Van Powell

“ Carrol had taken her with him.
That farewell, looking out of a darkened room at the bright hair and half-smiling, half-tearful face, had been Tom’s last sight of his beloved sister; and that clasp of hands between father and son had been the last they could ever exchange.
For, shortly after the arrival of the engineer and his daughter at a remote mining property, bandits had descended from the mountains in a raid, seemingly because they knew that gold to a high value had been amassed and stored until time to load it on burros and with armed guards take it to the railway shipping point. ”

“ Nobody would bother with an old beach comber like me.”
“Well,” said Tom, “we think we’re somebody, and we are going to bother. It not only can be true, it is true!”
“I can’t believe——”
“Well, come and see!”
So the procession started through the indolent cluster of natives toward the cruiser’s tender.
They were going to try modern magic.
But Jack held back.
“You can’t be going to take me out on that fine boat—and feed me, and treat me like a white man!” he demurred, unable to believe in his good angels.
“We certainly are;” asserted Bill. “And loan you decent clothes, and treat you like a king!” ”

“ MODERN MAGIC
While the party returned to the cruiser, Jack, the beach comber, betook himself to a land-locked lagoon where he proceeded to begin his return to self-respect by taking his first bath for a long time. The chums, excited and with much gusto, assembled a set of clothes to give him.
“Now, Cliff, Tom and Nicky,” said Mr. Gray, “you all know that you feel much better if you are dressed up when you go among people. It gives you self-respect. ”

“ By that time Tom had picked up enough of the village dialect to learn that Porfirio’s father had been slain by one of the jaguars—or, as the natives termed the ferocious cats, tigers, caught on a lonely trail without a weapon, and horribly mangled. Tom felt sorry for the desolate child and did his best to amuse him.
After several wasted weeks, a great canoe arrived from upriver, in which, besides the paddlers, was an old man, bent and wizened and terribly dwarfed; yet he was stronger than any other man—or any two men—among the Indians, and seemed to be greatly respected. ”

“ With Henry’s arm at the point of coming forward, Bill, a marksman of no mean ability, caught up the rifle with which he had armed himself, and almost at the instant that it appeared above the gunwale, there came the spit of its bullet and the shivering of glass as the bottle broke in Henry’s hand. So close was the shot, so perfect the aim, that only the neck of the bottle remained.
Henry dropped it, staring in rage and disappointment at the roiling spot where his good “tonic” was blending swiftly with the Caribbean water.
“Drop that other one!” snapped Bill. ”

“ His eyes were more bleary and unpleasant than had been those of Henry Morgan. His voice, high and shaky, whined and implored.
“A beach comber,” Bill told them. “That’s what a white man comes to when he gets stranded in one of these dead spots, if he lets himself go.”
“It’s a pity,” Tom said. “He looks as if he has lost his own self-respect, for he isn’t even clean; and he has no will power, I’ll bet, or he wouldn’t have stayed here.”
“Laziness, drink—they tell the story,” Bill responded. “They’d sap the vitality of one of the old Greek Gods!” ”

“ Henry cried with a hoarse, choking guffaw. “Many’s the pirate has piled up on the rocks. ’Cause—— ’Cause Why? I’m a rowdy-dowdy buc—ca——”
Just then a comber, its green crest froth-flecked, reared its great top on their starboard quarter. “Look out!” yelled Tom. “Grab something!” for Henry was starting in a lurching gait toward the enclosed cabin companionway.
Tom, himself, caught a stanchion and clung, holding his breath. The Porto Bello lurched and staggered under the impact of a huge wave, and there came a gurgling yell, cut short, the surge of powerfully dragging water rushing at Tom. ”

“ Then, in the dull glow from their fire they saw fiery eyes at the edge of the glade. There was a rush, a swift retreat—and the remains of the iguana had disappeared.
“Did you see it?” Nicky gasped.
“Jaguar, for sure!” Tom replied shakily. “Mr. Jaguar, take your supper and don’t bother us any more. And, fellows, let’s hurry up and finish our own eating so we won’t tempt any of his cousins and brothers to come any closer.” ”

“ Instantly the chief dropped to the ground like one stunned, and the archers, the councillors, the medicine man and every other Indian seemed to run away and vanish like the disappearance of the film at the end of the magic show.
“Well,” gasped Tom, as Nicky and Cliff dashed to his side, “Margery—come here! I guess we’re safe for awhile.” ”

