The Indian hesitated. Turber fortunately was not within sight. There was an Indian wading in the shallows of the shore. "These captives--" "He told me to watch them. Dios! If I could not shoot better than you! Give me that ugly thing." She took the automatic; took it gently from him. Her face was upraised; her smiling lips were mockingly alluring. He yielded the weapon; and suddenly leaned down and kissed her with a rough caress. "You bad Indian! Never let Wolf Turber see you do that! Go now--show him you fear no river when it has jewels in it. I'll keep the prisoners safe." She covered us with the automatic; she stood ten feet away. "Hurry back, Bluntnose." He went. She stood tense. She met my glance, but did not answer it. Her gaze roved the near-by glade. There was a moment when no one near by was observing us. She gestured with the automatic. "Go! Run south toward the village. I'll fire presently--and I'll tell them you went north. Run fast!" "Nanette--run!" I lifted her up; held her hand; we slid into the underbrush and ran. CHAPTER XII IN THE FOREST DEPTHS In the tower, Alan, with Lea, San, and Lentz, came speeding back to this night in 1664. San plunged the tower to its swiftest pace--the trip seemed less than an hour. At first they sat in the lower room. Alan could not make up his mind about Lentz. The fellow appeared loyal enough. Anxious to help; and certainly his presence was an advantage. But Alan determined to watch him closely, always. Both Lea and San were startled at Lentz's appearance in the tower. That was obvious; and several times Alan seemed to read in their expressions that they, too, were suspicious of the man. Lentz interpreted: "San must stay always with the tower. He wants me to be sure you understand that." "Yes, I do." "And Lea says she will go with you--" The Turber aero was on the river bank not much more than a mile from where the tower would land. It was Alan's plan to try and creep up on it. "What weapons have you?" Lentz asked. Alan showed him the revolver. Lentz reached to take it. "No," said Alan. "I'll keep it. What have you?" Lentz had a knife--a long, thin blade in a sheath. Alan wondered what else. For an instant he had an impulse to search the fellow. But he decided it would be a wrong move. He smiled. "That might be handier than mine. Mine makes a noise. You'll go with me, Lentz?" "Yes. That is what I think best. I have so often seen this forest with the instruments--I can guide you." "And--me?" said Lea. "You stay here," said Alan decisively. She burst into a flood of words to Lentz. "She says she speaks the dialect of these Indians of 1664. She has studied it in the dead-language books--She can talk to the Indians. She stopped there once--they thought she was a goddess." Lea said: "Yes. Yes--magic--this tower."