked as Hal handed it to him. He took it, withwhite face and trembling hands.
“It’s addressed to you, Rene. Good heavens, I’d rather spare you....”
Renan bent his head and read with misty eyes. Hal had glanced over thefirst few heartbreaking pages when he picked it up in the hut. He couldeven memorize a few of the lines, so vividly had they stood out beforehis eyes.
“They captured me that morning,” it read, “and I guess it was becausethey were superstitious about the lode. Also because it was on theirformer settlement.... They were getting ready to offer me as a sacrificeto clear out the evil spirits, when I happened to think that they weresuperstitious about killing a demented man.... I saved myself butcondemned myself to eternal death and suffering. They locked me up andhere I’ve been except for occasional nights when I managed to get as faras the door and cry for help ... but no one came, except for thatred-headed young man. They had bound and gagged me while he was here.That is why he didn’t understand me when I cried ... hope went then ...my son Rene, my girl Felice, my father ... oh, that we had never come tothis wretched country.... I’ve feigned madness so long, I’m going madnow.... I’m gone....”
The pathos of that last line dwelt in Hal’s memory. He knew he’d neverforget it. And worse, he could never banish from his mind the picture ofdespair and lost hope which Marcellus Pemberton, Junior, bore even untodeath.
CHAPTER XXXVI ADIOS!
Two weeks later, Hal was sitting with his uncle, under the cooling shadeof a palm tree. It was early afternoon and most of _Manaos_ was undercover for the siesta period. A light breeze blew and though it was awarm day they felt not uncomfortable.
Hal had just come in on one of the up-river boats that morning. He hadshaved, gotten a hair cut, and blossomed forth with his relative in animmaculate suit of flannels. A pair of sport shoes covered his sturdyfeet and for the first time in a month he felt clean and utterly atpeace with all the world.
“This has been the first chance we’ve had to talk, Hal, do you realizethat?” Denis Keen reminded him.
“I’ve been too busy taking off my jungle coat,” Hal laughed. “But whatdo you want to know that I didn’t write you?”
“Well, for one thing, I’m interested to know what that poor devilPemberton died of. You just wrote that he was dead when you found him.”
“And that’s all I can tell you, Unk,” Hal said earnestly. “We couldn’tfind a mark or scratch on him anywhere, so I guess a doctor would say itwas from natural causes. I’d call it a broken heart.”
“No doubt, poor fellow. It’s the saddest thing I ever heard of. Still,those benighted _Pallidas_ didn’t know any better. You say they werealmost wiped out?”
“Sure, we had to. They rained poisoned arrows on us like as if it wassnowing. Some of the older warriors and the women and the childrenescaped into the jungle. They won’t be seen for many a year, believe me.But didn’t those rebel boys work! Gosh, they were aces high, Renanincluded.”
“I’m glad for their sakes. Your friend Rene’s, too. Today’s paper saidthey were all to be fully pardoned by the government.”
“And by that same token your case is knocked in the head, huh, Unk?”
“Of course. The _Cause_ just simply isn’t any more. Thanks to Renan.He’s quite a hero to Brazil, I guess.”
“He’d be an asset to any country, Unk. The U. S. will be proud to havehim back. Felice, also.”
“You mean especially Felice, eh?”
“Aw now, Unk, don’t rub it in. Old Marcellus isn’t to be left outeither. He’s like a kid going away to the country for the first time.”
Denis Keen puffed leisurely on his cigarette.
“We’ll have quite a full house on the boat then, eh?”
“I’ll say we will.”
“And despite the tragedies, there’ll be a lot living happily everafter.”
“You tell ’em, Unk.”
“The mists have cleared away and even the worst of your experiences willbe softened by the time you get home. Time is something to be thankfulfor, Hal. At least you have found out everything you wanted to find out,eh? All except Goncalves. It is a mystery where he ever disappeared to.”
Hal shook back a lock of hair and smiled.
“Not a mystery to me, Unk. I wouldn’t be the least surprised to find outthat Señor Goncalves turns out to be the Phantom of Death River!”
THE END
HAL KEEN MYSTERY STORIES
By HUGH LLOYD
Boys! Meet Hal Keen, that lanky, nonchalant, red-headed youth whoseguiding star is the star that points to adventure, excitement andmystery. Follow him in his hunts for clues and criminals. There areplenty of thrills and shivers in these stories to keep you on your toes.
THE SMUGGLER’S SECRET
Hal Keen sets out to get to the bottom of a mystery that threatens thesafety of a whole community.
THE MYSTERIOUS ARAB
Mystery, excitement, murder in a scientist’s camp in the jungles ofAfrica, where hate, revenge, and suspicion lead to tragedy.
THE HERMIT OF GORDON’S CREEK
The disappearance of two airmail pilots leads to a mystery that centersabout an abandoned mine and a strange old man.
KIDNAPPED IN THE JUNGLE
A hint of buried treasure in the ruins of an old French mission leadsHal deep into the Central American jungle.
THE COPPERHEAD TRAIL MYSTERY
Baffling and blood-curdling events center about the ranch where Hal Keenand his friends had gone in search of gold.
THE LONESOME SWAMP MYSTERY
The lonely and mysterious swamp gave up its secret only after a seriesof terrifying events taxed Hal’s courage and ability.
THE CLUE AT SKELETON ROCKS
In this new thriller Hal Keen finds mystery and adventure in and about alonely lighthouse on Skeleton Rocks, off the Maine coast.
THE DOOM OF STARK HOUSE
Mystery and terror in an old house in the wilderness above Quebec whereHal Keen is the guest of a strange family.
_The_ AIR COMBAT STORIES _for_ BOYS
By THOMSON BURTIS _Author of_ The Rex Lee Stories
Zooming into the war scene comes this new hero of the air, LieutenantRudford Riley, who leads The Phantom Five, a group of airmen detailedfor special duty in the Royal Flying Corps during the early days of thewar when every take-off was an impudent challenge to death. The recordof their mad exploits over the front makes breathless reading, and theiradventures have the ring of truth in them for the author-flyer takesthem from his own rich experience as a war-time aviator.
DAREDEVILS OF THE AIR
Recounts Lieutenant Riley’s adventures as leader of The Phantom Fiveagainst the enemy in the air.
FOUR ACES
As commanding officer of Special Flight A, Rud Riley and Jerry Lacey,the Manhattan Madman, are thrown into the thickest and hottest of theair fighting.
WING FOR WING
Continues the record of the daredevil young airman’s adventures as oneof the leading aces in the war.
FLYING BLACK BIRDS
Stormy Lake leads a squadron of picked daredevils called the Black Birdsagainst the famous German Red Devils led by Von Baer.
ADVENTURES _in the_ UNKNOWN
By CARL H. CLAUDY
Weird! Mysterious! Incredible! Astounding!
Leap back a million years into the dark prehistoric ages. Speed throughthe dangers of outer space beyond the stratosphere at a thousand miles aminute. Meet the grotesque machine men of Mars. Break into the bounds ofthe Fourth Dimension. You will meet in these thrilling, fascinatingstories many incredible beings and astounding sights that will staggeryour imagination.
THE MYSTERY MEN OF MARS
Seventy million miles from home! Three men—a daring scientist and twoadventurous boys—take off from the earth in a steel and aluminum spherethat sails through space at 20 miles a second. On the planet Mars theyface destruction at the hands of beings who resemble mechanical bugsmore than men!