In Fear of the Spear

by Marianne Hering

  The man’s expression changed. He had understood!

  Beth jumped up. She led the man back to the clearing.

  When she got there, Dr. Silva was still kneeling next to Gaba.

  The guard stood over his hurt friend. He held up his arms, palms up.

  Beth thought he was praying.

  Patrick saw something else move in the bushes. A face maybe. But then the jaguar growled again and moved deeper into the jungle.

  Steve, Rachel, and Patrick kept moving.

  They came to the clearing. Patrick ran toward Beth.

  “I’m so glad to see you,” Patrick said. He hugged her quickly.

  Beth whispered, “Let’s stick together, no matter what.”

  Patrick nodded.

  He looked around the clearing. A Waodani man was helping Gaba.

  Rachel, Steve, and an American man with glasses were talking. The man looked like a Boy Scout leader.

  “Who’s he?” Patrick asked, motioning with his head.

  “Who’s she?” Beth asked in return. “And the boy in jeans?”

  Patrick shared his story about Palm Beach to Beth. He told her about the white house and meeting Steve and Rachel. He did not mention the part about Eugene disappearing.

  Next, Beth explained about meeting Dr. Silva. She told him about the village and the magazine article. And she mentioned how afraid she had been.

  When Beth used the word Auca, Patrick frowned. He told her that it wasn’t a polite word. He said Waodani was what they wanted to be called.

  “Come on,” Patrick said. “I’ll introduce you to Rachel and Steve.”

  The Showdown

  Beth and Patrick moved toward the others. Dr. Silva, the guard, Rachel, and Steve were kneeling next to Gaba.

  The wounded man was lying down again. His eyes were closed. The spear had been pulled out of his side. It lay next to him on the grass.

  Dr. Silva was using gauze from a first-aid toolbox to clean Gaba’s wound.

  “Excuse me, Miss Rachel,” Beth said.

  Rachel looked up. Then she stood. “Why you must be Beth,” the missionary said, smiling. “I’m so glad that you’re safe.”

  “I am too, ma’am,” Beth said. “Thank you for helping Patrick find me.”

  Rachel smiled again. “Steve helped,” she said.

  Beth said, “Thank you, Steve.”

  Steve said, “It turned out for the best. While we were looking for you, we saw Gaba. He needed our help too.”

  Beth asked, “What’s the name of the Waodani man helping Gaba?”

  Rachel said. “His name is Kimo.”

  The guard looked up at the sound of his name.

  Beth grinned at Kimo and waved. She touched her breastbone and said, “Beth.”

  Kimo pointed at Rachel. “Nemo,” he said.

  Beth’s eyebrow arched. “Nemo?” she echoed. “Kimo kept talking about you. But I couldn’t understand him.”

  Rachel chuckled. “Nemo is my name in the Waodani language,” she said. “It means star.”

  “Kimo took us to the village so we wouldn’t get hurt,” Beth said. “He wasn’t trying to capture us.”

  “That’s right,” Rachel said. “There are other clans of Waodani. They might have speared you or Dr. Silva.”

  Beth thought, Like they speared Gaba.

  Gaba moaned.

  Rachel turned her attention away from Beth. “Is he going to live?” she asked Dr. Silva.

  Dr. Silva put more green leaves over Gaba’s wound. “I don’t know,” he said. “The bleeding won’t stop. We’ve got to get him to a doctor.”

  Kimo said something to Rachel.

  She looked at the blond teen. “Steve,” she said, “please go find some clay and scrapings from a termite nest.”

  “Why?” Steve asked.

  “Kimo says the Waodani mix those two things together. They use the paste to stop bleeding,” Rachel said.

  “I’m right on it,” Steve said, standing.

  Dr. Silva said, “I want to learn about this clay mixture. Please take some of my specimen jars and fill them.” He stood and picked up his bag.

  Pffft.

  Beth heard the sound of something move quickly through the air. She turned toward the sound.

  A long spear had pierced Dr. Silva’s bag.

  Beth gasped.

  “Someone tried to kill me!” Dr. Silva said. He held up the speared bag as proof.

  “Not only you,” Rachel said. “They may want to finish off Gaba!” The missionary moved closer to the hurt man. She used her body as if to shield him from harm.

