“You are right,” he said meekly. “I don’t amount to much. I knew it, and that is why I wanted to get away to a place where I had to depend on myself and would have the chance to make good under trying conditions.” “You picked out the poorest place in the world. Don’t lie to me; you thought you could come here as Mr. David Jones, son of the big New York business man, and that I would let you hang around as an ornament, wear fancy cow-boy clothes, so you could send pictures to your friends at home to admire; and that I would pay you a big salary for the honor of having you here. Well, you guessed wrong.” “I didn’t think of any of those things. I don’t want a cent until I honestly earn it. All I expect is a chance to do the things I have always wanted to do. My father did not send me away to get rid of me; I had a hard time to get him to let me come here.” The ranchman seemed to relent a little and, encouraged, David told him all, including his difficulties at Manaos and how he had finally succeeded in reaching the ranch on the trader’s boat. “You did have tough luck all around,” Rice commented, “but if I let you stay, it would only grow worse. Everything here has to be done by men who know their work; we haven’t time to be teachers. So you can rest up a bit; then I’ll send you back down the river. And that settles it.” A loud knock sounded on the door-frame. “Come in,” Rice called, and into the room stepped a tall, lean man, dressed in a blue cotton shirt and fringed, leather breeches. He had a cruel, swarthy face and small, restless eyes. “Now what?” his employer asked. “The launch is back from the Iguari; there has been more trouble with the Indians.” He cast a meaning look at David. “I’ll go outside,” David quickly said. “No!” Rice bellowed. “You will stay right here until I tell you to go.” David stopped and quickly turned to face the two. CHAPTER IX THE BEAST “Now, what’s the trouble?” Rice demanded in an angry voice. “It’s the Indians, mostly,” the foreman replied, shifting his feet uneasily. “They fight us every step of the way, when we get a few miles from the camp.” “Why don’t you fight back--kill them all. That’s the only way to handle the savages.” “We do, but there are so many of them that there are always others to take the places of the ones we kill. They seem to spring up like weeds, right out of the ground.” “Well? Go on! What else?” “The snakes are worse than ever this year.” “So you are afraid of snakes, too!” Rice said with a sneer. “You are a fine person to be entrusted with the management of the rubber camp. If you can’t do better than that, I’ll kick you out and put one of the half-breeds in your place. At least, they are not cowards.” “I’m not afraid of the snakes myself, but when one or more of the men are bitten and die each day, it is not long before they all get scared and want to quit. And besides, every one we lose leaves one man less to collect rubber.”