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TRANSFORMING INFORMATION
SECURITY
Optimizing Five Concurrent Data
Trends to Reduce Resource Drain
KATHLEEN M. MORIARTY
Dell Technologies, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India

Malaysia – China
Emerald Publishing Limited
Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK
First edition 2020
Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited
Reprints and permissions service
Contact: [email protected]
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written
permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying
issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA
by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the
chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort
to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no
representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability
and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to
their use.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-83909-931-1 (Print)
ISBN: 978-1-83909-928-1 (Online)
ISBN: 978-1-83909-930-4 (Epub)
 Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments

1 Interconnected Trends
2 Board-level Program Evaluation and Guidance
3 Architect a Secure Network with Less
4 Encryption
5 Transport Evolution: The Encrypted Stack
6 Authentication and Authorization
7 The End Point
8 Incident Prevention, Detection, and Response
9 Looking Forward

References
Index
 Preface
Looking 5 to 10 years forward, to an ecosystem with end-to-end
encryption, network architectures and hence security as we know it
in enterprises will be transformed. The protocols for end-to-end
encryption have been developed, but the management of security
and networks have not caught up.
This is an opportunity to think strategically on the design of
network architectures, the placement and use of management tools,
and to plan for resources, especially the hard-to-find security
practitioner.
Let's face it, information security is much more difficult than it
needs to be, and this transformational period for protocols should be
seen as an opportunity to fix these issues. The focus on this forward-
looking strategic view is primarily considering the tremendous deficit
in information security professionals will never be filled through
training. The current set of security solution architectures involving
middleboxes are geared toward the top 1% of organizations that can
afford to hire multiple information security professionals. The other
aspect of this strategic vision includes the goal of a truly improved
and intrinsically more secure network environment. Envision a fully
encrypted and authenticated network with functions better performed
at scale where collective knowledge is strategically and carefully
applied. As it has come to be an acceptable outcome in the Internet
of Things (IoT) space, envision elemental services from end point
vendors to prevent, detect, and thwart threat actors leveraging
collective knowledge on patterns and behaviors through the use of
artificial intelligence and machine learning applied back to your
systems to better scale incident detection and response.
This means no middleboxes that each require a full-time
employee to manage. A reliance on information collected at the
edge, or end point systems, as well as streams provided to these
systems to prevent or block known threats would be managed by a
smaller group of expert analysts with large swaths of data to make
assessments. Vendors could provide services to prevent and resolve
security issues on their applications and platforms in aggregate
utilizing a small number of analysts specific to their technologies and
threat landscapes. This already happens in hosted environments,
but perhaps not in the ways this long-term vision moves us toward to
further reduce human resource impacts. Gradually, this would all
give way to intrinsically secure applications and the ability for users
to better manage their personal data. Let's start with a few relevant
examples that scale security and incident management well, and
then the book will expand from there more broadly setting new
architectural patterns that scale.
The APWG [APWG] hosts central repositories around use case-
specific threats. This example is on the antiphishing repository.
Anyone can contribute to this antiphishing repository containing
attack-related information including web service links (URLs) with
known malware, compromised email servers, etc. The information is
used, verified, and updated by participating organizations, like RSA
who engages law enforcement to take appropriate legal action and
have malicious sites removed from the Internet. Where this gets
interesting in terms of scale is the use of the information sources by
programs like Google Safe Browsing [Google, 2019]. This particular
program assesses threats and integrates deny lists into the browser
that are updated on a periodic basis throughout the day. Additionally,
this is used as a plugin for every other major browser, greatly
reducing the number of analysts needed to have a large impact on
threats for just about every browser user on the planet, as an
individual or within a corporate network benefiting.
Turning to the payment processing industry, threat detection
occurs at the issuing bank, which is part of the payment processing
flow that begins with the point of sale at millions of retail locations as
well as online commerce sites. In this case, transactions are stopped
at the point of sale or prior to the transaction being completed. In
terms of scale and location of intelligence, this makes sense except
for smaller issuing banks that may not have the fraud detection
capabilities of larger organizations. The issuing bank has full records
of card users' trends and patterns and can detect unusual behavior.
The point of sale is able to verify whether or not your credit card is
valid and has adequate funds to proceed with a transaction.
If you peel back this example a bit, there are providers of data
that aid in fraud detection to further narrow the number of experts
needed to detect threats. Fraud information services provide lists of
compromised accounts and credit cards to the appropriate issuing
bank, culled from the dark web. This compliments the work
performed by issuing banks to detect fraud. Financial institutions
also collaborate on threat detection, but not necessarily fraud
detection techniques. There is room for improvement in each of
these examples; however, they demonstrate collaboration between
enterprises and vendors to protect enterprise users and individuals
with fewer overall human resources. For some types of threats,
solutions still do not scale and near-term work could help to reduce
the number of analysts needed with architectural model changes
with an eye toward efficiency given today's resource constraints.
Longer term, methods will emerge to prevent the attacks and thus
reducing the need for defenses like these. Threat detection is just
one area this book examines as it unfolds to map out security
architectures to improve security and reduce human resource
requirements for organizations of all sizes. It is imperative that we
think toward new architectural patterns including ways to prevent
such attacks now as protocol design changes and technology
advancements enable this transformation.
 Acknowledgments
The research for this book began during Kathleen's two terms as an
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Security Area Director,
March 2014–2018, reading all Internet drafts prior to publication. The
text was independently produced while working in the Dell EMC and
DELL Technologies Office of the CTO with permission. Proof of
Concept and development to test hypothesis were performed by
several of the DellEMC Office of the CTO Dojo teams and one by the
USC supported by the DoD through the Hacking for Defense
Program.
A tremendous thank you to Chris Inacio; his careful proofread of
the contents looking to catch technical errors or areas that could
benefit from further explanation. Special thanks to technical
reviewers Spencer Dawkins and Rick Martinez who also aided in
improving the book. Thank you to Nicole Reineke for your proofread
and suggestions. Thank you to John Roese, Ken Durazzo, Frederic
Lemieux, and Rowland Shaw for supporting my work and
development of this book on security transformation. Gratitude also
for those who helped validate the theories and projected evolution
path including Rob Adams, Dennis Moreau, and Liam Quinn.
A tremendous thank you to the fabulous Dojo teams and
business unit architects at Dell Technologies. I am forever grateful
for the opportunity to work with each team member in collaborating
and testing out some theories in proof of concept development work.
Dojo team members who implemented and developed additional
ideas around proposals include Omar AbdulAal, Himanshu Arora,
Shary Beshara, Gus Cantieni, Xuebin He, Akshaya Khare, James
King, Omar Mahmoud, Lauren Marino, Amy Mullins, Megan
Murawski, Thinh Nguyen, Xavier Nieves, Ahmed Osama, Alex
Robbins, Seth Rothschild, Ben Santaus, Amy Seibel, Mohamed
Shaaban, and Yuzhi Xiao. Thank you to security colleagues for your
collaboration on several projects themed around scaling security
management and helping to push the envelope with the goal of
improving overall security for customers. Colleagues include Sachit
Bakshi, Rudy Bauer, Travis Gilbert, Nicholas Grobelny, Samant
Kakarla, Rick Martinez, Amy Nelson, Michael Raineri, and Charles
Robison. Thank you to numerous colleagues in the IETF for your
work and meaningful conversations to advance security.
Thank you to my dear son, who is an all-around wonderful child. I
am grateful for all the mornings you slept late, giving me time to work
on this book.
 1
Interconnected Trends
There are at least five trends, when interconnected, that have the
potential to result in a dramatic shift in how information security is
managed today, for the better. Within each trend, there are some
inevitable outcomes as well as interdependencies with other trends
that are not often considered together to better map out a forward
path. The trends include:
increased deployment of encryption,
strong session encryption, preventing interception,
transport protocol stack evolution,
data-centric security models, and
users control of data.
While much work is happening within each trend, these trends
are not typically all considered together. To realize positive change
and reduce the overall threat space, it is imperative that we do just
that. This chapter will explore each of the trends and how they
interconnect to set the stage for the proposed changes and deeper
technical considerations discussed in the book as the trends are
embraced. The increased deployment of strong encryption supports
data-centric architectures and is contributing to the transport protocol
stack evolution. User control of data is a desired outcome for those
looking to protect user’s privacy; however, work to support this trend
is at an early stage. The general theme of the inability to manage
information security as it is architected today, due to insufficient
resources, will be explained detailing how embracing these trends
and new architectural patterns improve efficiency and reduce
resource requirements.