“ In an earlier adventure the three chums, Tom, Cliff and Nicky, had visited Panama, and the great achievement of the Canal was therefore not a novelty to them, although they never ceased to marvel at the engineering skill by which it had been planned and built, nor did the vastness of its locks, the precision of its machinery, ever fail to make them thrill as they thought—the United States—“our country”—accomplished that feat. To them it was the Spirit of American success in an undertaking that made the world better and communication easier. ”

“ Totally unconscious that he was taking the command, or that his words rang with the authority of anger and just censure, Tom cried, “Never mind. Get yourself together and get to that wheel. Nicky’s alone there. Joe’s calling. Cliff, go help Joe. Bill, you drag this Henry up to that wheel and stand over him. Cliff’s father is battening down the ports. We’re all safe inside, but we don’t know what’s going to happen. Get going, you Henry!”
As if every one of them recognized the voice of command, Bill caught Henry’s collar and almost yanked him to his feet. ”

“ Morgan responded in surly, husky tones. “Indians know when people come.”
“How do they know?” Tom persisted. “Do they send messengers?”
“They know!” snapped Henry and turned away.
Tom made no comment on the rude behavior, but busied himself making friends with a small boy, evidently a child belonging to some one of importance. The youngster, about eight, liked the white boy, some years older, and when his shyness was overcome, he spent hours watching Tom as the white youth demonstrated how a small, bright red magnet he carried would draw and cling to several nails he also had. ”

“ At the time the attention swung from this strange scene, for the Indians saw Mort returning with some apparatus which he set down gingerly on the floor. Every eye was fixed on him. Forgotten was the scene which had been enacted. Only one, a medicine man, kept his shrewd eyes fixed on Margery as though he would try to see beneath her flesh and bone to the working of her brain and mind.
“You had some magic—I thought the Indians said so!” she told Tom. ”

“ Tom agreed. “It certainly is a primitive sight—but look! They’re running and hiding!”
As they approached the women, the latter dropped what they had, leaving the things to drift in the slow current, and raced across the beach and into the heavy jungle. The jungle came close to the water and was as thick and seemingly impenetrable as any tropical growth could be; yet the women disappeared into it.
“That’s a shame,” Cliff cried. “Their things will all be lost—row over faster, Nicky. We’ll save the clothes.” ”

“ Tom said stoutly. “That will protect us and give us food until we get out—and we’ve got the lighter of Bill’s to make a fire to cook it on. We’re not so badly off.”
“If we get excited and start planning and running around,” Cliff suggested, “we will wear ourselves out and get nowhere. Let’s sit here in this open glade and think. When anybody has an idea that is good sense, we can try it.”
“I see what looks like a trail yonder,” Tom had used his eyes and he pointed to the near end of the glade. “Let’s try it a ways—it ought to lead toward the river.”
“Which way?” asked Nicky. ”

“ The next glimpse Tom caught of the menace, it was off to port—but did a range of submerged reefs extend far across their path? Tom pointed out the threat to Bill and Nicky. They gasped, so close was the nearer of the needles.
All along the coast of Central America these reefs and islands, huge barrier reefs, wide, low-lying circle reefs, atolls enclosing tiny islets—all are a menace to navigation, and it is a skillful pilot who will try to take a boat in among them. ”

“ Tom saw at once that Henry Morgan, after his first surprise, had decided on some course of action: Tom proposed to hold himself alert, but not to show anger or aversion until he learned the other fellow’s plans.
“How in the world did you ever get here?” demanded Henry. “Here—meet the man I used to talk about so much—Mort Beecher. A finer pal never lived. Shake, Mort. Shake hands with Tom, and Nicky, and Cliff. Now, we’re all pals together! ”

“ The Indians were cruel and callous: when they demanded magic, they expected magic. Failure to produce it meant certain doom, perhaps—and Tom shuddered!—with one of those terrible arrows he had seen the youth preparing.
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And the chums knew nothing about magic! They had seen stage people produce rabbits from supposedly empty silk hats and make coins disappear. Of course, with the proper apparatus and lots of experience these things could be done. Out in the jungle, among hostile people, with no apparatus and no experience, there was no hope! ”

