Nara chuckled as he put on the sombrero, showing how quick and complete the change was. Then Nara pointed to the river where a small, squat motorboat was scudding downstream.
“There goes Urubu,” said Nara, “with another rat who was waiting for him, probably Pepito. They’re going to tell their boss Serbot that the gold rush is coming his way.”
The boys couldn’t see the boat closely, because they faced the glare of the late afternoon sun. When they told Mr. Brewster what had happened, he agreed with Nara.
“We’ll keep going downstream, though,” Mr. Brewster decided, “until we reach the rapids above Puerto Carreno, the only town on the Colombian side of the river.”
“Can we go through those rapids?” asked Biff.
“Yes, they are quite navigable,” his father replied, “but that is where Serbot and his crew will be waiting to attack us. If we get by the rapids, we’ll be all right, because Mr. Stannart should be at Puerto Carreno in his yacht, by this time.”
“Can he come that far up the Orinoco, Dad?”
“Yes, he can make it,” replied Mr. Brewster. “And in his letter he said he would, unless we met him farther downriver. Since we have taken longer than the time he allotted us, we should find him there. Then we’ll close the mining deal with you, Joe.”
“If we get there,” put in Nara glumly. “We can’t go around those rapids unless we take a back trail, and Serbot will be watching that, too.”
As the loaded flotilla continued down the river, Mr. Brewster continued to weigh the coming problem. He was hoping that a solution might crop up, and as the expedition approached the rapids, the answer came.