The
eyes of the man-hunters missed nothing. They had seen Sheldon and Joan
first, but they gave no sign. Where Gogoomy and his followers had
emerged from the river, the canoe abruptly stopped, then turned and
disappeared into the deeper mangrove gloom. A second and a third canoe
came around the bend from below, glided ghostlike to the crossing of the
runaways, and vanished in the mangroves.
"I hope there won't be any more killing," Joan said, as they turned their
horses homeward.
"I don't think so," Sheldon assured her. "My understanding with old
Seelee is that he is paid only for live boys; so he is very careful."
CHAPTER XXIII--A MESSAGE FROM THE BUSH
Never had runaways from Berande been more zealously hunted. The deeds of
Gogoomy and his fellows had been a bad example for the one hundred and
fifty new recruits. Murder had been planned, a gang-boss had been
killed, and the murderers had broken their contracts by fleeing to the
bush. Sheldon saw how imperative it was to teach his new-caught
cannibals that bad examples were disastrous things to pattern after, and
he urged Seelee on night and day, while with the Tahitians he practically
lived in the bush, leaving Joan in charge of the plantation. To the
north Boucher did good work, twice turning the fugitives back when they
attempted to gain the coast.
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