1.1 Increased Deployment of Encryption
While the Snowden revelations (Gidda, 2013) starting in June 2013
led to an immediate increase in deployed session encryption, trends
in standards development also shifted. The fundamental shift in
standards was driven by the acceptance of less-than-perfect security
in favor of deployability, leading to a sharper increase in deployed
encryption starting around 2017. Examples of this include
Opportunistic Security (Dukhovni, 2014) and the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF) Automated Certificate Management
Environment (ACME) (Internet Engineering Task Force, 2020h).
Opportunistic security enables an upgrade path from clear text
sessions to sessions encrypted without authentication, to
authenticated session encryption. It is important to note that
opportunistic security is breakable, but allows for easy automated
configuration without knowledge of the other endpoint. Prior to this
shift, such efforts would not have gone anywhere since the
unauthenticated session could be intercepted, leaving you with no
security. From a purist point of view, that was not acceptable in the
past, but now there's a justification. Opportunistic security raises the
cost for pervasive monitoring, resulting in an in-feasibility to monitor
all sessions passively. If nation states or malicious actors want to
monitor traffic in this model, specific sessions would be targeted for
decryption and observation.
While we haven't seen much deployment outside of opportunistic
security use with IPsec (Internet Engineering Task Force, 2020d),
automated certificate management is enjoying huge success via the
Let's Encrypt project. Sessions not previously encrypted have used
ACME via Let's Encrypt to automate the management of certificates,
improving privacy protections for end users. While Let's Encrypt
offers certificates for free, the ACME protocol can be used by other
certificate providers who are interested in automating maintenance
of certificates, including any type of certificate. An out-of-band
process may be required for identity proofing of individuals and
organizations for Extended Validation (EV) certificates or other
certificate types. If you are not already using ACME, it should be
considered a way to ease certificate management and say goodbye
to the days where an expiring certificate causes extensive server
outages without anyone realizing the root cause. Now, with
automation needless downtime due to certificate management
problems can be avoided.
The initial increase of deployed encryption on the web rose to
around 30% in 2014, the year following Snowden revelations.
ACME's automation and free certificates from the Let's Encrypt
project helped that number climb to 85% in 2020 (Let's Encrypt,
2020) (Fig. 1.1).
Source: https://letsencrypt.org/stats/
Fig. 1.1. Percentage of Page Loads Over HTTPS by Region.
This trend of pervasive encryption will continue now that session
encryption is easier to deploy and there's ample motivation.
1.2 Strong Encryption
End user privacy, human rights protections, and prevention of
protocol ossification are the primary drivers for the trend
strengthening transport protocol encryption. Encryption is being
designed to prevent interception and limit the exposure of previously
exposed meta-data. When considering end user privacy, it's not only
session content that can reveal sensitive information, but also meta-
data. Meta-data and session signaling information may enable
tracking of user sessions across the network with any identifier or
combined set of unique data that can identify the communicating
parties. The meta-data of the communication session may provide
insight as to the two parties communicating (hostname and Internet
protocol information), length of the session, amount of data
exchanged, possibility of identifying encapsulated protocols, and
types of data exchanged.
Privacy considerations for the end user have been a major driver
for the increased deployment of strong encryption and a reduction in
availability of session meta-data. Transport architects and engineers
are grappling with the go forward options to manage networks in an
encrypted world. There has been some work to catalog the usage of
data and meta-data and the goals of the monitoring performed prior
to this shift in encryption (Moriarty & Morton, 2018). This impact is
felt more by the enterprise than service providers as shown with a
slower move toward adoption of strong encryption.
Transport layer protocols using provably secure strong encryption
began to emerge in 2018. Deployment may have more limited
success in environments where data is expected for monitoring (e.g.,
within the enterprise) near-term, the research from the cited survey
indicates that deployment of these protocols should not suffer on
Internet bound connections. The reason for this is that service
provider monitoring is typically limited to the available protocol
header information at the transport protocol, network, and link layer.
These header fields will continue to be available with the current set
of emerging transport encryption protocols including Transport Layer
Security (TLS) version 1.3 (Rescorla, 2018), QUIC (Internet
Engineering Task Force, 2020e), and TCPcrypt (Internet Engineering
Task Force, 2020g).
A goal for an end-to-end encryption protocol is that the session
initiates at the client application (web browser, streaming video
application, etc.) and terminates at the server destination, thereby
protecting the session across the entire transit of the network. In
reality, the session likely terminates at a load balancer instead of a
web server and may include some inspection at this point of
termination. The load balancer termination point may be considered
the server end point in today's web server architecture schemes. If
there are additional servers, including application servers, content
servers, databases, etc. used to deliver the return session content to
the end user or client, there may be additional encrypted streams
established from the terminating load balancer to these other
systems and applications. The subsequent sessions may or may not
use the same encryption protocol as the initiating transport
encryption protocol of the client. A simplified illustration is provided in
Fig. 1.2.
Fig. 1.2. Edge Termination to Data Center.
Internet bound sessions have different security and privacy
considerations from those within a data center, hence the possible
variance on protocol selection for sessions within a data center from
Internet bound sessions. For instance, human rights considerations
in protocols (ten Oever & Cath, 2017) include many existing security
and privacy controls, but add anonymity and pseudonymity as
important to the design for end user protection. Users shouldn't have
to fear for their safety when performing research on health-related or
other similar queries that may be restricted or prohibited in some
regions. When speaking on a panel in Geneva, organized by the
Internet Society in 2015, another panelist told his story where he
wanted to do research on the pros and cons of circumcision in his
country in Africa, but was fearful for his life due to regional beliefs on
this practice. This is just one of hundreds of examples where human
rights considerations are sometimes factored into protocol design.
The drivers are important as is the trend of increasing design and
deployment of strong transport encryption. The threat landscape has
evolved beyond basic confidentiality for information security to
include protection from session interception (passive or active
hijacking), user privacy, and human rights considerations partly due
to pervasive monitoring of governments.
1.3 Transport Protocol Stack Evolution
It seems to me that we're morphing into a really
interesting protocol stack, where UDP is the
transport protocol but QUIC is the REAL transport
 protocol, and IPv6 is the networking protocol, but
GENEVE is the REAL networking protocol.
Spencer Dawkins, IETF Transport Area
Director 2018.
The transport stack is evolving, partially a result of the need to
develop and innovate Internet transport in response to the
proliferation of middle-boxes that intercept and sometimes modify
existing well-deployed protocols. End-to-end transport encryption
helps toward this goal. Application developers are highly motivated
in this push for strong encryption to allow for innovation in protocols
supporting their applications. This is one reason why the protocol
stack evolution starts from the application layer encryption protocols
in addition to that being the point in the stack to protect end user
data in transit. To be explicit, TLSv1.3 and QUIC are a couple of
protocols driving the work of transport and routing engineers at lower
layers for this now necessary protocol stack evolution.
The use of UDP and strong transport encryption is an attempt to
address the ossification of existing network protocols and allow for
innovative end-to-end protocol development.
TCP based applications are often intercepted and
sometimes modified by middle-boxes. UDP has not
been intercepted in general, having been deployed
for connectionless query/response applications like
DNS in the past,
Spencer Dawkins.
Performance benefits have been noted with applications using
UDP and QUIC as a result. Through research, instances where UDP
has been rate limited has been discovered as high usage may be
interpreted by a middle-box as a DoS attack. Simply phrased, if
traffic is not intercepted, the end points are free to evolve the
protocol without fear that any update could cause the protocol to be
blocked in its path. If the use of UDP is fully encrypted, including
signaling information, packets cannot be modified in transit.
This all sounds very positive in that protocols may continue to
evolve and protocol designers can be innovative in their solutions
while protecting the privacy of end users. While those are both
laudable goals, this leaves open questions for transport protocol
engineers who focus on congestion control, performance, availability,
and other traffic and operations management tasks that rely upon
header information that has been available in transport protocols to
date. Herein lies the tussle that has become a bit of an arms race
between application developers who can evolve their protocols more
easily if transport remains intact and the management of networks
that has relied on visibility into packet streams to perform network
and security management. For service providers, the visibility has
been limited to publicly available transport, network, and link layer
packet header data (Moriarty & Morton, 2018).
