nt
strain of endless anticipation the impatience of the fighting men became
a ferment. At length Pedro, unable to keep still, mounted to a peephole
near Knowlton. Scarcely had he put his eye to the opening when both men
sucked in their breath.

At the edge of the bush a man's head peered from behind a tree. And at
the same moment a single canoe came creeping out of the bush and up to
the landing place. The head behind the tree was that of a Red Bone spy.
The two in the small canoe were Yuara and a companion from the Suba
tribe.

"Lourenco!" hoarsely whispered Pedro. "Yuara comes. Tell girls to run to
welcome him and guide him between the pits. A spy is watching. If Yuara
walks on the pits he dies and our trap is revealed. _Por amor de Deus_,
send girls quickly!"

Lourenco acted instantly. Seizing two young women, he propelled them
doorward, talking swiftly the while. Yuara and his mate were already
advancing innocently toward the few girls outside, none of whom had wit
enough to warn him. But the two whom the Brazilian had grasped happened
to be of quick intelligence, and now they darted out. Before the
visiting pair could reach the death trap the girls were upon them,
laughing as if delighted to see a man once more, and deftly turning them
aside to the point where two unobtrusive stubs marked the bridge of
safety.

Vastly astonished by such effusive welcome from two girls whom they did
not know, but by no means displeased thereby, the young warriors of the
Suba clan were piloted to the door and inside. As they disappeared, the
head of the spy also vanished.

"Woof!" muttered Knowlton, wiping sweat from his brow. "That was close!
Here's hoping we have no more visitors."

Yuara and his companion meanwhile were being interrogated by both
Lourenco and Monitaya, who in turn enlightened them as to the present
state of affairs. At the promise of war the faces of the Suba men lit
up.

"Yuara comes only on a visit to learn news," Lourenco told the rest.
"You remember that the day after our return a canoe was sent downstream
to a point where the wooden bars could be beaten and heard by Suba's
men, and that a warning against the Red Bones and Schwandorf was given
in that way. Yuara has become anxious to know more, so he is here."

"If he sticks around he'll learn a lot," predicted Tim.

With no waste of words or motion Yuara coolly attached himself and his
fellow-tribesman to McKay. Monitaya and his subchiefs were inf