They had just rounded a sharp bend which had obstructed their view up-stream. Ahead of them and not more than two hundred yards distant was another abrupt bend. The stern of a dugout canoe was just disappearing around it. They could not see the occupants of the craft, but the widening circles of ripples on the water showed that a number of paddles had been dipped deep to propel the canoe at great speed. They reached the spot soon after. Ahead of them was a clear stretch of water fully a mile long. It was not possible that the Indians could have covered that distance while the launch, travelling much faster, was traversing the very short distance that had separated them. But the dugout was not in sight. There was not a trace of it--not even a ripple on the water to tell where it had gone. It had vanished completely. The river glided on as smoothly and as silently as before with the secret of the mysterious craft safely locked in its yellow flood. “The guns,” the captain said quietly as they steered toward the middle of the stream. The men who had weapons loaded them and held them ready for instant action. They scanned the banks as they sped along, but saw no signs of the canoe. There were no creeks or inlets in which it could have been hidden. “Where did it get to?” David asked in astonishment. “Who knows?” one of the men answered. “That is one of the mysterious things the Indians do that cannot be explained. One minute you see them, the next they are gone. And the minute you forget all about them a shower of arrows comes rattling around your head.” “I can’t understand it. I should think it would get on your nerves,” David commented with a shudder. “It does. Who wouldn’t be upset when he knows there are silent, tricky shadows all around him that appear and fade away at will. You’ll understand it better when you have been in the country longer.” “I don’t feel comfortable. It doesn’t seem natural.” “I tell you these Indians are _diablos_. They are not human. That’s why we are no match for them. You’ll see!” The river grew somewhat narrower as they advanced up-stream. Also the water was still falling, the dry season not having reached its height. In a few weeks it would be at its lowest stage; then it would remain stationary for some time, until the coming of the rains when it always rose rapidly until the stream was converted into a roaring flood. The receding water left the ledges of rock that cropped out of the river bank exposed above the surface--some of them many feet up, others sloping gently into the stream. All of them were covered with mud which had not dried on the more recently exposed ones. They came suddenly upon such a table-like expanse glistening in the bright sunlight. On it were dark masses that moved. The distance separating them was at first too great for David to tell just what the objects were, but the men saw them before long and raised a shout of joy.