Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-08

est of the canoe men. his Winchester
gripped at the muzzle by the savage.
Before l had time to jump to his as
sistance he, too. had fired and put an
end to the Scuffle. In a. trfce the re-
naming two slipped into the muddy
torrent and disappeared. Meanwhile
the Indians in the canoes stretched
out ahead. seeing what had happened,
shot forward in a sudden effort to es-
cape our fire A few shots sent after
them convinced them of their folly,
and they took to the water. swim
ming and diving like school of por-
pOiSeS at sea.
Once iD the water, they presented
very difficult target. Swimming below
water. they would feel for the surface
with one hand, bob up for an instant
to take a breath and disappear once
more. And so they made their way
ashore. abandoning everything in
panic-stricken flight.
Jack and Ed were safe, we knew.
for from downstream came the SOUND
OF their firing, the heavy discharge of
Jacks .450, followed by the sharper
report of Morse's lighter weapon.
Anxious to join forces with them. we
left the row vacated flotilla of lighter
canoes to drift along and padded
ahead as hard as we could. The alarm
had been given, and 1t was our first
duty to see what had befallen our
companions after making sure of our
rear.
,r.,rfre a 8. n,t b nl five r,inutes
later, we came upon Ambusha in mid
stream alone in dugout. Inquiry
showed that it was he who had given
the alarm. His story was somewhat
as follows
The Indians in my canoe turned In
shore without a word of warning" he
said. and landed, leaving me alone by
the bank | was sure they were up to
some deviltry or other, so l pushed
Off padded out some distance and
fired"
THIS was indeed a lame story But
as events turned out. Ambusha
was that day our benefactor, for / am
convinced that sooner or later what
happened had to happen, and the
chances are that we should have
found ourselves In a much tighter
corner We left him to round up the
empty canoes while we pushed on to
toin Ed and Jack.
We found them within few min
utes herding another bunch of dug
outs toward a sandbar, their occu-
pants having long since fled for the
forest. Glad indeed we were to see
each other safe and sound. The eli
max had come and passed. and there
we were in possession Of a huge equip
ment.
What was fated to happen had hap
pened and there was nothing to be
gained by giving it another thought.
From those that had escaped we had
nothing to fear, though they would
probably never thank us for the gift
of their lives.
During the next three weeks. then
we proceeded leisurely down the San
tiago on a raft made Of all the canoes
which we had collected and bound to
gether. Hunting. prospecting, search
ing for rubber, pitching camp when
aud where the fancy took us, we rev
eled in the relaxation of those de-
lightful days.
And thus we continued on our way
our party being reduced to four when
Ambusha decided 10 leave us. Even
tually we reached Barranca, the
principal town in that region.
one would have IMAGINED that
was ready to go home by that time
But such was not the case. The spirit
- the Wilds had taken poS3 >SSi0' o
me. No sooner had I reached Bar
ranca. where a taste OF civilization
was to be had. than was completely
bowled over by the first scheme that
presented itself.
Jack Rouse and Game had gone
downstream without stopping at Bar
ranca with the avowed intention OF
going down to Manaos. where they
could pick up something which would
take them out of the country.
The scheme was soon presented by
Morse, who gave a glowing account OF
the possibilities of cattle and cedar
business between the Upper Can
gaimi and Iquitos. When he finished
up by producing a bag of English
gold which a merchant had advanced
him for the venture. I fell once more
The plan was to penetrate into Ecua
dor by way of the River Cangaimi
near whose banks there were reputed
to exist cattle ranches.
There we were to buy up stock
(which would cost practically nothing)
TO make large RATS of cedar logs. and
to float the cattle down to Iquitos.
where both wood and beasts would
sell for big figure. So 1t came about
that we set off once more-confident
Of success as ever.
WE had not been many days on the
w march before the first fain,
traces Of Generalization showed them
selves. We were in a state Of consid