  Beth and Patrick rushed to help her. So did Dr. Silva and Kimo. As a group, they carefully carried Gaba away from the clearing. They lay his body behind the shelter of a large rock.

  Beth peered out from behind the rock to look at Steve.

  Steve was hidden by a thick tree. He seemed to be searching the jungle looking for the enemy. He shouted, “A warrior!”

  The teen motioned to a spot across the clearing.

  A Waodani man had pushed through the trees. He had red stripes painted on his face.

  Beth didn’t remember him from the village. The war paint on his face made him look dangerous. She was glad his spear had missed Gaba.

  Who is he? Beth wondered. What does he want?

  The man with the war paint grunted when he saw Steve.

  Kimo left Gaba and moved to the open area.

  The new man laughed wickedly when Kimo came into view.

  Patrick moved close to Beth. He whispered to her, “I saw that man’s face in the bushes earlier.”

  “I think I did too,” Beth said.

  Rachel didn’t take her eyes off Gaba. She was pressing gauze into his side. She said, “I recognize that man’s laugh. That’s Mipo. He lives in a hostile clan.”

  “Did he spear Gaba?” Beth asked.

  “Yes,” Rachel said. “Mipo thinks he gains more power when he kills.”

  Kimo shouted at Mipo. He rushed toward him, still shouting.

  At first the two Waodani men circled each other like dogs about to fight. They were careful to stay out of each other’s reach. Then Kimo made a move toward Mipo.

  Mipo sidestepped him, shoving Kimo onto the grass.

  Kimo rolled, and then sprang to his feet.

  Mipo sprinted and lunged toward Dr. Silva’s bag. He yanked out the spear. Laughing again, he balanced the spear in his hand. He turned and pointed the tip toward Kimo.

  Kimo let out a loud yell.

  Suddenly the jaguar ran through the clearing. It leaped gracefully into a tree.

  Beth jumped up and moved toward the clearing on instinct. Patrick followed.

  “Don’t let them hurt it,” she said to her cousin.

  Ya-raow! the jaguar roared.

  Everyone in the clearing was still now. They were watching the great cat.

  The jaguar thrashed its tail. It seemed unafraid, waiting to attack.

  Patrick was amazed at how large the jaguar was. Its muscles rippled under the thick fur. Its deep growls masked the other noises of the jungle.

  Mipo, too, was now focused only on the big cat. His spear was ready and aimed at the animal.

  Steve moved carefully between Patrick and Beth. The teen whispered, “The Waodani people believe whoever kills a jaguar will have great power.”

  The jaguar growled. It leaped to a low branch.

  Kimo approached Mipo quietly, coming behind him. But he made no move to harm the warrior in war paint.

  The botanist suddenly burst into the clearing. He held the rifle. “Mipo has to be stopped,” Dr. Silva shouted. “He speared Gaba.”

  Steve shouted, “This isn’t your business, Dr. Silva,” he said. “The Waodani want to make peace with Mipo.”

  “That’s impossible,” Dr. Silva said. “Mipo is a savage. He can’t change.”

  Dr. Silva fiddled with the rifle. There was a clicking noise. He aimed the rifle at Mipo’s back.

  B
eth shouted, “Stop, Dr. Silva. Don’t be a savage!”

  Dr. Silva paused then he put a finger on the trigger.

  Just then Kimo leaped across the clearing. He threw his shoulder into Dr. Silva’s side. Kimo pushed hard on Dr. Silva’s arm.

  Bam! The rifle fired into the air.

  Mipo turned his head for an instant.

  The jaguar jumped from the branch straight toward Mipo. A terrible cry escaped from deep within its throat.

  Ya-rarh!

  Mipo hurled his spear in a wild arc at the spotted cat.

  Beth closed her eyes. She grabbed Patrick’s arm for comfort. “No!” she cried.

  The pointed spear peaked in the air and dropped. It missed the jaguar only by inches.

  The big cat landed and hissed. It raised a huge paw and swiped at Mipo’s chest.

  Mipo gasped and staggered backward.

  The jaguar gave one last growl. Then it disappeared into the lush jungle.

