“BOB!”

“Joe!”

“Did you see it?”

“Yes. Human bones! These savages are cannibals!”

It was night—a dark, lowering night. The moon was nowhere in sight. Not a star twinkled down from the heavy jungle sky. Huge, roaring fires blazed in front of the chief’s large hut, while about them danced scores of painted savages, shouting and screaming and gesticulating.

It was a scene wild enough to strike terror to the heart of anyone. Bob and Joe gazed fearfully into the raging mob, wondering if the lives of them and their companions would be taken for the feast.

The boys moved over to their elders, who were standing at the other side of their thatched dwelling.

“Cannibals!” Professor Bigelow was muttering. He had seen too.

Mr. Holton and Mr. Lewis nodded, on their faces a grave expression. They were so taken aback as to be almost speechless.

“I think perhaps we had better get away from here,” said the professor, who, although deeply attentive to scientific work, knew when he was in a dangerous situation. “I know enough of the ways of primitive people to surmise what they’ll probably do to us if we stay. Their appetites for human flesh will be so stimulated that they will no doubt kill us also. Lucky that this happened as late as it did. I wouldn’t have wanted to leave so soon if I had not secured about all the information there is to be obtained about them.”

Just before leaving, Bob and Joe got out their cameras and took motion pictures of the gruesome feast, and in the end they were almost convinced that nothing of this kind had ever been shown on the silver screen.

With the aid of flashlights, whose beams, by the way, were concealed from the savages, the explorers had gathered their belongings together and were now ready to leave for the boats. Of course it would be perilous traveling at night through the jungle, but the chance had to be taken.

At that moment an Indian entered their hut, glanced about, and then started to call to the others.

Displaying a quickness remarkable for his size and weight, Mr. Holton launched himself full force at the fellow, sending him to the ground unconscious.

“Now let’s get away—quick!” he said. “There’s no telling when the whole tribe will be in here after us.”

As quietly as possible, the explorers and their Indian crew dashed away down the trail for the stream, never looking back, but fearing that they would hear the screams of the cannibals at any moment.

The flashlights rendered traveling easy, and as they had been over the trail many times, they reached the boats in record time.

Their possessions were piled inside. Then they climbed hastily in and were paddled swiftly away.

It was not until they had reached the main stream that they felt safe. Then they turned the boats downstream on the journey back to the coast.

“It isn’t wise to tax good fortune too much,” said Mr. Lewis, as the narrow stream faded in the distance. “We came up here for two definite purposes, and we’ve accomplished them both. First, Professor Bigelow has made a rather extensive study of little-known Indians, and second, Mr. Holton and I have collected hundreds of specimens for the museum. You boys have met with success in taking moving pictures, also. Now that our work is finished, we’d better get to the PurÚs at once.”

However, “at once” was a bit too hastily, for there were dangerous rapids that had to be portaged, totally unknown animals that diverted the naturalists’ attention, and a hundred and one reasons for making slow progress, even downstream. But at last they sighted the PurÚs in the distance.

“Now to hunt up Senhor del Pereo, the man who fitted us out with our boats and crew,” said Mr. Holton.

They found that individual in his house at the edge of the little town that rested between the two rivers.

He was more than glad to see the explorers back after such a long, perilous journey, and insisted that they remain at his house overnight, or until a boat could be found that would take them to the Amazon. The explorers accepted the invitation at once, glad of the chance to partake of the comforts of civilization after those long weeks into the unknown.

The next day they were fortunate in getting passage on a boat bound for ManÁos. It was a small steamer, scheduled to reach its destination in less than five days.

At ManÁos the explorers had another streak of good luck, finding a large liner that would take them straight to New York.

Down the mighty Amazon they steamed, at last coming into the port at ParÁ for a short stay.

After a walk about town, the Americans again boarded the vessel for the trip to New York.

It was an ideal evening as they steamed majestically out of the busy harbor and turned toward the United States.

“Do you know, Joe, old boy,” remarked Bob, as they sat with their elders on deck in the light of the full moon, “the farther away we get from the region we explored the more I prize our experience.”

Joe nodded.

“It was great,” he agreed. “And just think. We were lost—lost in the wilds of Brazil.”