Bomba had been carrying his machete between his teeth. Now he dropped lightly to the ground, and, with the double-edged knife held firmly in his grasp, ran swiftly toward the river.
Upon the banks of the stream he paused, listening. Still the dip, dip of paddles coming upstream. So faint and stealthy was the sound that it would have been inaudible to most ears other than those of Bomba.
The lad wasted not an instant, but slipped from the steep bank until he was waist deep in the sluggish water. The dense foliage of the jungle trees grew down to the very edge of the stream, flinging its rank growth out over the water.
Bomba had a canoe of his own concealed in the bushes some distance up the stream. Had there been time, he would have made for that, for he well knew the danger of making the river crossing by fording or swimming. The deadly alligator, or cayman, infested all the waters of the jungle, and any daring person that ventured to cross knew that he might pay for the venture with his life.
But time was everything to Bomba now. The headhunters were more to be feared than the cayman. The former were awake. The latter might be asleep. At all costs, he must make the venture. He must make haste, if he were to save the life of Casson and that of Pipina.
Bomba had let himself go so gently into the water as scarcely to make a ripple, and he moved on noiselessly, wading where he could, but soon reaching the deeper channel where he had to swim. Then most of the time he swam under water lest his presence be declared to prying eyes. He was almost as much at home in the water as on land, and only at long intervals had to come to the surface for air.
But swiftly as he swam, the Indians could paddle more swiftly. And a terrible fear gripped the lad’s heart as the sound of the paddles grew ever fainter in the distance.
They would reach the hut first. They would find it undefended and might attack at once. The worst might have happened before Bomba could reach the only place he called home.
What he would do when he got there he had not figured out. He would act as the occasion suggested. He would be but one against many; but he had been in that position more than once and yet won the victory.
He swam on swiftly until he was arrested by a sight that brought a growl of fury to his lips.