  Mipo moaned softly. He leaned against a tree trunk.

  Patrick saw three stripes of blood seep from Mipo’s skin.

  Kimo moved to where Mipo’s spear had fallen. He picked it up. Then he lifted his knee and broke the spear in half.

  Kimo took the rifle from Dr. Silva.

  The botanist didn’t resist.

  Kimo emptied the rifle of the last bullets.

  Dr. Silva picked up his bag. The hole made by the spear was the size of a grapefruit. He was careful not to let anything spill out.

  “Let’s get Gaba to a medical doctor before we’re all killed,” Dr. Silva said.

  Patrick looked back at Mipo. But the warrior was gone.

  Palm Beach

  Kimo placed his hands underneath Gaba’s shoulders. Dr. Silva’s hands supported each of Gaba’s ankles.

  Steve and Patrick were on either side of the wounded man. Their hands were underneath his rib cage.

  Rachel was standing nearby. She had Dr. Silva’s bag over one arm. “On the count of three, lift,” she said. “One, two, three!”

  Beth was carrying the first aid kit. She watched the men and boys gently raise Gaba’s body.

  Beth and Rachel led the way through the jungle. Sometimes Beth had to push back branches. At times she moved rocks off the narrow jungle paths.

  “How much farther?” Beth asked Rachel.

  “Not far,” Rachel said. “Less than a mile. At this rate, maybe half an hour.”

  Beth kept a lookout for the jaguar. She was a little afraid it would come back. But she was more concerned about Mipo.

  Sometimes she thought she saw faces hiding in the bushes.

  “Do you think Mipo will attack us?” she asked.

  Rachel said, “Perhaps. And bring others from his clan.”

  Dr. Silva spoke from behind them. “The laws of the jungle rule here. It’s kill or be killed. Why do you live with these savages?”

  Rachel said, “Because we’re all savages, Dr. Silva. I needed Jesus to change my heart. Otherwise, I would be no different from Mipo.”

  “You would spear your enemies?” Dr. Silva asked.

  Rachel chuckled. “Perhaps not spear them,” she said. “But I would be selfish and filled with anger without Jesus. And I would be afraid of death.”

  “What changed Kimo?” Dr. Silva asked. “He and his clan could have killed me and Beth. But they didn’t.”

  Rachel said that the Waodani clan were afraid of the foreign men. And so they killed them with spears. Kimo had helped kill Nate Saint and the other four missionaries on Palm Beach.

  Rachel explained that she and other relatives of the martyrs came to help. The women showed the Waodani people forgiveness. The Waodani didn’t even have a word for forgiveness before that.

  Rachel said that Kimo was the first Waodani to know Jesus.

  “Kimo wanted to ‘follow God’s trail,’ ” Rachel said. “Over time, most of his clan decided to live by love. They no longer spear their enemies.”

  “So Jesus is why Kimo let Mipo live,” Dr. Silva said. He had a look of wonder on his face.

  There was a long silence after that. Beth was thinking about what Dr. Silva had said. She prayed that Mipo would change one day.

  Beth had been wondering about something. “I saw your trunk at the village,” Beth said. “There was a magazine article inside. It was about the killings, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes,” Rachel said. “The whole world knows about the deaths of the five martyrs. What the world needs to hear is that their deaths made a difference to the Waodani clan.”

  Kimo suddenly shouted. The group stopped moving forward.

  Can Kimo hear things I can’t? Patrick wondered. Is Mipo coming back?

  Patrick’s heart raced. No one in the group had a weapon. Kimo had broken Mipo’s. spear. The rifle had been taken apart. It was in Dr. Silva’s bag.

  The bushes moved. Patrick saw a face. Then another.

  Five Waodani men stepped onto the trail. Each man had a spear. One also had a machete.

  Patrick wanted to drop Gaba and run. But he didn’t. He closed his eyes and prayed instead.

  Patrick opened his eyes and saw Rachel talking to the newcomers. The men are friends. He took a deep breath in relief.

  The men quickly moved toward Gaba. They motioned that they wanted to help.

  Patrick and Steve moved aside.

  The Waodani men took over the job of carrying Gaba.

  Beth watched as the group hurried through the jungle.

