Evening star., 1924-09-28
By WILLIAM j. LA VARRE.

help to him in his further adven-
lures.
By WILLIAM J. LA VARRE.
~ often in life ones dreams and
desires never really materialize.
But this was not the case with
~ the unfolding of the mysteries
of the jungle. My hopes had
been aroused at the prospect of see
ing Indans-the wild, untutored chill
dren of the forest. Hardly had we
begun padding on the placid river
after our last encounter with rapids
when there appeared ahead of us, but
on the farther shore. long, slender
canoe, which lay lightly on the water.
There were six Indians sitting in the
hull and one was standing. AS we
approached l could see that he held
long javelin in his upraised hand.
A few strokes more and we had
reached the other shore. The blacks
ceased padding as the heavy boat
glided slowly toward the slender ca
noe This craft seemed like a long
piece of bark that had been curled
up with the ends open. 1t hoated
upon the water like a sun-dried piece
of cinnamon skin. The edges OF the
bark were barely out of the water.
They're naked" Dudley whispered
Regular savageS.'
EACepl lot d tilIr Slflp VI SoNtOh
bound about their loinS, they were
naked indeed. They were small peo-
pie, and their eyes as they watched
us approach seemed more like those
of frightened animals than of savage
men.
'Me-a-re" Capt. Peter intoned
softly.
"Me-a-re," the standing Indian re-
piled without changing his express
sion.
Their bland faces had a distinct
oriental cast, with fiat noses and
slanting eyes. Their skin was light
copper, and glistened in the early
morning sunlight as though they had
rubbed their bodies with oil. In the
bottom of their canoe 7 could see
several large red fish, very much like
salmon.
Suddenly the standing Indian
hunched his shoulders forward. and
with an audible snap of his wrist he
flung his long javelin through the
still air. l recoiled unconscioL, iy, as
though he had aimed the weapon at
me. but had he done so no human ef-
fort on my part could have been quick
enough to dodge that wicked point.
The javelin cut deep into the water
between our boat and the bark canoe.
There was an instantaneous commo-
tion, and | saw the bright white and
red scales of a good-sized fish.
"Pacu" Capt. Peter whispered.
Some shot hey?"
The Indian held the end of slen-
der cord which had been tied to the
spear, and he began hauling in the
harpooned fish. But he had not pulled
in the churnng specimen a yard be-
fore the surrounding river became
streaked with sharp fms that cut the
water like razor blades, as a horde
AL, ka
surface from all directions toward
the wounded pacu. The line that
secured the harpoon was snapped in
stantly aGd the water about the
speared pacu began to boil Hun
dreds, if not thousands, Of small fish
seemed to have charged from the
surrounding river and to be attack
ing the bigger fish, which in turn
seemed to be fighting savagely to
free itself from the end of the spear.
"Perai!' l heard the Indians mur-
muir. They leaned over the edge of
their canoe, evidently delighted with
the commotion. And it was a battle
royal at which they looked. The
perai, little devilish canpjbals that
they were, no sooner had torn the
large fish into shreds than they turned
on one another like pack of tiny
water wolves fighting it's own wound
ed members.
Ugh" Dudley gasped. I'D hate to
fall overheard just now!'
l shiveEed at the thought. So these
were the fish that President Roose-
Welt had written about SO dramtically.
] recollected that critical people at
home had accused him of telling i'm
possible fish stories. But ! would
rather have faced a drove OF wild
elephants than to have fallen into
the water in the midst of that pisca-
torial maelstrom. One may some
times dodge charging elephant, but
those myriads of small demons were
not to be evaded.
"Out blades," called Capt Peter
suddenly. Days getting late
And the men, as though they had
already suffered enough under the
restraint of such close proximity to
the wild Indians, of whom they
seemed strangely afraid, dug their
blades deeply into the water and we
began edging out into midstream
again. The Indians regarded US for
moment and then padded away into
a small, dark creek.
We had been on the river only two
hours after the midday pause for
luncheon when Capt. Peter pointed
hastily at long dead branch Of a
giant tree that stretched over the
water just above our immediate path.
IucTc. dig SHAKE. ne yclICu,
Jerking his steering paddle to the
side in order to veer the boat away
from it's due course, directly under
the sun -scorched limb.
The men dug in furiously on the
left side to get the boat away from
the jingle bank and out from under
the tree. Dudley and L got out
quickly from beneath our hooded
shelter, seizing our guns. Yes, there
stretched along the sun-dried limb.
was a tremendous snake. Its great
scales sparkled in the sunlight. II
raised it's fiat head and gazed down
at us. We were barely five yards
away. The blacks were horror
stricken.
Dudley fired first, and then l sent
two shots in quick succession into
the upraised head. The snake wrapped
its -aiI around the limb and began
siashing it's wounded head back and
forth beneath the limb.
It's sixty feet long at least"
shouted above the noise of the pad
dlers' excitement.
l put another slug into the beast
1t must have punctured its spine
where it gripped the supporting tree
for instantly the coils relaxed their
grip around the trunk and the long
heavy body fell into the water.
had thought that the water in the
rapids was in turmoil, but 1t was
as nothing compared to the foaming
whirlpool which that tremendous
wounded reptile now upchurned. FL
ntotn NJ