Arthur O. Friel

“ To us, accustomed to traveling long distances by canoe, a journey of less than half a week seemed mere play, and we pulled our dugouts along carelessly, expecting no danger nor even any trouble. Which shows, senhores, what fools men can be. The fact that you have just beaten Death does not mean that he is not waiting for you in another shape at the next turn of the river. ”

“ Then she glanced away down the creek and held her paddle as if anxious to go.
The blond man's grin faded. He rubbed his jaw, scowled, shrugged and took his place in his dugout. We boarded our own craft and shoved off ahead of them. And as we swung on down the creek I wondered what had displeased the girl.
But I did not wonder long, for women and their moods have never troubled me much. Soon my thoughts were all on the thing that had taken place on the shore behind us. I could see the night fire smoldering red in the gloom; the two men lying in their hammocks ”

“ A man who would carry a white girl, or any other girl, to such a fate as awaited her in the camp of Black Hawk deserved a hundred deaths. It was nothing to me that the short man, murderer of his comrade, was still alive. ”