  “That was an answer to prayer,” Rachel said. “Gaba needs to get to a medical doctor quickly.”

  Beth fell in step next to Patrick and Steve.

  Steve asked Beth if he could carry the first aid kit.

  Beth wasn’t tired, but she let him take the white toolbox. “Thanks,” she said.

  They turned a corner. The river was just ahead.

  The beach was beautiful. The day was almost over, but it was still sunny. The light glistened on the water and plant leaves.

  There was a sputtering sound coming from above. Beth looked up. The little white plane was already in the sky taking Gaba to a doctor.

  Everyone on the shore gathered. Rachel said a prayer asking God to heal Gaba.

  After she finished, Dr. Silva said, “I have a request.”

  “Oh?” Rachel said. “Do you want help looking for more plants?”

  “That wasn’t what I was thinking,” Dr. Silva said. “I’d like to be baptized here.”

  Rachel smiled. “That can be arranged,” she said. “Baptism means that you want to show others you are committed to Jesus. It shows you want to have your life changed.”

  “That’s right,” Dr. Silva said. “I want to walk His trail.”

  The baptism took only a few minutes. Kimo and Dr. Silva waded into the river.

  Kimo said some words in the Waodani language.

  Beth could tell it was a beautiful prayer.

  Kimo’s and Dr. Silva’s faces looked peaceful and joyful.

  Then Kimo and Dr. Silva’s arms intertwined. Kimo dipped Dr. Silva in the river.

  The Train Whistle

  Patrick heard the hum of the Imagination Station behind some bushes.

  He nudged Beth gently.

  “Look behind you,” he whispered. He hooked a thumb over his shoulder.

  Beth turned around. “There are both machines!” Beth said quietly.

  “We need to go,” Patrick said.

  Beth nodded and said, “We’ve got to say good-bye first.”

  Beth hugged Rachel. She shook Steve’s hand.

  “Thanks for all you’ve done,” Beth said. “Dr. Silva and Kimo are still in the river. Please tell them good-bye for us.”

  Patrick said, “I wish I could stay with you and the Waodani people. Learning to live in the jungle would be cool.”

  Steve said, “Maybe another time. I’ll show you how to spear a fish.”

  “Will you be safe?” Rachel asked Patrick and Beth. “You can wait for the plane to come b
ack.”

  Patrick looked over his shoulder at the Imagination Stations. “We know how to get home from here,” he said.

  At least I hope we do, he thought.

  The cousins slipped into the jungle. They stood in front of the Imagination Stations.

  Patrick couldn’t decide which one to pick.

  “Let’s go in the helicopter one,” Beth said.

  “No,” Patrick said. “It’s still damaged from the lightning strike.”

  “Well,” Beth said, “why not the car one?”

  “That one’s worse. Eugene got in it with me, but he disappeared,” Patrick said.

  “The Imagination Station sent you on different adventures!” Beth said. “It’s never happened before.”

  “I don’t know where or when Eugene went,” Patrick said.

  “There must be a clue,” Beth said. She got in the car. She looked all over the seats and the dashboard. She tried to open the glove box. It was locked.

  “I can’t find anything useful,” Beth said. “Think, Patrick. What happened?”

  Patrick closed his eyes to help him remember. “Right before Eugene disappeared, he said something weird,” Patrick said.

  “Tell me,” Beth said.

  Patrick looked worried. “I heard Eugene say, ‘Stop the train!’ He sounded scared.”

  “I would be scared too,” Beth said quietly. “We have two choices. Neither one is perfect.”

  She held up her index finger. “Option one,” she said, “we get into a broken machine.”

  Patrick looked at the helicopter Imagination Station. It had taken him to Pompeii by mistake. It was giving out the wrong gifts. And it had taken Beth here instead of back to Whit’s End.

  Beth held up a second finger. “Option two, we get into an Imagination Station that lands on a moving train.”

  “Or worse, on the train track,” Patrick said.

  Patrick looked at the car machine. It had been working fine until this last adventure. But Mr. Whittaker had programmed it for the government to use. Maybe it had hidden features which were causing problems.

  “Maybe we should just stay here,” Patrick said. “Mr. Whittaker will come find us.”