n part to gain time, and in part because I hoped you might
have some resource, I remained."

"How many of them?" asked Bell shortly.

"Two," she said quietly. She looked at him, her large eyes entirely
calm and grave.

"Give me the package," said Bell briefly. "They'll be more anxious to
get it back than to bother you. And I'll either knock them cold or
hold them in a scrap until you get away."

She reached in her pocket and handed him a small thick envelope. He
stuffed it in the side pocket of his coat.

"I will walk away," he observed, "and they'll follow me. Can you
arrange to give me some sign that you're safe?"

"By the gateway," she told him. "My handkerchief. I shall start as
soon as you have vanished. If I am followed, I will drop this
handkerchief, as it is. If I am not followed, I will tie a knot. But
what can you do?"

"I'll do something," said Bell coldly. "Something!"

* * * * *

She smiled, with the same odd bitterness her father had shown.

"My father--shot himself," she said briefly. "I have no particular
hope of doing better. But I shall not be Ribiera's slave."

She remained quite still. Bell moved away. He hurried. There was thick
jungle ahead, a section of the Gardens that is painstakingly preserved
untouched and undisturbed, that visitors to the capital of Brazil may
observe a typical sample of the virgin interior. He dived into that
jungle as if in flight.

And very shortly after, two men dived in after him. They hesitated,
these men, because your policeman of Rio does not like to injure his
uniform, and there are many thorns in jungle growths. But they entered
it, having first drawn small glittering weapons. And then from the
jungle came silence.

* * * * *

It seemed to be silence. But there may have been some small unusual
noises. It would not be easy to tell if they were unusual or not,
because there are peculiar flashes of charm in certain Brazilian
institutions. The preservation of the spot of jungle itself is one.
Another is the fact that in the Gardens all manner of wild things
live at large and provide unexpected and delightful surprises to the
usually foreign visitors.

So there were noises, after a bit. Such noises as some grunting wild
thing might have made, perhaps. But they might also have been the
gasping of a man as breath was choked out of him.... And there was a
cracking sound a little later, which m