In terms of active development in transport protocols,
development has been limited to UDP for transport in recent years in
an effort to prevent protocol ossification. QUIC is one example that
uses UDP as a substrate. QUIC is an encrypted transport protocol,
using TLSv1.3 secure handshake for authenticated key exchange
intended for real-time or latency sensitive applications (e.g.,
streaming media, gaming, and VoIP services). Google runs QUIC
between Google services and Chrome browsers and is gaining
adoption elsewhere (Jan, 2018). For the enterprise, the business
justification to allow QUIC into networks has not yet been made.
While deployments like that at Google exist and are likely to expand,
the use cases for the QUIC protocol are limited at the moment.
When speaking at RSA Conference and Dell Technologies World
2018, attendees said who were aware of QUIC were outright
blocking it from their enterprise networks. There was no perceived
business imperative for many enterprises to allow QUIC, limiting
deployment. Increased use of streaming protocols to facilitate
business calls may tip the balance in the near future for the
performance gains, improving call quality. Having said that, QUIC
does allow for protocol innovation and evolution and we will continue
to see standard efforts pushing for increased encryption of signaling
information as well as packet payloads to combat the protocol
ossification problem.
Transport engineers, operators, and network managers are
looking for options lower in the stack to ensure the monitoring
functions performed to manage traffic may continue. There are a few
paths in exploration right now with no clear winner. In my opinion, the
simplest and most likely to be deployed option is IPv6 (Deering &
Hinden, 2017) with packet header information such as the Flow
Label (Amante, Carpenter, Jiang, & Rajahalme 2011) and the
Destination Options Header extension (Elkins, Hamilton, &
Ackermann, 2017). The challenge with this option is that global
deployment of IPv6 was at about 25% in 2018 (Internet Society,
2018), although increasing, more work needs to be done. This is a
viable option because many systems now support IPv6 without any
work needed by the end user, including mobile devices. Another
challenge with IPv6 is that the header extensions are sometimes
dropped by middle-boxes (Gont, Linkova, Chown, & Liu, 2016).
Interoperability testing on the recent IPv6 revision in RFC8200
(Deering & Hinden, 2017) should help to close this gap. This update,
an interoperability testing, ensures header extensions are an
expected part of the standard, reducing the rate packets are dropped
since the results posted in 2016 [RFC7827]. While the Hop-by-Hop
header extension may seem like another possibility, it has some
issues as cited in RFC8200 Section 4.8. This extension may be
modified at hops along the path, unlike the Destination Options
header that is meant for end-to-end usage that may trigger the use
of a slow processing path.
Alternatively, there has been a proposal from several well-
respected transport engineers in the IETF to add a layer to the stack
for measurement. “A Path Layer for the Internet: Enabling Network
Operations on Encrypted Protocols” (Kuhlewind et al., 2017)
describes the network ossification that has led to the increased use
of encryption along with their solution to add a path layer called, Path
Layer UDP Substrates (PLUS).
The obstacles to implement and deploy this additional protocol
layer with useful packet headers for measurement may be quite
high. Considering IPv6 headers have experienced difficulty at
middle-boxes after 20 years of existence as a standard, it is likely
that the path to deployment for something like PLUS would be quite
difficult.
The PLUS work has been presented at IETF meetings and has
failed to move forward due to privacy concerns and the possibility of
revealing information about the end user. While some of the same
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
 CHAPTER XXI
Magnificent Country

T HERE was a rocky hill not far away, and it was Joe who
expressed a desire to go over and climb to the top.
“Fairly high,” he remarked. “Ought to be able to get a good view
of the surrounding territory.”
“Yes,” Bob agreed. “Maybe we can catch sight of an Indian
village in the distance. The unknown tribe! Be fine if we could be the
ones to locate it, wouldn’t it?”
“Sure would. Professor Bigelow would be delighted beyond
words. Think of the rumpus he’d kick up if we announced that we’d
found the savages he’s been hunting.”
It was a distance of less than a half-mile to the foot of the knoll,
and the youths made it in a very few minutes. Then they began the
task of climbing the jagged side. There was little vegetation to
hinder their progress, although twisted vines and shrubs were rather
numerous on the ground.
“The undergrowth offers footholds that we could not otherwise
find,” said Bob. “Here’s a place where it comes in handy, even
though most of the time it’s merely something to avoid.”
At last, panting and perspiring, the youths reached the top of
the hill and then turned to glance down below. Jungle, jungle,
jungle! Nothing but heavily wooded country stretched before them.
As far as the eye could see the great tropical forest loomed up—in
green, brown, red. It was as though all the world were covered with
dense vegetation. The boys turned about.
On the other side was the river, winding through gulches and
hills and stretching out of sight in the distance. Opposite the hill
were the boats, and under trees not far away were the explorers
resting peacefully in the shade.
It was a spectacular view, and Bob and Joe spent several
minutes in silently gazing down.
“No evidence of human habitation anywhere around,” remarked
Bob, trying to single out a settlement somewhere in the distance.
In the vast, silent jungle sound travels far, and realizing this, the
youths shouted to the others, to let them know of their commanding
position.
“Now let’s get down from here and tramp on through the
forest,” said Joe, finding a foothold in the heavy soil.
It was necessary to exercise more care in descending, for the
rocks were pointed and dangerous to step on. A safe place had to be
felt out cautiously.
The youths reached the bottom in a very short time, however,
and followed a narrow trail that wound out of sight.
“Be impossible to cut through this jungle if there were no trails
of any kind,” said Bob, his keen eyes unable to penetrate the tangled
mass of vegetation on either side of them.
“Not without a machete, anyway,” nodded Joe. “Even then it
would be a hard job.”
The youths hiked on until they came to a small stream that
emptied into the river. They sat down on the bank to take in their
surroundings.
On the other side of the stream was a break in the ground that
indicated the presence of a gully—how steep, they did not know.
They resolved to find out as soon as they had rested.
“Unless,” said Joe, “we can’t get across the creek. Never can tell
how many alligators and piranhas have migrated here from the
river.”
He picked up a stone and threw it with all his strength into the
muddy water, hoping to arouse any life that might be lurking
sluggishly out of sight. Once he thought he detected a slight ripple
other than that caused by the stone but was not sure.
 “Don’t believe I care to wade it,” backed out Bob. “Wouldn’t feel
funny to have a toe nipped off by a piranha, or worse yet, to be
carried into an alligator’s lair. Suppose we throw a log across for
safety.”
They spent several more minutes sitting on the bank in idleness.
At last Joe got up and looked about the near-by jungle.
“No logs around here,” he called to Bob, who had wandered
along the bank.
Further search was not in vain. A small tree that had been
uprooted by a hurricane lay in a patch of bushes not far away, and it
was carried to the stream and thrown across. Then the youths
began carefully walking along its narrow surface.
Bob reached the other side first, and he warned his friend to be
careful. Joe was, and in a few moments also had crossed the log.
“Now let’s see what’s beyond that ravine,” he said.
They walked over to the edge and then halted abruptly, awe-
stricken and spellbound at the wonderful panorama that stretched
out before them. They were standing at the brink of a two-hundred-
foot canyon, which sloped down and back up to form a perfect U. At
the very bottom was a large grove of huge red flowers, which added
not a little to the beauty of the scene.
“Some view,” breathed Joe, gazing far ahead at the distant
jungle.
Bob nodded. “Bet we can see twenty miles or more,” he said.
“And nothing but dense jungle.”
The youths spent several more minutes in looking off into
space. They could not tear themselves away from the wonderful
view. It seemed almost impossible to come suddenly upon such a
gulch in a land that seemed fairly level.
At last Bob shouldered his rifle as a signal to move on.
“Can’t spend too much time here if we expect to do any more
exploring,” he said, looking at his watch. “They’ll expect us back in
another hour.”
“Where’ll we go next?”
 “No difference to me. How about down the hill?”
They hiked down the gradual slope of the canyon, although the
jungle was in places impenetrable.
