“The stranger is strong,” admitted Abino, and Boshot looked rather sheepish because of his slighting remark.
Bomba noted the impression that had been produced and thought it an opportune time to deepen it still further.
“Bomba is no weakling,” he said; “but the weapons he carries with him are stronger than Bomba. His arrows go far and they go straight. They find the eye of the cayman and the heart of the jaguar.”
“The stranger speaks big words,” retorted Sunka skeptically.
Bomba looked about him. At a distance of two hundred feet was a high tree, on the topmost branch of which a buzzard was preening itself.
“The buzzard is far away,” he said, as he fitted an arrow to his string, “but he will fall when Bomba lets go the string.”
There were grunts of incredulity mingled with curiosity. This stranger was giving them thrills to which they were unaccustomed.
“Shall Bomba’s arrow strike the body or the neck?” asked Bomba with a show of indifference.
“Now we know that the stranger boasts,” broke in Tama. “If he hit the body, he will do well.”
“It will be the neck,” declared Bomba.