A bigger volley answered from a wider angle, accompanied by the whine of bullets that were high, but close. Whitman was shouting from near the blockhouse:
“This way! Quick, or you’ll be cut off! Serbot is here with his whole outfit!”
Amid new gunbursts, Mr. Brewster made a rapid decision. He pointed the boys to the shore and told them:
“Quick! Get to Nara’s monteria. Start it down the river, and don’t stop until you reach Stannart’s yacht!”
The boys were on their way, and Mr. Brewster was dashing back to the blockhouse, to join Whitman and Jacome. He made it safely, although he drew the fire of Serbot’s followers, who were now visible as they came clambering, shouting, from the surrounding brush.
But Biff and Kamuka were now beyond the range of immediate gunfire when they boarded the monteria. Then they had the big motor started, and the heavily loaded boat was plowing its way out to the middle of the Orinoco.
When Biff looked back, he saw tiny figures on the shore, but the boat was now half a mile away, too far for bullets to reach it.
“Serbot staged a surprise attack of his own,” Biff told Kamuka, who was with him in the stem. “And Dad had promised Nara that he would get this monteria down the river. So here we are!”
“Soon we reach rapids,” was Kamuka’s comment. “I better get ready so we can work like team.”
The space under the thatched cabin was stacked with packs as well as sacks of ore, so Kamuka didn’t try to crawl through it to reach the bow of the boat. Instead, he scrambled over the low roof, picked up a paddle from the forward cockpit, and waved back to Biff as he took his position.