And he knew by the clothes, which, though tattered into shreds, were similar to those that had been worn by Gillis and Dorn, by the men of the Parkhurst family. They were of heavy khaki cut after the civilized fashion.
Some hunter, no doubt; a hunter after big game or a hunter of rubber trees, who had come into the dark recesses of the Amazonian jungle.
Various signs indicated that the body had been there for some time. How the man had died would never be known. Somewhere in the civilized world he was marked down as “missing.” The jungle kept its secrets well.
Bomba stood looking down at the skeleton with a strange feeling in his heart. This man had been white! He had been a brother to Bomba, of the same blood, of the same race! A sense of kinship tugged at the lad’s heart.
And because he had been white, Bomba determined that the poor remains should have decent burial. He sought out a suitable piece of wood and with his machete fashioned a rude spade. With this he set to work and soon had dug a grave in the soft and muddy ground.
He lifted the skeleton reverently and bore it to the grave. As he did so, something dropped with a metallic sound. He paid no attention to this at the moment, but bestowed the bones carefully in the grave. Then he covered it and rolled great stones over the top that the last resting place of the stranger might be undisturbed.
He knew little of prayer. He had seen, to be sure, the incantations that the medicine men made to their gods. But something confused and vague shaped itself in his mind, an unspoken request that all might be well with the white man, wherever his spirit might be. For was not the white man Bomba’s brother?
He was turning away when his eye caught sight of the something that he had heard drop to the ground. He looked at it indifferently for a moment and then he pounced upon it eagerly.
It was a belt of cartridges!
He handled the objects with a delight beyond all bounds. It was like a gift from the gods. With a trembling hand he took his revolver from its pouch. The cartridges fitted perfectly!