Bomba the jungle boy at the giant cataract

by Roy Rockwood

But he was kind to Bomba, and a warm attachment existed between them. He had started to give the boy the rudiments of an education. But one day, when Casson fired at an anaconda that was darting at Bomba, the gun burst and laid Casson on his back, while the wounded anaconda retreated. Bomba had dragged his injured companion to their cabin and nursed him back to physical health. But Casson’s head had been injured by the explosion, and from that time on he was half-demented, though harmless. The lessons ceased abruptly, and Bomba became the provider and protector of the little family of two.

Thrown thus early on his own resources, Bomba had developed into a remarkable physical specimen of boyhood, daring, strong, and versed in all the craft of the jungle. He was surrounded by daily perils, to which a weaker nature would have succumbed. Serpents and wild beasts sought his life. But against them he matched his own courage and cunning, and had so far survived.

He knew comparatively nothing of the outside world. The jungle filled his whole horizon. But he knew that he was different from the natives of that region. Tugging at his heart was the knowledge that he was white, and he was possessed with a great desire to come in contact with his own people, to learn of their ways and dwell among them.

He knew that he was out of place where he was. The call of the blood was strong within him. He had a great longing to know of his parentage. He had questioned Casson repeatedly on this point, and the old man had striven in vain to tell him. But his memory had failed at the critical moment, and all that he could do was to mention the names “Bartow” and “Laura,” which Bomba concluded must refer to his parents.

How Bomba met two white rubber hunters, Gillis and Dorn, and won their gratitude by saving their lives when their camp was attacked at night by jaguars; how he trapped the cooanaradi when it pursued him; how he drove off the vultures when they assailed his friends the monkeys; how the latter came to his aid when the cabin was besieged by the headhunters—these adventures are told in the first book of this series, entitled: “Bomba the Jungle Boy; or, The Old Naturalist’s Secret.”

Although Casson could not himself remember the facts about Bomba’s parentage, he told him that he could learn all he wanted to know from Jojasta, the medicine man of the Moving Mountain. It was a long journey that Bomba had in prospect to reach Jojasta, but the urge to go was so strong that the lad determined to attempt it. After beating off another attack of the headhunters, Bomba took Casson down the river and delivered him to the care of Pipina, an old squaw for whom he had done many favors, and set out to find Jojasta.

From the very start his journey was beset with dangers from man and beast, flood and earthquake. He was instrumental in delivering from the power of the savages a Mrs. Parkhurst, whom he always referred to in his mind as “the woman with the golden hair.” Later he found her son, Frank, and in their joint adventures the boys grew strongly attached to each other, and Frank’s stories of the wonders of civilization intensified Bomba’s longings to see those things for himself.

How Bomba was swallowed up in an earthquake and hurled into a subterranean cavern that promised to become a living tomb; by what a marvelous combination of nerve and good fortune he reached the open air and sunlight; how he finally found Jojasta after the latter had been fatally hurt by the fall of his temple; the partial but not sufficient information he received from the dying man regarding his parents; the obstacles he surmounted and the perils he escaped are told in the preceding volume of this series, entitled: “Bomba the Jungle Boy at the Moving Mountain; or, The Mystery of the Caves of Fire.”

And now to return to Bomba, as he fights his life-and-death battle with the snake amid the branches and foliage of the fallen tree, not daring to make a sound lest he betray his hiding place to the savages who were hunting for him only a short distance away.

Beneath the scaly skin of the jaracara there was tremendous muscular power, and this was made more available when the reptile secured a purchase by wrapping its long body about the boy’s leg.