He did return in less than five minutes.
“Japazy is gone!” he declared abruptly.
CHAPTER XX
DAZZLING TREASURE
Something like a stab pierced Bomba’s heart when he heard Abino make the announcement that Japazy was gone.
“Gone?” he cried, springing to his feet. “Japazy gone? Has Bomba come so far through the jungle only to find that Japazy is not on the island of the big cats? Where has he gone? When will he be back?”
“Abino does not know,” was the answer. “Japazy goes when and where he will. He does not ask counsel of the elders of the tribe. It is enough that he wants to go. But he does not stay away long. The stranger will have to wait.”
“Has he gone away from Jaguar Island, or is he going about among his people in the other villages?” asked Bomba.
“There is no village but this,” replied Abino. “Once there were many on the island, but the big cats have come and killed so many of the people that they have all come together in this place so that they will be safe. The big cats do not come where they are so many fighting men. No, Japazy is not on the island. He has gone away over the water.”
The sunken city of which Hondura had spoken came into Bomba’s mind.
“Is it that he has gone to the place where stood the city that had towers of gold?” he asked.