“ Cliff said. “I’m not a coward, but the first shot is so important——”
“Tom,” Nicky breathed, “you’re closest. Can you reach the gun and steady yourself?”
Tom, rather shakily, answered. “Cliff can. Just wait, Cliff. He won’t jump straight down into the fire. He’ll wait till one of us goes off as far as the wood pile. There’s time to get steady. Wait a minute, Cliff, till you get set.”
“I don’t seem able to make my muscles stop quivering,” Cliff replied, as low as he could. “Here, Tom, you take the rifle.” ”

“ Tom, Nicky, Cliff, Bill, Jack, Mr. Gray, the mine superintendent—and Margery—everybody was trooping into the doorway and the small room.
“We heard every word they said, we crept right under the window,” Nicky said. He turned to Tom, “and I didn’t make a false move, did I?”
“Not a one,” said Tom. “The only false move was the one these men made trying to get the best of three boys, as they thought.” ”

“ The engineer, who accompanied the cruiser to help and to represent his employer, the boat’s owner, eased his throttle forward, and engaged the clutch sending the propeller around in the proper direction. The bow parted the waters of the bay, and with caps waving, and hurrah after hurrah, Tom, Nicky and Cliff stood on the after deck and watched Mexico’s humid, sweltering coastline drop away aft. ”

“ Where were you lads when you and Margery talked over her story?”
“In her hut!” cried Tom, starting as he recalled a former time when Toosa had declined certain facts and an eavesdropper had overheard.
“You don’t mean?—” began Nicky. “Why—let me get hold of that—”
“That would explain why they avoided us and why the sloop sailed North in such a hurry,” Jack declared. He was much more of a self-respecting man than he had been even when the youths saw him last. He had control of himself, and took pride in his appearance.
“Andy—Bob—” called Bill, “get up the anchors and make everything shipshape. ”

“ Bill told Tom, as they got into the canoe which would take them further up the river. “But Toosa says if we don’t show fear or weakness we will be all right—only, keep what money you have in your belt close to your skin and never let on that you have any!”
Tom’s last act before leaving Toosa, completely won the old man’s heart.
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He called the great-grandson, Porfirio, to his forward seat in the canoe, and gave him, for his very own, the magnet with which the boy so often played. Toosa’s eyes lighted up when he saw the boy’s dazed, almost awed look; Toosa smiled—a real smile. ”

“ Forget his crazy stunt!” urged Bill. “Any day that I can’t handle a loon like him, I’ll eat scorpions’ tails!”
“But he gets so angry!” said Tom. “And he’s got a bottle——”
“Getting angry is better for us—as long as we keep cool!” Bill grinned, his rifle lazily resting on the canoe’s edge. “A cool man can out-guess, out-plan, out-shoot a fellow in a temper, any day! As for that bottle—watch it splinter the first time it starts for his lips.”
Bill motioned to the Indians, who had hardly moved, and who had certainly not spoken or changed expression. “Go on!” ”

“ It was no pleasant slumber that came to them, for the Central American mosquitos are not only vicious and persistent, but they are large and their bite, on any but the toughest skin, produces red welts and a sort of itching that is as maddening as it is persistent and painful.
The next day, while Bill and Henry bargained with the Indians for canoes and guides to take them up the Rio Patuca to a tribe further inland where the old Indian, Toosa, lived, and while Cliff and Mr. Gray aided Andy in work of examining the gear and shafting, Nicky joined Tom on the beach. ”

“ It surprised the youths to learn how closely the Toltecs, and the Aztecs later, were allied with the Incas of Peru in certain ways: both were agriculturists of a high order, as were the Texcucans, kindred with the Azteca. But there was a great contrast in the nature of the people; while the Incas had been a mild people, ruling kindly, punishing justly, fighting only for a necessary cause, the Aztecs had been a fierce, cruel, actually brutal people, even giving the name of their war god, Mexitli, to their land in the corrupted form, Mexico. ”

“ Cliff said, hiding his own misgivings. “We mustn’t get frightened and lose all our good sense. Let’s sit down and think how to go about finding our way out.”
“The sun won’t help—we can’t see where it is,” Nicky declared.
“But it’s getting dimmer,” Tom stated. “We won’t have too much time before night—let’s see if we can’t find where I dropped the rifle. Each one go in a different direction, and nick the trees with your knives so you can get back.” ”