When about halfway down, Joe stopped suddenly, his face an
ashen gray, his limbs trembling. Bob’s eyes opened wide, and he
clutched his rifle tightly.
The next moment there came a horrid hiss, and the thirty-foot
anaconda lunged forward.
 CHAPTER XXII
Lost in the Wilds of Brazil

T HE largest snake of Brazil was about to strike and enfold the

youths in its terrible coils. And that could mean but one thing—death
in an awful form.
Slowly Bob and Joe raised their rifles and took careful aim at the
horrible head. They must not miss. Here, if ever, was a need for
accurate shooting.
There came another hiss, and the reptile glided still closer, its
wicked eyes gleaming in the sunlight. It was moving stealthily, as if
wondering which of the boys to make for.
“Now!” whispered Bob and a second later pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Two rifles spoke, but only one found the mark. It
would have been a difficult task for even an expert marksman to
strike that small swaying head. And Bob and Joe were not expert
marksmen, although the former was much better than the average.
But the bullet had only glanced the top of the head and had
done no real damage. The reptile was only more enraged.
“Run!” cried Joe, as he saw that the anaconda was preparing to
strike.
“One more shot,” whispered back Bob, again raising his rifle.
“I’m afraid we couldn’t get far if we ran.”
Again the rifles spoke, and this time, thanks to the young
hunters’ courage, both bullets smashed into the head and shattered
it. The great snake thrashed about in its death struggle, the coils
describing circles and curves. At last it quieted down and lay still. For
the first time it had been defeated.
 Bob and Joe waited several minutes for any other signs of life,
but none came. They moved up to examine the great body, which
lay stretched out over a radius of fifteen feet.
“Thicker than a man’s leg,” observed Joe, who was still unsteady
from the terrible encounter.
“An unusually large specimen,” commented Bob. “Think of the
excitement our dads would stir up if they could see it.”
“They might take it back to the States,” said Joe. “Only—I doubt
if it would be much good to them with the head shattered as it is.”
The boys spent several more minutes in examining the
anaconda. Then, unwilling to lose precious time, they started on
down the decline. They intended at least to reach the other side
before turning back.
“Steep along here,” said Joe, as they came to a rocky edge.
“Couldn’t fall far,” his friend remarked. “The heavy vegetation
would catch you before you’d fallen ten feet. But even then I
wouldn’t care to lose my balance and come up against a tree.”
The young explorers stumbled on to the bottom and then began
the ascent of the opposite side.
Suddenly they heard a vicious snarl and looked back to see that
a large, powerful jaguar was poised ready to spring. Its wicked eyes
shone like beads as it bared its sharp teeth.
Slowly the youths raised their rifles and took steady aim. Joe
was the first to pull the trigger, and a moment later Bob followed.
A part snarl, part whine came from the beast, and it weaved as
if going to fall. But it righted itself and then again prepared to
spring.
“It’s up to you, Bob,” murmured Joe in a tone that he tried to
keep steady. “My rifle’s empty. Can’t get it loaded in time.”
Bob frowned.
A second later he raised his gun to fire, but it caught on a sharp
protruding branch and was wrenched from his grasp. With a
frightened glance at the huge cat he turned to run, and Joe was at
his heels.
The boys well knew that they had little chance of escape in that
dense jungle, but they resolved to retreat as fast as their legs would
carry them. And the fact that the jaguar was severely wounded gave
them courage to run with all the strength they could muster.
“Good thing you got him in the leg,” panted Joe, as they made
for a faintly outlined path not far away. “We wouldn’t have had a
chance in the world otherwise.”
As Joe said, the boys would have proved no match for the
animal’s agility had it not been wounded. Even as it was, they knew
that the great cat was gaining rapidly. In no time it would be upon
them.
A few yards down, the path branched into several directions.
They chose the one to the right, for no reason at all. It offered no
better chance of escape than did the others.
“Oh!” groaned Joe, imagining that he could feel the hot breath
of the beast. “We can’t keep this up much longer.”
The youths refused to lose heart, however, and continued as
rapidly as they could. At several other places the trail branched, and
they followed the widest and most clearly defined. They had no
notion of where they were going. In fact they did not care, as long
as they were outdistancing their terrible enemy.
At last they found it impossible to continue the flight. Their
breath gone completely; their hearts were beating like triphammers.
With a sudden movement Bob wheeled about and brought out
his hunting knife, just as the jaguar prepared to spring. The great
cat lunged forward, bearing the youth to the ground. As he fell, Bob
summoned all his strength and plunged the sharp blade of the knife
deep into the animal’s side at a point where he judged it would find
the heart. His aim was true. With one last cough the beast rolled
over and lay still. The knife plus Bob’s courage had proven too much
for even its brute strength.
 For a time the youth could not speak. At last he managed to
blurt out a few almost unintelligible words to Joe, who had been
helpless to render aid during the death struggle.
Joe sighed and shook his head. “Another narrow escape!” he
breathed, picturing what would have happened had not Bob made
use of his hunting knife.
The boys spent only a short time in examining the great cat, for
they were anxious to get back to the boats at once.
“Let’s hurry back to camp,” moved Bob, looking at his watch.
“We’ve been gone several hours. Doesn’t seem possible, does it?”
But little did the young hunters dream that they were miles from
the boats and their elders—that they had unknowingly penetrated
deeper and deeper into this dense jungle.
After one last look at the great jaguar, the chums started back
down the trail, heading for the boats. They wondered what kind of a
reception their fathers would give them after being gone so long.
Ten minutes of constant hiking brought them to a spot where
the trail branched into four or five other paths, each winding in a
slightly different direction from the others. Which branch should they
take to get back to camp?
“Strange,” mused Joe. “I thought sure we could pick out the
right branch. But you know we didn’t have much time for thought
when that jaguar was chasing us.”
The youths spent fully ten minutes in trying to decide on which
trail they had turned out, but in the end they were no more
enlightened than they were at the start. They tried to remember
some landmark that might be suggestive but could not. The heavy
Amazonian jungle had proven too much for their memories.
But they refused to admit that they were beaten, and at last
chose the middle trail, as it seemed more like the one they had
followed. There was no use giving up without showing fight. They
walked on constantly and at last came to another place where the
path branched. Here again they were at a loss to know which
direction to take.
 “Believe it’s the one to the left,” concluded Joe, scratching his
head thoughtfully.
“I’m sure I don’t know,” the other said. “But if you think you’re
right, we may as well follow it.”
They did follow it. One, two, three miles they hiked. But where
was the canyon?
“We’re surely on the wrong course,” said Bob, glancing at his
pedometer. “Three miles is farther than we went before. And we
haven’t come to the spot where I dropped my gun yet. Suppose we
go back and try another trail.”
Joe was willing, and they retraced their footsteps, at last coming
to the place where the path branched.
“Suppose we try the one to the right,” suggested Joe, and they
did.
But when, after a half-hour’s tramp, they made no more
headway than before, they saw the futility of continuing on this trail.
Again they went back and took another direction. And again they
failed to come to Bob’s rifle. The youths continued the search for
several hours, never ceasing. But each time they met with failure.
The cruel Brazilian forest was not to be conquered by man.
Finally, exhausted and baffled to the extreme, they sat down on
a decaying tree trunk. The stark truth had at last dawned on them.
They were lost—lost in the wilds of Brazil!
 CHAPTER XXIII
Terrible Cries of Savages

“O H, why did we have to wander so far away!” moaned Joe,

rapidly losing his nerve. “We should have known better than to try to
penetrate this endless jungle.”
Bob was equally touched, but he resolved to keep up hope.
There was no use in tamely submitting to fear so soon. One more
search might bring them to the river, and then it would be easy to
find the boats.
“We’ll come out all right,” he said, “although I’ll admit we’re in a
tight fix.”
The youths rested for nearly a half-hour. Then their strength—
and to some extent their hope—restored, they again took up the
task of finding the right trail.
Back and forth they hiked, confident that at last they would
happen upon it. But search as they did, their efforts were in vain.
The cruel Brazilian jungle was not to be conquered by man.
At last, satisfied that nothing could be gained by continuing
such efforts, Joe moved that they take one of the other trails in the
hope that it would lead them to the river.
