Forbidden Cargoes

ant laughed. The laugh did not ring quite true, but it serv

he said.

he stood beside th

s across the seat. "Probably been he

y preserved it

w a great deal more that might well have been kept by the white man. But the type of Spaniard wh

e so close beside him, Pant found himself lost in revery. He was trying to reproduce

ing torches, moving like giant firebugs across the water; dark canoes gli

across the water it came to him aga

of eyes, but fine fish all the same. Can you see them, the little Indian boys fishing from thei

nough, from beneath the dust of centuries he

a conjurer. I can read bot

little shudder and a doubtful sm

I have some work to do in such a place, in fact that's what I came for. I needed a dark r

, who had regained his composure, and together they skirted the shore o

Again they were obliged to t

hey emerged into a small room wal

able, but that heap of fallen stalactites will take their place, and there

upon a circular fragment of stalactite that offered a level surface like the top of a round table,

, he drew forth a red cloth and woun

mites were turned blood red. The Carib struggled hard against the wild fears

of film. Having dropped this into the first t

ou mean to tell me you have come a

is important, the most important bit of work I have done in a long t

on a large tract of government land. This tract is bordered on one side by the holdings of the Central Chicle Company, a powerful and jealous corporation. Th

en a crimson flush suffuse the other boy's fac

dered on the other side by land

Without it our hands were tied. If we attempted to work our concession without knowing the true unfenced boundaries we were sure

o hold the square of film to the light. A little cry of joy escaped his

er boy

" he said i

as careful. I took my camera and a flashlight outfit with me. Fortune was with me. I came upon the Spaniard and two of his men examining the map at night. They were inside a bamboo cabin. I put my camera to a crack, opened the shutte

ne. The crafty faces of the Spaniards an

sighed as he dipped it c

enlargement made. That will give us a perfect map showing all the b

hat it was not the big Ame

hat," said Pant quickly

ence followed. Pant dropped his film into th

istant corner of the cave and the all but inaudible r

light now. How would you like to take your man here and go into the chamber just beyond while

ated. Then, as if struck by a sudd

f his two companions in adventure mov

ht. Something like a tr

n he looked again they were gone. In

human beings have perished here? This cave is their tombstone and their vault. How still it is!" Listening, he though

alone. All well enough with others, but alone?

. As he dropped in the film, a tiny fish, startled from its place of hiding, suddenly leaped clear o

ut at himself. "How absurd! Nerv

nto a protecting frame, then closed two trays over it an

lace. "Have a look," he told himself. Instantly some object in a di

started toward the corner, then paused. A curious tremor shot through him. It was as

d. "Nerves." He again

cing some strange and mysterious phenomenon, Pant though

it yet. If so, had he read it? Premonitions of some happening tremendous and terrifying were passing through his mind. If disaster over