A FAMILIAR FOLLOWER
They departed from the main stream and proceeded up the black waters of
the _Rio Negro_ just after sunrise. _Manaos_, with its modern buildings,
crowded streets and electric lights, was indeed a “city lost in the
jungle,” for a half mile beyond the city limits, the jungle, primeval
and inviolable, lay like a vast green canvas under the sparkling
sunlight.
“No one in the city knows what is in that forest twenty miles away,”
Señor Goncalves informed Hal and his uncle as they drew into the wharf.
“_Manaos_ does not care to know, Señors, for she prefers to be a little
New York and forget the naked savages that roam the forests.”
“Believe me, I wouldn’t forget the naked savages if I was a _Manaosan_,”
said Hal earnestly. “I’d take hikes into the jungle and see what was
doing.”
“That is understood, Hal,” laughed his uncle. “But there are few
_Manaosans_, if any, that are cursed with your snoopiness. Life
apparently means much to them and they are far too wise to risk that
precious gift just to find out what the wild, naked savage is doing in
his own jungle. You don’t mean to tell me that you are adding the
suburbs of _Manaos_ to your already overcrowded itinerary!”
“Listen, Unk, I’m going to see all there is to see and you can’t blame
me. Gol darn it, this is my first trip to Brazil and the Amazon, and
I’ve only got a few months to see it in. Boy, it’s the chance of a
lifetime maybe, so why miss anything?”
The dapper Brazilian twisted his trim little moustache and laughed.
“Ah, Señor Hal he has the right idea, Señor Keen,” he said. “He goes in
for—what you call it—sport? Ah, but that is well. So I shall show him
places—no? There are the movies to go to—even you shall see this
afternoon a fine aviation field where is a great friend of mine, José
Rodriguez. He is what you Americans call the _Ace_—yes?”
“Gosh,” Hal said, “I’d think it was immense to meet a Brazilian Ace.
Think he’d like to take us up for a spin around?”
“Ah, that is just what I was going to suggest, Señor Hal. He is very
kind, José. Perhaps you would like him to take you for the spin over the
_Manaos_ jungle, eh?”
“Great—_immense_!” Hal enthused. “You do think of things, Goncalves—I’ll
say that for you! So we start this afternoon, huh?”
“To be sure, Señor Hal.”
It was something to look forward to and Hal did all of that while the
amiable Señor escorted his uncle to _Manaos’_ best hotel. The trials of
registering and selecting comfortable rooms always bored him and he
preferred returning to the hostelry when all those formalities were over
with.
Consequently, Hal strolled through the busy little city after having
breakfast at a quaint coffee house. Up one street and down another, he
ambled along with a grace that attracted attention wherever he went.
Clad in white polo shirt, immaculate flannels and sport shoes, his
splendid, towering physique and crown of red-gold hair stood out in bold
relief against the short, dark-skinned _Manaosans_. More than one dusky
damosel arrayed in New York’s latest fashion allowed herself a second
glance at him in passing.
But Hal was invulnerable where the _Manaos_ maidens were concerned. His
weakness was adventure. Also, during the first part of his stroll he was
too interested in watching the thousands of Amazonian vultures which
hovered overhead. Garden after garden was crowded with strange birds:
egrets with their delicate feathers, duckbills, curious snipe with claws
in the bend of their wings, and parrots shrieking in an alien tongue as
he passed.
Once he stopped to observe a blustering _jaribu_, or Amazonian heron,
who was trying to lord it over two gorgeously plumed egrets. Suddenly he
was aware of a shadow behind him, and when he turned he saw Pizella not
ten feet distant. Hal swung completely about and faced the half-caste.
“You’re not,” he said calmly, “following me, are you?”
Pizella was inscrutable. He did not even slacken his shambling pace and
as he caught up with Hal his shifty eyes were expressionless and seemed
not to see his questioner. In point of fact, he even made so bold as to
attempt to pass right by.
But Hal would have none of it. He leaned down from his great height and
closed his large, slim hand tightly over the man’s scruff.
“I was talking to you, Pizella,” he said quietly. “Maybe you can’t
understand my language, but, by heck, you can understand what my hand
means.”
Pizella’s face never changed. He glanced up at Hal in that same
expressionless manner as if he neither heard nor understood. To make
matters worse a crowd began to gather and in a couple of seconds there
was such a pushing, babbling and confusion that the half-caste got away.
Hal pushed through the throng after him but was destined to
disappointment. Pizella was nowhere in sight. Gardens to the right of
him, gardens to the left of him—the man might have escaped through any
number of them. In any event, he was not to be found.
After searching for almost two hours, Hal turned back to the hotel,
thoughtful and troubled.