“All right,” said Bob. “No use trying to find the one we followed
when running from the jaguar.”
Joe had reloaded his rifle, and Bob had placed his hunting knife
ready for instant use. They were taking no chances on meeting
some formidable jungle beast.
The path that they now followed was wider than the others and
consequently was more likely to lead to some definite spot. But
neither of the chums was sure that they were heading for the river.
It might lead them fifty miles away, for all they knew. Still they hiked
on.
“Do you know,” remarked Bob, when another hour had passed,
“that I’m beginning to think that these trails were not cut by wild
animals! They’re too closely defined. Now take this one, for example.
See how wide it is? And look over there. The vegetation’s been cut
by a machete.”
Joe grew suddenly pale. He clutched his rifle tighter.
“You mean—savages?” he demanded, at the same time looking
sharply about.
“I may be wrong,” Bob said quietly, “but that is my opinion. And
as we’re about in the region inhabited by the savage tribe that
Professor Bigelow was searching for, it seems that these paths could
have been cut by them. What do you think?”
“I’m all too afraid that you’re right,” was the reply. “And we’ll
have to be very careful from now on. At the slightest unfamiliar
sound we’ll have to hide.”
Bob groaned.
“If I only had my rifle,” he cried. “Or if I had brought my
revolver it wouldn’t be quite as bad.”
But there was no use regretting something that could not be
helped, and Bob and Joe resolved to meet conditions as they were.
Perhaps if it should happen that Indians discovered them, it would
be best not to use their weapons except in self-defense. If the
natives’ good will could be gained, it would not only help them but
be of benefit to Professor Bigelow also.
All the remainder of that afternoon the youths tramped on up
the trail, hoping to burst at last upon the river. They were tired and
downhearted when finally they stopped by a small spring of cool
water. Experience had taught them that in the great majority of
cases these jungle springs were ideal drinking places and that only a
very few were poisoned. So they drank freely of the refreshing liquid
and felt much better for it.
 “Better stop here for the night, hadn’t we?” asked Bob, taking in
the surrounding country.
“Yes,” his friend replied. “There’s a good place to sleep,”
pointing to a large hollow in the ground.
A little later darkness fell suddenly, and with it came the usual
chill of the atmosphere. Joe had some matches in a small waterproof
box, and he took them out and ignited the dry branches of an
uprooted tree. The fire blazed lively up into the black reaches of the
jungle, giving off heat that was welcomed by the two chums as they
sat close together.
Before retiring, they took account of their weapons and
ammunition. Joe’s rifle was the only firearm in their possession, but
both boys had a large supply of cartridges that should last a long
time. With cautious use they might make them satisfy their needs
for several days. But after that? Still there was no use worrying
about the future. They could let it take care of itself. At present they
were safe.
“I’ll take the first guard,” said Bob, half an hour later. “You turn
in and get several hours’ sleep. I’ll call you when the night’s half
over.”
Joe grudgingly consented. He had intended to stand watch first.
Bob heaped the fire up high and had a good supply of fuel
ready to keep it blazing constantly.
But when ten minutes had passed he smothered it down to half
the size it had been. It was not wise to keep it too high, for though
it was a sure protection from wild animals, it might attract the
attention of hostile Indians.
“Have to prevent that at any cost,” the young man thought.
Bob sat moodily fingering his rifle, gazing into the dark depths
of the jungle. From afar came a terrorizing howl of some beast that
had fallen victim of a stronger enemy. Shortly later there came
another howl of different origin. Then another, another, until the
whole jungle rang with fiendish cries.
 It was enough to frighten anyone, and Bob stared rather
fearfully into the surrounding forest, wondering what tragedies were
going on at that moment.
“Probably scores of creatures being killed,” he thought, shifting
uneasily.
Nothing happened throughout his watch, and he at last moved
over and tapped Joe on the back. The latter jumped to his feet as if
shot, and gazed fearfully about, as if expecting to see a band of
cannibals rush in on them. But a moment later he smiled sheepishly.
“Guess I was dreaming,” he said, taking his position on a log.
Bob readily sympathized with his chum, for the day had been a
strenuous one, and their endurance had been taxed severely.
“We’ll surely find a way out tomorrow,” Bob said, curling up in
the hollow.
“Hope so,” was the reply.
Joe’s watch was also devoid of incident, and late the next
morning he called the other youth from his slumber.
They were obliged to begin the day without any breakfast,
although they were extremely hungry. They could have shot some
small animal, but Bob thought it wise to wait until noon.
“By that time,” he said hopefully, “maybe we’ll have found the
river—or something else.”
They followed the same trail until Joe stopped and looked
about.
“We’re not getting any place as things are,” he said. “Seems to
me the river should be over in that direction.”
“I think so too,” agreed Bob. “There should be plenty of branch
paths that would take us over there.”
They found one before another five minutes had passed, and
turned onto its narrow surface.
“The world’s greatest jungle,” mused Bob, shaking his head.
“Sure is a whopper,” the other agreed. “Wonderful. I had no
idea it would have such a wide variety of plants, and that it could be
so dense.”
All that morning the boys spent in vainly searching for the river.
The trail that they had turned onto continued, but where it would
lead to they did not know. It might have gradually circled several
miles out of the way.
During that desperate search the chums saw a large number of
all types of wild animals, although none happened to be dangerous.
Monkeys crowded thickly down to the lowest boughs, small gnawing
creatures darted across the path, brightly colored birds flew swiftly
overhead. Occasionally the boys could get a glimpse of a snake
slinking through the underbrush. It was a wonderful menagerie and
could have been enjoyed to the full had they not been in such a
terrible plight.
“Do you know,” remarked Bob, his eyes on a small creature, “I
believe these animals are used to seeing people.”
Joe looked around inquiringly.
“Now take that small furred creature that just passed,” Bob
continued. “Did you notice how wary it seemed? One glance at us
was enough to send it running back at full speed. They never did
that before. Now here’s what I think: we’re in a country inhabited
either by rubber gatherers or Indians. Why rubber gatherers would
be so far from civilization I don’t know, unless——”
“I don’t think they would be,” interrupted Joe. “We didn’t come
across any boat that they might have come in. And of course they
wouldn’t have come all these hundreds of miles by land.”
“Then it’s Indians. Savages, cannibals, maybe, for all we know.
It’s their bows and arrows that have scared these wild animals out of
their wits.”
The youths knew not what to make of the situation. There could
easily be Indians in this region, for Professor Bigelow was almost
sure they were near the strange savage tribe that Otari told about.
But how the natives would treat these two lone whites was a
mystery. If there should be a battle the youths knew that their rifle
could be relied upon only as long as the supply of cartridges lasted.
Then they would be compelled to surrender.
“I have a plan,” stated Joe, several minutes later. “If anything
should happen that we are discovered by savages, it might be best
to act extremely exhausted, as if we couldn’t stand up a minute
longer. We could even fall in our tracks before they quite get sight of
us. The chances are they would sympathize with us and take us into
their village.”
“Then what?”
“We could gain their friendship and have them lead us to the
river.”
“Fine!” cried Bob Holton, his hope renewed. “Takes you to think
of some plan to get us out of danger. Most likely we could carry it
out, for these savages are only grown children when it comes to
catching on to anything unusual. But we’d have to be very careful
and keep a close watch for any treachery.”
Along toward noon the youths began to look for game. They
were by now furiously hungry and felt as if they could devour almost
any creature that would fall at the report of their rifle.
They did not have to wait long before a large duck-like bird flew
over and perched on a tree bough, not twenty feet away. Joe
handed his rifle to his chum.
“Take a shot at it,” urged Joe. “We may not see another chance
as good.”
Bob aimed carefully and fired just as the bird prepared to take
flight. A moment later feathers flew and the creature fluttered to the
ground.
“Hurrah!” cried Joe. “Now we eat!”
A fire was built of dead wood in the vicinity, and the young
hunters’ quarry was placed over the flames to bake. Before long a
delicious odor filled the clearing, and the youths prepared a feast fit
for a king.
“Roast duck! Think of that!” cried Joe.
 The bird tasted good, despite the fact that it was rather tough.
Bob and Joe ate heartily, until only a small portion was left. Then
they stretched themselves on the soft grass for a short rest.
