“Why have you brought me here? You are a worse rascal than I knew! Now that you have stripped me clean, release me!”
“No, Senor,” the bandit said in his silken voice.
“What’s your game, Carlos? You have the gems. What more do you want?”
“Your wife, she loves you, eh? She will pay well to see you again. No?”
“Scoundrel!”
“Senor Rhodes will now go to see his old friend, Senor Corning,” the bandit chuckled. “You two have much to talk over. Go, Senor! Walk ahead of me.”
Jack pulled back behind the hut only a moment before the strutting little bandit marched Rhodes out into the open. The engineer was forced to enter another hut at the far end of the village, one guarded by two natives armed with knives and guns.
Making no attempt to approach the prison hut, Jack rejoined his companions and made a terse report.
“Rhodes got what he deserved,” he informed the group. “Apparently, Carlos has tossed him in with Corning. The hut is well guarded.”
“How many in camp?” Mr. Livingston asked.