The British Mysteries Edition: 14 Novels & 70+ Short Stories. Sapper
were almost unrecognizable, stared at them. It was Lopez, the Brazilian, and he was dead.
"Poor devil," muttered Percy shakily. "How did they do it?"
"Ask me another," said Jim grimly, as he bent over the dead man. "They've murdered him somehow, and yet there's not a sign of any violence nor a trace of any blood."
"Perhaps he died of fright."
"Fright may send a man mad, but I've never yet heard of it killing anybody."
He again bent over the Brazilian, and suddenly he gave an exclamation.
"Look at his right hand," he said. "Do you see how terribly swollen it is? He's been poisoned, Percy. That's how they killed the poor blighter."
He straightened up thoughtfully.
"And if they used poison," he continued, "and lashed his legs, it proves they have a certain measure of human brain. No mere animal would do such a thing."
He stared round doubtfully: what was the best thing to do? Never again would they have such an opportunity for exploration. A number of paths similar to the one they had come by led out of the clearing: it seemed too good a chance to miss. And selecting one at random he started along it.
It led to another clearing, and they had barely gone ten yards along it when he stopped short with a sudden gasp.
"Great Heavens!" he muttered. "It can't be true."
In the centre of the second space there stood a mysterious object. It was about four feet high and fashioned into the representation of a grotesque little man. The thing was a monstrosity with a huge paunch and tiny legs. In colour it was dull yellow, and in the centre of the forehead there glittered a blood-red pool of light. And after a while the usually imperturbable Jim began to shake with uncontrollable excitement: he had seen that dull yellow before in smaller images, and knew what it meant.
"Gold, Percy: gold or I'll eat my hat," he cried. "And if that's a ruby in its forehead it is worth a king's ransom."
The thing stood on a little island with a circular strip of water some five feet wide all round it. Between its base and the water there was undergrowth also to a width of about five feet.
"It's the temple of their image," went on Jim. "Gosh! old lad, what about having a dart for that ruby. If it's gold, as I'm sure it is, there will be no difficulty in working it loose."
"I'm with you," cried Percy, "but we'd better get a move on."
They went towards it, and suddenly with a cry of warning Jim tried to spring back. For the ground in front seemed to rise towards them, and they felt themselves falling through space. So intent had they been on the idol that they had paid no attention to the path. And they had trodden on one end of some baulks of wood roughly joined together which pivoted seesaw fashion on a central hinge.
It was not a long fall, and they picked themselves up shaken but otherwise unhurt, as the thing creaked back into position again leaving them in darkness.
"One of the oldest native animal traps there is," cried Jim bitterly. "My God! Percy, we've let ourselves in for it now. Thank heavens! there were no spikes at the bottom. What a foul stench," he added.
And then he paused abruptly and gripped his cousin's arm.
"There's something here," he muttered. "I can hear it moving."
They crouched motionless staring into the darkness, and quite distinctly they could hear its heavy breathing. Then came a slow movement, as if some big body was gradually changing its position. The smell seemed to increase, and they waited tensely, conscious only of the loud beating of their own hearts.
Came a grunt and a shuffling noise: the thing was coming towards them. And suddenly they saw two gleaming eyes not a yard away. The thing was on them, and at that moment Jim's revolver roared out, sounding deafening in the shut in space.
The eyes disappeared: he had fired straight between them. There was a thud which shook the ground, one or two convulsive movements, then silence. The thing was dead.
"That's going to bring them about our heels," muttered Jim, "if they're anywhere in the neighbourhood."
And then he gave a sudden exclamation.
"By Jove!" he cried, "I believe this is a passage, and not merely a trap. It's lighter along there."
"Are you going to have a look and see what you've killed?" said his cousin.
"I'm going to beat it while the going is good," answered Jim grimly. "If we're found here, my lad, we shan't be needing our return tickets from Rio."
He led the way, and his surmise was correct. They were in an underground tunnel, and on coming to the bend where it had seemed to Jim to be less dark they could see the entrance ahead of them. They raced towards it, up the rising ground; and found that it opened into a corner of the original clearing. And for a while they stood there listening. Had the sound of the shot brought the others back? But nothing stirred: save for the motionless figure of the dead Brazilian the place was deserted.
Suddenly Percy gripped his cousin's arm again.
"Look down that track," he muttered. "I saw something move. Something dark. It swung itself across. Man, it was the size of an elephant."
"I don't see anything," said Jim. "Are you sure?"
"It was gone in a flash," cried Percy. "But I know I saw it."
"Then let's go," remarked the other. "Probably our hosts are returning. You lead the way this time."
And with a final glance at the dead man, and the bell from the ill-fated Paquinetta he followed his cousin out of the clearing.
CHAPTER X
"I SAY, Jim, oughtn't we to have come to that junction of the paths by now?"
They had been walking rapidly for over a quarter of an hour, and so far there had been no sign of anything following them. Whatever it was that Percy had seen, apparently it had not seen them. And as the significance of the question sank into his mind Jim cursed himself for a fool. He had followed his cousin blindly out of the clearing, his mind preoccupied with other things, and he realised now that Percy had taken the wrong path. They should have reached the junction long since.
"You're right, Percy," he said. "We're on a different track."
"I'm damned sorry, old boy," said his cousin apologetically. "I was so flustered by that thing I saw that I forgot what I was doing."
"My fault as much as yours," cried Jim. "However we can't go back, so we must go on. It will probably lead us into the open somewhere. The devil of it is that we haven't got much more daylight."
They pushed on faster, and after a while Jim began to grow uneasy. For the track kept turning right handed, and the ground was becoming appreciably softer.
"We're getting near the river, Percy," he said. "And that's about the last spot we want. Unless we find a path going away to the left we're in the soup."
Suddenly the track forked, and Percy paused.
"Which one, Jim?"
"Left, of course, but where on earth is this foul stench of musk coming from?"
They went on a few yards and soon discovered. The track had forked in order to pass on each side of a large, stagnant pool. Rotting vegetation hung in festoons round the banks, but by craning forward carefully they could see the water. And floating motionless in it, their evil-looking snouts just above the surface, were scores of crocodiles. Others were lying on the slimy ooze round the banks, and one huge one occupied the post of honour on a half-submerged tree trunk.
"Repulsive looking brutes," said Jim. "We must be nearer the river than I thought."
And