The boy looked about him carefully, and when he answered, it was almost in a whisper.
“Solani grieves because he fears that harm may come to the stranger,” he replied.
“Who would bring harm to Bomba, except perhaps Japazy?” asked the jungle lad. “And Japazy is not here. Unless Japazy has come since you brought the last meat to Bomba,” he added.
“Japazy is not here,” replied Solani. “But the people of the tribe are fearful of his wrath if he should come and find the stranger here. They think that Japazy will not be glad to hear the stranger’s words about his father and his mother. They fear that Japazy may be angry because they did not kill the stranger as soon as he landed on Jaguar Island.”
Bomba’s heart sank. Was it possible that the elders, believing that Japazy had killed the boy’s father, were fearful that he had come to take vengeance on their chief?
To be sure, he was only a boy, but he had that very day demonstrated that he had strength, skill, and courage that any warrior of the tribe would have found it hard to match.
“It cannot be that the elders of the tribe would do harm to a stranger who came with his palms out and put himself into their keeping,” said Bomba. “That would bring on the people the wrath of the gods.”
“They do not fear the wrath of the gods as much as they fear the wrath of Japazy,” returned Solani. “The gods are very far away. Japazy is near.”
No better proof than this statement, simply made, could have been afforded of the tremendous power exercised by the crafty half-breed over the superstitious people through the strength of his personality and his talk of ghosts and demons.
“What do the elders of the tribe say about Bomba?” questioned the jungle lad, with an assumption of carelessness that he was far from feeling.