Boontown's settlement appeared unexpectedly.
They were hurled into an open shed of a building. Ropes were added to their ankles, and their wrists tied afresh. Armed guards took up a position near.
The two prisoners were absolutely helpless. Through a gaping hole that passed for a door, they could see a tall, overly thin swamp man. He was but a boy, hardly eighteen. His only garment was a meal sack with holes cut in it for his legs.
This was Sill Boontown, the son of Buck Boontown—the boy who had been feeble-minded since a blow on the head a few years ago.
Ham and Long Tom were sickened to discover Sill Boontown was leading a monster alligator around with a rope. The half-wit lad was playing with the tame reptile as though it were a dog.
This 'gator was the same one which had given Johnny such a start on his arrival at this sinister spot.
Sight of the 'gator brought to Ham and Long Tom a morbid rush of memory; the ghastly glimpse they had caught of a monster reptile worrying a bronze human arm in its hideous jaws!
Their own dire peril was submerged in their grief. Not only had they lost the friend and benefactor they admired above all else in life, but the world had lost one of its greatest forces for right, as well as prolific source of things humanitarian.
They were indeed glad when Sill Boontown disappeared into the moonlighted jungle with his pet 'gator.
About a quarter of an hour ticked away. Then a man came into their prison shack.
THE newcomer was lanky, scrawny-looking, yellowish-brown. He had thick lips and a nose that some one might have jumped on years ago. Several scars gave his eyes a mean cast.
Crouching over them, this unsavory individual began to make meaningless hocus-pocus gestures and mumble meaningless incantations.
'Ugh!' snarled Long Tom. 'Ain't he the meanest-looking bat you ever saw!'
'And how he stinks!' Ham growled.
'Probably he's come to cut our throats,' muttered Long Tom.
'I oughta cut your throats after a crack like that!' chuckled the sinister-looking voodoo man.
Ham and Long Tom started violently.
'Johnny!' Ham gulped, finally penetrating the clever disguise.
'Not so loud!' hissed Johnny.
'But how—'
'I've been hanging around here,' Johnny explained. 'I've pulled a lot of voodoo junk, but it don't seem to get me anywhere. At least, I haven't seen the real Gray Spider yet. The fellow I sent to you wasn't the master mind, was he? Buck Boontown told me, quite a bit later that he was only a minor member of the gang who liked to pretend he amounted to something.'
'It was one of the two crooked lumber police,' Ham explained. 'We got him, though. His name is Lefty.'
'How are we gonna get out of here?' Long Tom put in.
Johnny glanced at their guards, saw they were looking in another direction, and produced a knife.
'It's the best I can do,' he whispered. 'I was surprised when they invited me in here to put a voodoo spell over you two guys. I looked for my gun, but it had disappeared. I can't understand that, either.'
'We'll make a break for it, all together!' breathed Ham.
'O.K. I'll grab a machine gun from one of the guards if I can. We might as well try it right now.'
Johnny advanced on the door.
Instantly, one of the guards emitted a loud cry. In answer to the signal, scores of monkeylike swamp men poured out of the surrounding jungle. They attacked Doc's men.
Johnny went down fighting under an avalanche of the yellowish-brown fiends. He was tied securely.
The knife had done Ham and Long Tom no good. Ham did get free, only to be pinned quickly.
They were all tied securely.
Soon there approached a figure attired in a long, brilliant gown which was embroidered with countless snake designs. A hideous gray tarantula clung to one of the fellow's hands.
The Gray Spider still wore his silken mask.
'I have been suspicious of you,' he told Johnny. 'I let you talk to these men as a test. You were observed closely all the time. We saw you pass them a knife.'
Johnny replied nothing.
'You are one of the bronze devil's helpers!' snarled the Gray Spider. 'The bronze man is dead. You three men shall die also. I will watch my swamp friends offer you in a voodoo sacrifice. In a few hours, they will be worked up to the proper pitch for the human offering!'
He fell silent. Into the ramshackle hut throbbed and boomed the disquieting note of the tom-toms. It seemed to set the very brain cells of the listeners vibrating in sympathy to its barbaric cadence.
'In a few hours—they will be ready!' repeated the Gray Spider.
He wheeled away.
Chapter XIII. A KIDNAPING GONE WRONG
THE Gray Spider shuffled back up the hill, the hollowed-out top of which was the scene of the voodoo ritual. He stepped along swiftly, as though he had important work to do. He seated himself in the middle of his sinister inner circle.
Machine gunners were much in evidence.
'Bring in the two new recruits,' he ordered.
There was a commotion in the jungle near by. Two men came out.
One was built like a gorilla. He looked big enough and tough enough to even whip one in a fight. His face was scarred and unbelievably homely. His hide was covered with coarse red bristles.
The second man was so huge as to seem like a small hill in motion. His face was long, somber. His lips were pinched together as though he had just finished a disapproving,
Monk and Renny in person!
Without seeming to, Monk and Renny noted the number of machine guns in evidence.
'The first time we've seen the Gray Spider!' Renny growled. 'And we don't dare make a funny move because of those machine guns!'
'I got a notion to tackle 'im, anyway!' rasped Monk.
Monk was nothing if not reckless. The bigger the odds, the bigger the fight, Monk seemed to reason. And he did love a fight. Several times during the World War, he had started out single-handed to mop up on the enemy army. From the results, a suspicion was harbored that he might have succeeded had the opposition not been scattered from the Channel to Switzerland. They had too much room to dodge in.
'Lay off, you missing link!' Renny grunted. 'You ain't got no brains! Lemme do the thinkin'!'
This was not strictly the truth. Monk was rated one of the half dozen greatest chemists ever to live.
They confronted the Gray Spider. Naturally, both tried to penetrate the puzzle of the serpent-embroidered gown and the brightly colored silk mask. They had no success.
Again they cocked an eye on the array of machine guns near by, and saw a hostile move would be unwise. Indeed, it would be suicide.
'I have been told of you men,' said the Gray Spider.
Monk and Renny were disappointed when they failed to recognize the voice. It was thoroughly disguised. It had an unreal note. They made no answer because none seemed needed.