“I feel like getting some sleep,” remarked Joe. “But of course
——”
He stopped suddenly and strained his ears to listen.
Bob looked inquiringly but remained quiet.
A moment later there came a long, weird chant that cut through
the thin jungle air with remarkable clearness. It was repeated
several times, always nearer. Never before had the youths heard
anything like it, and they were intensely bewildered.
Bob looked inquiringly at his friend, but the latter could give no
explanation.
“Beyond me,” he muttered.
Again the cry came, and then the boys jumped to their feet in
horror.
“Savages!” cried Bob excitedly. “Indians—wild Indians. They’re
coming this way!”
 CHAPTER XXIV
The Hideous Village

“O H!” groaned Bob hopelessly. “Guess it’s all up with us.”

“No, it isn’t,” the other youth retorted. “You remember what we
said to do in such an emergency, don’t you? Act extremely
exhausted, as if we couldn’t move another foot. Lie on the ground—
do anything to make them feel sorry for us. They will if the thing is
carried out right.”
The cries were gradually getting louder, indicating that the
Indians were coming closer. Occasionally some savage would chant
louder than the others, and then there would be a grand chorus of
shouts and yells.
“They’re getting nearer,” muttered Joe. “Come on, let’s lie on
the ground. Act as if you’re half dead.”
The youths threw themselves on the soft grass and awaited
developments.
They had not long to wait.
A figure burst into view from around a bend in the trail. Another,
followed by fully twenty other savages, their gruesome faces
showing surprise and bewilderment at sight of the youths.
Who were these persons—persons of a strange color? Were
they enemies? Were they on the ground waiting for a chance to kill?
What was that strange long thing that was beside them? What were
they doing here? Had they been sent down from the sky to bring
destruction to villages, or had they wandered from an unknown
region in the remote beyond?
For fully ten minutes the savages were silent. Then they began
chattering loudly and moved stealthily up to the boys, bows and
arrows and blowguns in readiness.
Bob and Joe waited in terrible suspense, half expecting to be
pierced by deadly weapons. The youths longed to move about, if
only for a moment. Once Joe felt an itching along his back, and the
desire to scratch was almost uncontrollable, but he finally managed
to remain quiet.
An Indian that was evidently the chief felt of the boys’ bodies
and limbs carefully, while his men looked on, ready to send an arrow
at once if necessary. At last, after feeling the beating of the boys’
hearts, the native regained his feet and conversed with the others.
Then Bob and Joe were picked up by strong arms and carried
through the jungle.
Where would they be taken? What was to be their fate? Could
they gain the friendship of the savages? These questions were in the
youths’ minds as they were being carried along the trail.
“Maybe they’re going to put us in boiling water,” thought Joe,
and he shuddered in spite of himself. “But then,” he finally reasoned,
“they probably won’t do that. After all, very few tribes are
cannibalistic.”
How long the tramp continued, Bob and Joe did not know, but
at last, after what seemed several hours, they came to a spot where
the path broadened into twice the original width, and a few minutes
later they parted the bushes and came to a large native village,
where at least sixty wild Indians were walking about. At sight of the
warriors and their burdens the Indians rushed forward and crowded
around, their eagerness to get a view of the strange people
resembling that of small children at a circus.
There was a turmoil of excited chattering, in which everyone
took part. Questions flew thick and fast, and it was all the warriors
could do to answer them.
Bob and Joe were placed in one of the native huts and for a
short time left to themselves. There was a crude door at the
entrance, and this was shut to keep out the curious.
Then for the first time they opened their eyes and looked about.
 “We’re in a fairly large hut,” whispered Bob, glancing about.
“And there are several pieces of furniture to keep us company. Over
there is a kind of a table, laden down with pots and—— Hurrah!
There’s our rifle. What do you know about that!”
“They’re certainly generous,” admitted Joe. “It’s a wonder they
didn’t take it and start pulling the trigger, which would no doubt
have resulted in five or ten of them getting their brains blown out.”
“But now,” mused Bob, “what do you think? What’ll they do with
us?”
“I don’t happen to know,” was the response. “But we’ll——”
He ceased abruptly, as he noticed that the door was opening.
The youths took a sitting position and tried to act as innocent as
they could.
A second later the chief entered, followed by ten others. They
stopped short when they noticed that the boys were sitting up, and
stared in wonder.
Bob and Joe threw their hands apart in a gesture of
helplessness and smiled gratefully. Bob beckoned the men to come
in the hut.
They stood undecidedly at first, but finally, convinced that these
strangers meant no harm, moved on in the dwelling.
Then the boys did all they could to convey the idea that they
were thankful to the Indians for saving them from death from
exhaustion, and in the end it looked as if they had succeeded. Not
until the big chief smiled, however, did they feel secure, for there
were grim looks on the faces of all the savages. But when the chief
showed his teeth in friendship, the youths felt that the battle was
won. With the head native on their side things looked a great deal
brighter.
“Now for something to eat,” said Bob to his chum. “I’m not
particular what it is, just so it’s nourishing.”
He put his hands to his mouth, and began working his jaws as if
chewing. Then he imitated drinking. The chief understood, and he
gave directions to one of his men, who dashed off to another part of
the village.
Meanwhile the others stood gazing at the youths, who in their
sun-tanned condition were scarcely less dark than the Indians
themselves.
In a short time the Indian returned with plates and pots of food,
which he placed on the ground beside them.
“Do you suppose the stuff’s all right?” asked Joe, hesitating to
begin eating.
“Don’t know why it wouldn’t be,” Bob returned. “Why should
they poison us? At present we’re too much of a curiosity to kill.
They’ll at least wait for the novelty to wear off.”
The food tasted good despite the fact that the boys were
ignorant as to what it was. They ate heartily, and in a very short
time their strength was restored.
Then by signs they asked permission to walk around the village.
At first the natives hesitated, but at last the chief nodded in
approval, and the youths got to their feet.
“If we could just speak some of their language,” said Bob, as
they went out of the thatched house.
“Be easy then,” affirmed Joe. “But maybe we can get them to
take us to the river, and then Professor Bigelow can talk with them.”
The chief led the way around the settlement, pointing with pride
to many articles that were the results of the Indians’ handiwork.
Many objects were totally new to the boys, and they viewed them
with interest. But when they came to one large hut they saw
something that turned their blood cold with horror.
Hanging thickly on the walls were scores of dried human heads,
their features perfectly preserved. In fact the ghastly trophies were
so thick that there were no cracks between them.
Bob and Joe glanced around the room in terrible awe. Suddenly,
as they turned about, their eyes fell on something that again caused
them to be horror-stricken, this time more than before.
Near the corner were two heads that were—white!
 “Explorers,” breathed Bob, rather nervously. “Or were they
missionaries? At any rate these heads were those of white men—and
they’ve been killed for their heads!”
The youths felt fairly sick, and once Joe reeled as if to fall. But
he got a grip on himself and resolved to take matters as they were.
At present they were in no danger. The terrible and yet genial chief
seemed to be their friend. But how soon his lust to kill would come
to the surface they did not know.
They spent no more time at the horrible trophy house, for it
contained such things as one might see in a nightmare. Bob and Joe
made up their minds to seek out something more pleasant.
They found it in a large board that had lines crossing and
crisscrossing from one side to the other. The chief got out a box and
took out several wooden pegs, which he placed in the spaces on the
board. He moved them back and forth and laughed.
“Must be some kind of a game,” concluded Bob, thoroughly
interested.
The boys spent several hours in touring the village, and
although they were constantly enfolded by the crowd of curious
savages, they enjoyed the experience. It was unique and different,
but they felt some repulsion for the various activities carried on by
these heathen people.
“All right for a visit,” mused Joe, “but I don’t think I’d care to
live here.”
“I’d feel a whole lot safer back in the boats with our dads and
the professor,” said Bob, as he thought of the hideous dried human
heads. “Still,” he went on, “I suppose we should do all we can to
help Professor Bigelow. Here is a chance for him to get plenty of
information of the kind that he wants most.”
Late that afternoon Bob and Joe took the rifle and, motioning
for the chief to follow, started into the jungle just back of the village.
They intended to give the native a real surprise and thrill, such as he
had never before had.
