As soon as Biff and his father stepped into the canoe the Xanadu sped off like a startled creature. Joe Nara at the wheel, waved good-by, while Igo and Ubi simply stared back like a pair of reversed figureheads. Jacome and Kamuka did fast work with their paddles to prevent the canoe from tipping in the cruiser’s swell. Then they headed toward the dock.
Kamuka looked over his shoulder and said to Biff, “I like the way you send message. You show me how?”
Biff nodded. “I’ll show you how.”
During the short paddle, Mr. Brewster talked to Jacome in Portuguese and Biff, listening closely, understood most of what was said. Mr. Brewster asked about the luggage and was told that it had arrived by air. Also, he wanted to know if the safari was ready to start. Jacome told him yes, that they had been waiting for him to arrive.
When they reached the shore, Hal Whitman was still up by the huts engaged with the natives in an excited conversation. Mr. Brewster started in that direction, and Biff was about to follow when a hand plucked his sleeve. It was Kamuka, with the request:
“You spell message now?”
“All right,” agreed Biff. He produced the mirror, caught the sun’s glint, and focused it on the wall of a hut perhaps a hundred feet away. “Now, watch—”
Biff halted abruptly. A burly native, wearing baggy white shirt and trousers, with a red bandanna tied about his head, had joined the argument and was pushing Mr. Whitman back into the hut.
“Urubu!” exclaimed Kamuka. “He make trouble!”
Whitman came from the hut with a shotgun and gestured for the native, Urubu, to be on his way. Instead, Urubu grabbed for the gun and snatched it from Whitman’s grasp, tripping him at the same time. Mr. Brewster was starting forward on the run, but he was too far away to help Whitman.