It made sense. Of a light skin tone, the driver was born to the ruling class. Twenty families controlled the wealth of Panama. Ten percent of the population were of Spanish blood —Jed had even seen a redhead in the city— and they lived a life far above that of the majority. The gasoline this chicken rancher was burning, while taking the time to argue his point was probably costing more per minute than the average wage —considering that the going rate of labor was 12 ¢ per hour — of any one of the onlookers.

It was at this moment, surveying the crowd, that Jed noticed the Indian. A small man, five foot tall maximum, wearing shoes, but no socks, and a T-shirt with some sort of political slogan, there was no mistaking the haircut, the shape of an inverted bowl. Jed had seen similar hair styling in photographs of Indians from a remote part of the Amazon Rain Forest. Of the three principal Indian groups of Panama, the San Blas were noted for colorful beads, a light skin, and an ability of making a living manufacturing artifacts for the tourist trade. The Guyeme had supplied more of the stock that had interbred with the Spanish to produce the Mestizo. The Choco´ (pronounced cho-coy) were related to the people of the Amazon, and still lived the life of their ancestors. It was a rare sight to see one outside the jungle. This onlooker, thoroughly enjoying the building confrontation, was a Choco´.

So intent was Jed's interest in this forest person, he missed the action of the truck driver. Apparently Jenny had backed him into a verbal corner. His insults hurled at Jed, quite naturally had not found the intended target. He couldn't allow himself to physically threaten the woman. So he picked a substitute out of the crowd.

One old man ventured an opinion, and this was all it took to trigger a nasty reaction. The driver pushed his door open so that it deliberately struck and pushed the poor unfortunate to his knees.

Jed became aware of what had happened by noticing the hardness that set in faces across the crowd, especially in the features of the Indian. The wall of silent condemnation was almost ear shattering in its protest. It was obvious that, according to the code of manhood in this country, he could not allow women and old men to protect him from abuse. He knew a response was required.

Jed opened his door, stretched his 6' 4" lean body to its tallest, walked around the vehicle, and bent over to pull the old man to his feet. "Excusa," he said, hoping that an Italian term of apology would fit the occasion. This was the moment when a board was broken over his shoulder, from behind.

He ignored the attack, thankful that the wood wasn't mahogany. Sidetracked for a moment thinking about the curious fact that due to termites devouring softwood in the tropical climate, he had seen pig pens, fences, etc., built out of exotic hardwoods that at home would have cost several dollars per board foot -Jed reached down for the old man's hat, dusted it off, and made another gesture of apology.