w myself into this snake heap from love
of Monitaya. I do not care if he and all his race are blown to hell. I
am here because, as I once told you, Jose Martinez never forgets. Thank
you, senor, I will eat now and talk later."

Deftly he extracted a chunk of meat from a clay pot which had been
placed before Knowlton and in turn tendered to him. Monitaya watched him
eat, but gave no sign of disapproval; and the Americans, and even the
Brazilians, made an aggressive show of friendship toward the lone
Peruvian for the express benefit of the chief. They knew well that by
their rescue of the Mayoruna women they had made their own position
among these people virtually impregnable, and that their recognition of
Jose as a friend probably would be his only bulwark. Wherefore they left
no doubt in the minds of the watchers as to where he stood in their
regard.

Monitaya, sitting in regal dignity, looked down upon two parties of
seven feasting with famished speed--the rescued women who were not
members of his own tribe, and the four Americans, two Brazilians, and
one Peruvian. All the others had scattered--Tucu and his band to their
own family triangles, and the four Monitaya girls to become the nuclei
of feminine groups which demanded intimate accounts of their capture and
treatment by the captors.

To the strange women at his feet the chief paid scant attention now,
though he meant to interrogate them after their hunger was satisfied.
His eyes dwelt on Rand, the strange combination of white man, Indian,
and jungle demon of whom he had heard so much and on whose tanned skin
the red skeleton streaks told the tale of a "mind out of the skull."
Jose and Tim stared in frank curiosity at the dead-alive newcomer, whose
silent composure remained totally unperturbed. But the seven new girls,
though ignored by the chief and his guests, were by no means neglected
by the other men of the _maloca_, being thoroughly stared at by most of
the young bucks--and, it must be confessed, by a goodly proportion of
the married men also.

When at length the meal was finished Monitaya commanded the girls to
stand before him and narrate their experiences. The men lit smokes, Jose
seizing the proffered cigarette with avidity, Rand accepting his with
the usual odd deliberation.

"Wal, Hozy, old feller, ye're in right with the chief now," asserted
Tim. "Ye got all our gang with ye, and she's some li'l' old gang, I'll
tell the world. This feller Renzo c