The locale is "huts by the river," a nameless Indian settlement deep in the Mexican bush, too small to appear on any map. Just as a party that has attracted many Indians from neighboring settlements is about to begin, death marches silently in. A small boy has disappeared. As the intimation of tragedy spreads among the people gathered in the jungle clearing, they unite, first to find the lost boy and then to console the grieving mother. The Bridge in the Jungle, regarded by many as B. Traven's finest novel, is a tale of how a simple, desperately poor people come together in the face of death. Traven never allows an iota of sentimentality to enter his story, but the reader finishes the book with renewed faith in the courage and dignity of human beings. "B. Traven is coming to be recognized as one of the narrative masters of the twentieth century.