“Listen, brother!” Jack said, grasping him by the arm. “You can’t explain anything to a crazy mob.”
“Especially when you can’t speak the language decently,” Ken added urgently.
The villagers now were very close, led by the chattering parrot woman. Shaking their sticks, the natives shouted ugly threats.
“Come on!” urged Jack, leading the flight. “We’ve got to move out of here fast! Unless we do, our escape will be cut off!”
Chapter 11
INTO THE WILDERNESS
The route to the hotel already had been blocked by the approaching villagers. Moving hurriedly down the beach, the Explorers climbed a steep path which wound up a high hill to the rear of the mission.
If the Scouts had hoped so easily to elude their pursuers, they learned otherwise. The villagers kept coming on, shouting angry threats, only the general import of which the boys understood.
“They’re plenty mad, and I don’t think it’s about those buried boxes either,” Jack said, looking back. “Something has stirred ’em up. If they try to lay hands on us, it could end in a bloody free-for-all.”
“Let’s make a stand and face ’em,” pleaded War, halting.
Ken pulled him along. “We’d come off badly against so many,” he advised. “Besides, if we get into a fight, we’ll be finished in this village. The Scouts would get a bad name.”