He dropped the piece of curling film before the chief’s toes and stooping swiftly he ignited the lighter and touched the edge of the film.
As he leaped back, covering his face from the glare, the leader took fire and its celluloid base, almost as combustible as dynamite, shot into a blaze of white fire while a great, pungent puff of smoke flung itself upward and began to belly out in the still air of the hut.
Instantly the chief dropped to the ground like one stunned, and the archers, the councillors, the medicine man and every other Indian seemed to run away and vanish like the disappearance of the film at the end of the magic show.
“Well,” gasped Tom, as Nicky and Cliff dashed to his side, “Margery—come here! I guess we’re safe for awhile.”
And again, as had been hinted when he first saved Henry Morgan’s life, Tom had performed that service for the second time.
CHAPTER XXVI
TWO MEN DISAPPEAR
“These people will be your slaves from now on,” Margery said. “I know them. They ran to hide because they are afraid of you. If you do what I tell you we can get away safely after awhile!”
“All right,” said Tom.
He looked at Mort and Henry, crestfallen and a little surly, standing by the motion picture machine.
“We’re going off by ourselves,” he told them. “I’ve got you out of the trouble you made for yourself, Henry—twice now,” he was not boasting, but stating it as a fact. “I think the least you can do is to be honest with us from here on.”