 At last he went with them, probably wondering what the
strange whites had in mind, but willing to find out.
“Maybe we can show him how to kill a jaguar,” said Joe, keeping
a sharp watch over the forest.
No game was in the immediate vicinity of the village, owing to
the frequent hunting trips made by the savages. But when they had
gone several miles there came fresh signs that wild creatures were
close by.
Suddenly they caught sight of a large tapir rooting in the tall
grass.
Bob took the rifle and, motioning to the Indian, he pointed to
the gun and then to the animal.
A moment later he pulled the trigger.
At the report of the weapon the big Indian jumped in fright and
was on the verge of running back to the village, when Bob pointed
again to the gun and then to the tapir, which was now dead. Then
for the first time the chief caught the meaning, and he looked at the
boys with something like worship in his eyes.
What strange magic was this? A long thing that spouted fire had
killed a tapir instantly, without a struggle. These people must be
gods.
From that moment on, the chief’s friendship for the youths
increased to devotion, which at times promised to be embarrassing.
But Bob and Joe did not care. This would be all the better
opportunity for Professor Bigelow to secure information on the
savages’ daily life and customs.
The three hunters trudged on farther, hoping to stir up more
game. The boys wished particularly to get a shot at a jaguar, so that
the power of the gun could be demonstrated still further.
“The old boy’d just about throw a fit if he saw the rifle pot off
the king of Brazilian wild beasts,” smiled Joe.
At last they burst through a thick mass of vegetation and found
themselves on the bank of a small stream.
 At once Bob and Joe were wild with delight, for this stream
evidently was a tributary of the river. And the river was what they
wanted to find above all else.
“Hurrah!” cried Joe, overwhelmed with delight. “We’ve as good
as found our party already!”
 CHAPTER XXV
Reunion at Last

T HE chief was puzzled by the actions of Bob and Joe, and the
boys realized it, but there was no use trying to explain. It would take
more than signs to convey the idea that more whites were near the
river.
“Suppose we try to get him to go with us,” suggested Joe.
“Think he will?”
“Hard to say. We’ll find out.”
The youths beckoned the Indian to come with them, and they
were surprised to find that he did so without hesitation.
“He probably intends to do anything we ask from now on,” said
Bob. “Our ability to kill wild beasts with fire was too much for him.
Maybe he thinks he’ll die like the tapir if he refuses.”
There was a narrow trail along the bank of the stream, and Bob
led the way down it, followed by Joe and the chief. The boys
intended to make as much time as possible, for they wished to reach
the river as soon as they could. How far away it was, they did not
know. Perhaps a large number of miles.
“If we can just keep the chief with us everything will turn out
fine,” said Bob.
All the rest of that day they trudged on, keeping their rifle ready
for any savage jungle beast that might show itself. The Indian kept
with them tirelessly, and many times he proved of valuable
assistance in pointing out the easiest course through the
underbrush.
Along toward evening they stopped at a large open space that
was devoid of vegetation.
 “Better stay here for the night, hadn’t we?” asked Joe.
“Yes,” Bob replied. “You stay here and build a fire while the chief
and I go in search of game. Don’t think you’ll be in any danger. We’ll
be back in a short time.”
Bob and the Indian started out down the bank of the stream,
confident that they would see game sooner or later.
They had not far to go.
At a sharp bend in the trail a small animal, the name of which
Bob did not know, darted out and made for the water.
But it did not get there.
Bang! came the report of the rifle, and the bullet sped straight.
The creature fell dead at once.
This time the Indian did not show signs of fear, for he knew
what was to come. Instead he looked at Bob with awe and wonder
in his eyes.
Back at the clearing they found that Joe had started a large fire.
The warmth of it felt good as the chill of the fast-approaching night
fell.
“You did have some luck, didn’t you?” observed Joe. “Wonder if
it’ll be good eating.”
“Hope so.”
The animal was skinned with Bob’s hunting knife and placed
over the fire to bake. Then the three sat together to witness the
falling of night. As usual it came suddenly, and they huddled closer
to the fire.
In time the animal was thoroughly baked, and then they began
the meal.
Suddenly the chief got up and dashed through the jungle out of
sight, leaving the youths to wonder at this sudden departure.
“Think he’s gone?” asked Joe, trying to catch sight of the Indian
through the dense vegetation.
“Doesn’t seem possible that he’d desert us as abruptly as this,”
replied Bob. “He seemed to be all our friend.”
 The youths waited silently, almost convinced that the man had
left for good.
But a moment later he emerged from the jungle as suddenly as
he had disappeared. In his arms were several varieties of what was
evidently wild fruit.
He ran toward the boys with a smile as he glanced first at the
roasted animal and then at the fruit he was carrying. When he
reached the fire he deposited the stuff near, and then sat down to
eat.
“A welcome addition to the meal,” said Bob joyfully. “Takes
these savages to know what all the vast forest contains that’s
nourishing.”
Nevertheless the young men were careful to see that the Indian
ate first before they sampled any of the wild fruit.
“Take no chances,” remarked Joe. “Ten to one he means no
harm, but it’s best to be on the safe side.”
The chief ate of everything, however, and then the boys
followed suit. They found that all of the fruit was delicious, with
flavors that they had never before tasted.
There were large, round melons, like a cross between a
watermelon and a cantaloup. There were bulbs resembling potatoes,
bunches of small bright-colored berries, and wild bananas.
It was a meal unlike any that the boys had ever eaten. They felt
like savages themselves, and were delighted that soon they would
come to the river.
“Won’t it be wonderful to see our party again?” asked Joe,
deeply touched.
“Sure will,” Bob replied. “But we don’t want to be too sure that
everything will turn out all right. Something else may turn up that’s
not expected.”
After the feast the three sat in silence, watching the moon float
silently and majestically over the great jungle.
At last Joe turned to put more fuel on the fire.
 “Hadn’t some of us better turn in?” he asked. “We’ve had a
tough time of it today and need rest.”
Bob agreed, and they set about arranging watches.
“I’ll be the first guard,” announced Joe. “You and the chief curl
up by the fire and get some sleep. I’ll call you in a few hours. We’d
better not disturb the Indian tonight.”
Thus it was arranged, and Joe sat idly beside the fire, his rifle
near by.
His watch passed without incident, and at last he tapped Bob on
the back. They changed positions, Joe retiring and Bob keeping a
lookout for intruders.
Despite the fact that Bob had a strange feeling that something
would happen, the night passed peacefully, although the youth was
confident that wild animals were just beyond the zone of firelight.
In the morning Joe and the Indian were up early, preparing to
hike on. The former still did not know where the boys were going or
what their purpose was, but he showed no signs of hesitation.
“We want to see the river today,” remarked Bob, as they again
took up the trail.
“I think we will,” the other youth returned. “We made good time
yesterday, and if the luck continues, we will today.”
All morning they tramped without a stop. They were tired and
exhausted, but did not wish to lose time until necessary.
About noon they came to another clearing, and Bob moved that
they stop for the noon meal.
The chief and Joe went into the jungle a short distance away to
gather wild fruit, which alone was to serve as their meal.
In a short time they returned with a bountiful supply, and then
the feast began.
“Several new additions to our menu today,” remarked Bob, as he
noticed that there were cocoanuts, roots like carrots, and a plant
resembling cane.
The three ate heartily of everything, and then they started on.
 “Stream’s getting wider,” observed Bob, several hours later.
“Yes,” returned Joe. “The river shouldn’t be very far away.”
He had scarcely uttered the words when they rounded a sharp
curve and found themselves at the junction with the river.
For a moment the youths could hardly believe their eyes. Here
at last was the thing they had been searching for all these days—the
thing that would lead them to their fathers and the others of the
party. Never had anything looked so good to them.
“At last!” breathed Joe, too delighted for words. “Now let’s hurry
on up to the boats.”
“How do you know we should go up?” demanded Bob. “They
could be easily farther downstream as well.”
“I know it,” was the response. “But it seems to me that I
remember passing this stream several hours before we stopped.”
“All right. Let’s go.”
They had to search quite a while before a path was found that
followed the river.
“If we keep up this good time, we’ll surely see the boats today—
if they’re there to see,” said Bob, as he led the way up the trail.
