CHAPTER PAGE I [Up the Amazon] 1 II [The Clutching Hand] 8 III [The Hidden Boathouse] 16 IV [The Safari Starts] 25 V [The Spotted Terror] 40 VI [Into the Quicksand] 50 VII [The Deadly Coils] 58 VIII [A Traitor Strikes] 67 IX [The Shrunken Heads] 76 X [Trapped by the Head-Hunters] 85 XI [A Sudden Surprise] 95 XII [Between Two Fires] 103 XIII [The River of Death] 110 XIV [The Devil’s Gateway] 119 XV [Fabulous El Dorado] 128 XVI [Surrounded!] 137 XVII [The Man of Gold] 147 XVIII [Urubu Again] 156 XIX [Partners in Crime] 164 XX [The Tables Turn] 173
BRAZILIAN GOLD MINE MYSTERY
CHAPTER I
Up the Amazon
“Guard this letter as you would your life!”
Mr. Stannart spoke in a low, tense tone as he glanced around the waiting room at Idlewild Airport. Biff Brewster felt a sudden surge of excitement when he took the envelope that the gray-haired man handed him.
The envelope was tightly sealed, and it was addressed to Biff’s father, Thomas Brewster, at the Hotel Jacares in Manaus, Brazil. In the upper corner was the return address of the Ajax Mining Corporation in New York City. Gregg Stannart was the president of the company, and Mr. Brewster was its chief field engineer.
“Since you are flying to Brazil to join your father,” Mr. Stannart continued, “I decided to have you deliver this letter personally, rather than take the risk of its falling into the wrong hands.”
He paused, gave Biff a keen, steady glance, and asked, “Did your father tell you why he was going to the headwaters of the Amazon River?”
“He wrote that he was going on a jungle safari,” replied Biff, “and he invited me to fly to Brazil and join him, as a birthday present.”
Biff was thinking back to his birthday party at the Brewster home in Indianapolis less than a week ago. His mother had brought in a cake with sixteen lighted candles that Biff had blown out with a single puff, to the delight of the twins, Ted and Monica, who were five years younger than Biff. But the big surprise was when Biff’s mother had given him the birthday letter from his dad.