ba, don't you think he can create a small white girl like me?" Her
orchid-blue eyes glowed innocently into his.

* * * * *

The eager questions that he would have asked froze upon his lips, for a
party of Indians approached.

The six nearly naked red men came close and surveyed him, toying
nervously with their primitive, feather-decorated weapons.

A tall, handsome young fellow who possessed something of the picturesque
perfection of the North American plains' Indian stepped forward and, in
perfect English, said:

"Good morning, white stranger. What is it you wish of the Ungapuks?"

"I came to see your white _cacique_," said Hale.

"Aimu? What is it you wish of Aimu? He is ours, white stranger."

"Yes, he is yours. I come as a friend, perhaps to help him in his great
work."

"Perhaps!" The young Indian folded his bronze, muscular arms over his
broad chest and continued his cool survey of Hale. "White men before you
have come: spies and thieves. Some we poisoned with curari. Others Aimu
took into the Room of Release."

He turned to Ana, who was still standing by Hale, and his expression
softened.

"What shall we do with him, Ana?" he asked the question, a fleeting look
of hunger swept his fine, flashing eyes.

Ana flushed beautifully, and, moving closer to Hale, with an impulsive,
almost childish gesture, slipped her arm through his.

"Let us take him to our village, Unani Assu!" she suggested. "I like
him."

It was Hale's turn to flush, which he did like a schoolboy.

* * * * *

Unani Assu's brows drew together in a scowl. The hand holding his
blow-pipe jerked convulsively.

"Ana! Come away!" he growled. "You mustn't touch a stranger!"

Ana's blue eyes stretched with astonishment. "But I like to touch him,
Unani Assu!"

The tall Indian, with a half comical gesture of despair, said:

"Don't misunderstand her, stranger. She is young, very young, ah! And
she has known only the reborn men of the Ungapuks."

He stepped firmly over to Ana, and, taking the girl by the arm, drew her
away.

"Run ahead," he commanded, "and tell Aimu that we come."

Ana, her feathered bamboo anklets clicking together, sped away.

Unani Assu bowed courteously to Hale.

"Come, stranger. If you are an enemy, it is you who must fear." He
motioned for him to proceed down the jungle path.

The path ended at a clearing studded with _moloccas_, the Indian grass