Notwithstanding this, they hiked on constantly for the remainder
of the afternoon without coming to the explorers’ boats.
“Perhaps if we fire rifle shots it will attract their attention,” said
Joe, and he sent out three shots, repeating at intervals.
“What’s that?” said Joe, raising a hand for silence.
“Thought I heard an answering report,” he said. “But maybe——
Yes, there it is again. And there.”
Two shots had sounded from afar, and at once the boys
responded with Joe’s rifle.
“Now let’s move on upstream,” said Bob. “If we can meet them
halfway it will be all the better.”
The youths again followed the trail, the Indian chief close
behind them. They realized that the answering reports had come
from afar and that it would take no little hiking to get to them.
 About every five minutes Joe raised the rifle and fired, each
time receiving an answering shot.
Finally, after an hour’s constant traveling, they heard a crashing
sound in the jungle not far ahead, and they were on the alert at
once.
A moment later Mr. Lewis and Mr. Holton emerged and looked
about.
Their eyes fell on Bob and Joe, and the men rushed forward in
intense relief and thankfulness.
“Boys!” cried Mr. Holton, almost unable to believe his own eyes.
The next instant they were stammering out words of
thanksgiving at finding their sons alive and apparently none the
worse for their experience.
“We didn’t see how you could possibly escape tragedy,” said Mr.
Lewis gravely. “Getting lost in the vast Amazon jungle is a serious
thing, especially when you have no food of any kind with you.”
“All the time we were in doubt as to how we’d come out,” said
Bob. “Worst part of it was that we were afraid to hike far for fear of
getting farther away from the river, but we knew we couldn’t get any
place sitting down.”
“Tell us all about it,” urged Mr. Holton, and the youths related
their experience from start to finish. They told of shooting the
jaguar, of the necessary abandoning of Bob’s rifle, and of the flight
that followed. And at last of coming across the strange tribe of
Indians that was probably the one Professor Bigelow had been
searching for.
“A fearful experience,” breathed Mr. Lewis, when the youths had
finished. “Not many could have had such good luck. If you hadn’t
come across the Indians, your fate would probably have been sealed
by now.”
“But wait,” hesitated Joe, with a sudden recollection. “Here’s the
chief of the tribe we got in with. We finally got him to come with us.”
He glanced around, but the Indian was nowhere in sight.
 “Strange,” mused Bob. “He was here a few minutes ago. Could
he have left?”
He called loudly, but it was unnecessary. The man had only
stepped behind a bush, undecided as to whether to come in sight of
the other whites, and at once left his place of concealment and
walked out warily.
Bob and Joe beckoned for him to move up to them. At first he
was uncertain, but finally concluded that it would be safe to venture
nearer.
The boys introduced him as best they could by signs, and
although it was rather awkward, they felt that much of his
uncertainty vanished before the cordial attitude of Mr. Lewis and Mr.
Holton.
“Now we must get to the boats,” Joe’s father said. “Professor
Bigelow will be worried about us, if he is not by now.”
They hiked on up the river, the chief following.
“Won’t the old boy be surprised when he finds that Professor
Bigelow can talk with him!” smiled Joe, as they rounded a long bend.
“That isn’t a strong enough word,” laughed Mr. Holton. “Still,” he
hesitated, “we don’t want to be too sure that this Indian is from the
tribe that the professor was searching for.”
The boats were several miles distant, and it would require
several hours’ traveling to get to them. But the whites were all
overly anxious and made good time.
At last, after passing through a thick grove of palms, they
sighted the boats in the distance.
Professor Bigelow came running up at once, a broad smile of
thankfulness on his bronzed, scholarly face. He gave the boys a
welcome almost as warm as that of Mr. Holton and Mr. Lewis. The
crew, too, took part in the reception and muttered words of joy at
seeing Bob and Joe alive and unharmed. Even the Indians who had
previously attempted desertion joined in, outwardly at least.
“But look here, Professor,” said Bob. “We’ve found the savage
tribe you were searching for and have brought you the chief.”
 “What!”
For answer Bob motioned for the Indian, who was standing
several score feet down the path, to come closer. He grudgingly did
so, and the professor was taken completely aback in surprise and
joy. His eyes opened wide, and it was some time before he could
regain his composure.
“How can I ever thank you enough?” he muttered, his eyes on
the sober Indian. “We might have searched for days and days and
then not found the tribe.”
He turned to the chief and said something that the others did
not understand. At once the savage’s face lightened, and he began
chattering so rapidly that the professor had to put up a hand for
silence.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not that familiar with his language,” laughed
the professor. “I think, though, that if he’ll talk slowly I may be able
to understand him. Luckily he’s from the same tribe that Otari told
about.”
Again Professor Bigelow turned to the Indian and this time
asked him to talk more slowly.
He did, and a long conversation followed. It was broken and
awkward, but in the end the professor gained a large amount of
information. There was a smile on his face as he turned to the
others.
“He says he will tell me all I want to know about his people if I
will go with him to his settlement. His people will treat us all right. I
don’t think there is cause to worry about that. What do you think
about going?”
“All right with me,” returned Mr. Holton. “That was one purpose
for coming up here, you know. And the chances are that we’ll find
an abundance of fauna in those remote forests. I’m all for it.”
“Fine,” burst out Professor Bigelow. “Then we’ll go at once. But
first,” he hesitated, “we’ll have to decide who will go and who will
stay with the boats.”
 “Why not take the boats with us?” suggested Joe. “The stream
that Bob and I followed to the river is deep, even if it isn’t wide. I
think we can easily paddle through.”
The others gave their approval at once, and they moved on up
to the boats.
They decided to get a lunch first, however, for all were tired
after the day’s strain. The chief was in no special hurry to get back
to the village, as he had often left on long hunting trips alone.
Soon after the meal the provisions that had been taken out
were packed in the boats, and then all climbed in.
“Now let’s make time,” urged Mr. Lewis, and the crew paddled
them upstream.
The afternoon was rapidly wearing away, and before long it
would be night.
At last Mr. Holton called to the crew to stop the boats.
“It’s unsafe to paddle farther,” he said. “Suppose we turn up into
that little bay over there.”
The suggestion was carried out. Then they made camp.
“Hope nothing happens tonight,” said Bob, as he prepared to
turn in for the night.
“I’m with you there,” his chum returned. “Somehow I’ve had
enough thrills for a while.”
But he had no way of knowing how soon action would present
itself in a big way.
The next morning they were up early, preparing to resume the
journey shortly after breakfast. The chief of the strange tribe told
Professor Bigelow that they should reach his village late that day, if
all turned out well.
“I’m not especially anxious to get back among those wild men,”
Bob said aside to his chum. “But we must do all we can to help
Professor Bigelow.”
Late that afternoon the chief said something to the
anthropologist and pointed to a clearly defined trail that wound away
through the heavy vegetation.
“He says that here is where we leave the boats and head for his
village,” the scientist told the others in animated tones.
“Fine!” exclaimed Mr. Lewis, also delighted that the journey had
come to an end. “There’s a place that will act as a harbor,” pointing
to a groove in the shore.
He directed the crew to paddle the boats to land, and as soon
as this was done all climbed out and made the crafts fast to staunch
trees.
Professor Bigelow turned to the savage and conversed for
several minutes. Then he moved to the boats.
“The village isn’t far away,” he said. “It will be safe to leave our
provisions here for the time being.”
As a precaution, however, and also because the naturalists
wished to secure new specimens, they carried their rifles and a good
supply of ammunition.
The chief led the way along the path, the others close at his
heels. The path was so well cut that they had no trouble in walking
along briskly. A half-hour, the Indian said through Professor Bigelow,
would be all the time required to get to the village.
Suddenly the explorers heard a faint screaming and shouting
that came from the village, and at once the chief began chattering
nervously.
Professor Bigelow gave a groan and translated to the others.
“He says that probably a fight is taking place between his tribe
and another,” said the scientist.
“What!” cried Mr. Holton excitedly. “Then that means that we
whites may have to use our rifles after all. Ask him if the other tribe
is using poisoned arrows.”
The savage nodded in affirmation when the question was put
before him, and the whites tightened their grips on their weapons.
“I guess this means that we’re in for some excitement,” Bob
confided to his chum, as the party again followed the trail.
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