Kamuka whispered, “Urubu!”
Biff had scarcely noticed Urubu. Instead, he was staring in total amazement at two other men who had come from the tent.
“One of those men is Nicholas Serbot,” he told Kamuka. “The other is his sidekick, Big Pepito. But they were in Manaus, the night we left there. How did they get here?”
“Airplane come upriver ahead of you,” replied Kamuka. “Stop at maloca near rubber camp.”
By maloca Kamuka meant a native village some distance back from the Rio Negro. Quickly, Biff exclaimed:
“That’s where they met Urubu! They must have paid him to make trouble for us!”
Kamuka gave a chuckle. “Look like they pay Luiz, too.”
Urubu was introducing Luiz to Serbot and Pepito. In the background were several native bearers, apparently under orders to keep their distance. Serbot and Pepito were watching them to make sure they did. Biff took advantage of that.
“We can move up closer,” he told Kamuka. “Maybe close enough to hear what they are saying.”
Kamuka silently agreed, for he crawled along with Biff until they reached the very fringe of the thinner brush, only a dozen yards from where the four men stood. There, Kamuka whispered, “This far enough.”