The strain lessened then, with both boys dangling from the bough. Practically side by side, they made a hand-over-hand trip toward the tree trunk and dropped to solid ground. There they sat a moment, panting and rubbing their shoulders as they looked at each other, a bit bewildered by their short but strenuous adventure.
From the distance came that clear metallic note that they had heard before. Kamuka looked at Biff.
“We still go find it—maybe?”
“All right, Kamuka. Let’s go find it.”
They skirted the quicksand and took the path that Kamuka had missed in his hurry. It divided into lesser paths, but they continued to pick a course in the general direction of the clanging sound.
“Somebody use that for a signal,” declared Kamuka. “When we find it, you will see that I am right—”
“You are right,” Biff whispered. “Look there!”
A figure had cut into the path well ahead of them and was continuing on. Softly, Kamuka whispered the name: “Luiz!”
The boys were fortunate. Luiz hadn’t spotted them. Evidently, the guide had left the camp by another path and had followed a roundabout course to reach his present goal. Luiz, judging by the eager expression on his scheming face, was also following the call of the false bellbird. Cautiously, the boys took up Luiz’s trail until he reached a clearing. There, they sidled into a patch of jungle and spread the foliage just enough to view the open space in front of them.
A big man was sitting on a camp stool beside a tent. In front of him was a small anvil, and he gave it a ringing stroke with a hammer as the boys watched. Kamuka was the first to recognize the hawkish face that turned in Luiz’s direction as the guide approached.