looked casually around the house to see that all was well, and
smiled down at his guests. Lourenco, rising to a squat, began a new
conversation. After a while he turned to McKay.

"The Red Bones and the Mayorunas are neither friendly nor hostile toward
each other, and there is little communication between them," he
reported. "From those _malocas_ to the town of the Red Bones is a
journey of five long days, so the men of Monitaya hardly ever go there.

"The Raposa whom we seek is known to the men of Monitaya, but he never
has come here to the tribal houses. Hunters from this place have met him
at times roving the wild forests, and some of the younger men fear him
as the bad spirit of the jungle. The Mayorunas believe in two spirits or
demons, one good and one bad, and the bad one is said to roam the
wilderness, seeking lone wanderers, whom he kills and eats; the people
sometimes hear this demon howling at night in the dark of the moon. So
the young men have thought the Raposa might be this demon and have
avoided him--it would do no good to try to kill a demon, and it would
only make their own deaths more sure and horrible.

"But the older men do not believe this. They say the wild man is of the
Red Bone people, and that the reason why his bones are marked in red on
his living body is that he is neither alive nor dead. If he were dead
his body would be thrown into the water and left there until his bones
were stripped by those cannibal fish, the piranhas, and then the bones
would be dyed red and hung up in his hut, as is the custom among those
people. If he were alive like other men he would not have those marks on
his body, but would wear only the tribal face paint. The bone paint on
him is a sign to all the _Ossos Vermelhos_ that he is alive, but dead,
and is not to be treated like other men."

"Crazy!" exclaimed Knowlton.

"Yes. I think that is it. His body lives, but his mind is dead. Death in
life."

"Has he been seen lately?"

The Brazilian repeated the question in the Indian tongue. The chief
looked toward a certain hammock some distance off, called a name, raised
an imperative hand. A slender savage came forward. To him the chief
spoke, then to Lourenco, who, as usual, relayed his information.

"This young hunter saw him six days ago while following a wild-hog trail
far out in the bush toward the Red Bone region. He came on the fresh
track of a man who was following the same hogs, and later he caught up