Pazzo was furious at the waste of time getting across the gorge and he took it out on the other wounded Katopi by beating him and forcing him to scout ahead for the track of their quarry. It had taken most of the day and now that night was closing once again he wanted to at least reach the plane before making camp.

The men hurried as fast as possible and gave little attention to the path the scout had taken; he was on his own.

Le Clerque watched as the group were surrounded and herded across the river and out of sight into the jungle. The extra woman and a child puzzled him; he couldn't imagine where they came from. He would have to give his next moves considerable thought; it wouldn't pay to wind up some sacrifice at a savage's altar.

He moved a little closer, staying under cover of the few trees at the edge of the plane and was almost ready to build his dinner fire when he heard the noise from the trees behind him. Monkeys were chattering and several varieties of birds were setting up a din of their own.

He melted into the foliage and waited patiently A few minutes later he saw the Katopi native, with his arm in a crude sling, slash his way through the growth and come to a panting halt not twenty feet from Le Clerque's hiding place. He watched the native peer across the plane and then make a mark on the trunk of a large tree at its edge.

Silently he slipped from cover and before the native could react he had him snared about the neck and dragged back to the rudimentary campsite. Speaking in the native's language he instilled a paralyzing fear that kept the man motionless on the ground while Le Clerque set up his camp.

"What is your name?" He asked finally, squatting beside the trembling man.

"Hutak."

"Let me see your arm." The native balked but Le Clerque held firm stripping off the crude sling and studying the filthy wound He got some water and poured it onto a soft leaf from a nearby plant and wiped the wound until it was reasonably clean. Next he applied some salve from a small bottle in his kit.

The native flinched at the sting but it only lasted a second and he watched the strange white man nervously as he applied a clean bandage to the arm.

"That should be better. It will kill any infection and allow the wound to heal." Hutak examined the bandage and then thanked his captor, offering a service in return.

"Your service will be to the Lord," Le Clerque intoned, placing a hand on the greasy head. "This miserable servant has come to the edge of your gracious realm, Father," he spoke up to the night sky "Let him know that all his sins will be atoned before you and that he will sacrifice whatever necessary to achieve that glorious purpose."

Hutak stared up at Le Clerque, the alien words spoken falling on his ears like rain in the jungle. When the hand was removed he was ordered to stand and move beside the fire Le Clerque had started.

"We will eat together." The behaviour of the man reminded Hutak of the teachers in Father Montcleefe's mission and he relaxed knowing they were peaceful and not to be feared.

"Where are you from?"

"Qutamma."

"By Father de Montcleefe's mission."

"Yes."

"Are you a good Christian, Hutak?" He nodded. What difference did it make if he was or wasn't? He rarely attended the services anyway.

"Then like a good Christian, tell me all about Pazzo." Hutak stopped eating and he suddenly felt a chill from the man. "You are a member of his party"

"The Father made me go along."

Le Clerque nodded. "What happened to the soldier on the river?"

Hutak lowered his hands and the food fell off the stick onto the ground. "Pazzo..."

"Yes, I know it was Pazzo. Why?"

"They fired at us on the river."

"Why were you following the party led by the woman?"

"I wasn't told. Just to go, the Father said."

Le Clerque slice another piece of meat from the chunk roasting on the small fire. "Tell me about Pazzo now. How many men? Where he is?" Hutak responded hastily, telling the strange man everything he knew, right down to Pazzo's hatred of the mission.

"Drink." Le Clerque passed Hutak a small metal cup.

He did and his eyes widened; it was the forbidden alcohol Father de Montcleefe lectured them about. He had tasted it before but just a sip. This was a cup full. The fire died and Le Clerque set the cooked meat aside in a small packet to cool.

"Did you eat well. Hutak?"

"I did."

"And you have told me everything about Pazzo, truthfully?"

"I have."

"Very well." He opened another pack and took out several sharpened stakes and set them around the fire so that the points were near the embers. Hutak watched warily "Do you know how our Christian Lord gave his life so that we could live?" Hutak did a slow nod, staring at the stakes.

"Do you know the method?"

Hutak started to jump up but the grip on his leg was like that of a jaguar. He fell to the ground and began to cry out. Le Clerque placed a gloved hand over his mouth and forced him down on his stomach then knelt on his back.

"A good Christian would gladly share our Lord's fate for a place beside him in heaven." The first stake pinned Hutak's hand to the ground and his scream filled the leather of the glove on his face. Writhing and squirming he felt his other arm being pinned and then the agonizing jolt of another stake through his other hand.

Le Clerque sat resting against the bole of a tree, smoking his pipe and watching the futile struggles of his guest as he tried to free his staked limbs from the ground. Blood was pooling beneath him and it attracted a colony of insects that swarmed over the wounds.

When Pazzo heard, and was led to the spot where Hutak had been staked to the ground, he felt the fingers of fear crawling along his spine. This was not how the white men treated their enemy, they had guns and just shot any threats. This was a deliberate ritual of torture.

He scuffled around the site but could find little evidence of who might have been responsible. Even his men couldn't uncover tracks to follow, other than those of the original party; it was as if a jungle spirit had attacked the Katopi native.

He waved his men on, encouraging the chase as one of revenge for a brother. He knew revenge was a large part of the Katopi character. A belief system in loyalty to tribal members was about the only virtue they acknowledged without debate.