by Tony Main
‘Be all sorts of nasty creepy things in there. Anyway, you might need us,’ replied Chad.
‘We’ll see the children out,’ breathed Ancell.
Together they peered round the gate. Ancell drew a sharp breath. At the far end of the compound a young boy chopped kindling and an older boy and girl were sawing a log. A single guard sat dozing, a musket at his feet.
‘That’s my brother chopping wood,’ whispered Inti.
‘And the other two must be Ruth and Ryan,’ murmured Chad. ‘What’s more, were in luck. There’s only one guard for you to take care of.’
Inti crept forward and knelt to take aim, but even as she raised her blowpipe Kgochu glanced round. Inti quickly raised a finger to her lips, but with shout of joy Kgochu was already running to her. The guard woke, and bellowing the alarm, levelled his musket at the fleeing boy. Chad cursed and sprinted into his line of fire, ducking and weaving as he ran. The guard turned the gun on him, but Chad butted him in the stomach as he fired, and the shot embedded itself harmlessly in the stockade above Ancell’s head.
‘Run! We’ve come to get you out,’ shouted Ancell to Ruth and Ryan as he limped to help Chad struggle free of the winded guard.
Ruth and Ryan looked bewildered but ran to Inti. They were already at the gate when the first pirate burst from the log cabin. He raised his musket to fire – then pitched forward with a dart in his neck.
‘Run! Get the children to safety!’ Ancell shouted to Inti.
Inti grabbed Kgochu and beckoning to Ruth and Ryan, sprinted for the cover of the trees as more men stormed into the compound, muskets at the ready. Ancell glanced at the children stumbling across the open ground.
‘They’ll never make it,’ he half sobbed to Chad. ‘Help me close the gate. It’ll give them a few more seconds.’
Together they pushed, and the gate swung shut. Chad watched the children disappearing into the forest as the gate inched open with the weight of the first pirate behind it.
‘Time for us to go too,’ he grunted. ‘Stay close to the palisade – if we can get far enough round we’ll be out of sight when they break out.’
Inti called to Kgochu to lead Ruth and Ryan deeper into the forest and threw herself into the undergrowth as the gate burst open and the pirates poured out, led by Laughing Jack and Scarletta. They walked forward stealthily, swinging their muskets from side to side, looking for any sign of movement. The cannon fired, and Inti pressed herself to the ground as the ball tore through the trees, showering her with twigs and leaves. She looked for Chad and Ancell, and was relieved to see them creeping from the back of the stockade safely out of the pirates’ view. Then she saw a man climbing the watchtower, musket in hand, who within seconds could not fail to see them and be presented with an easy target. She raised her blowpipe to her lips. It was a long shot and she prayed her aim would be true. The dart struck, but not with the force she hoped. For a moment the man clung to the ladder, levelling his gun at the animals. Inti desperately loaded another dart, but even as she aimed, the poison took hold, and firing hopelessly into the sky, the man dropped to the ground.
Laughing Jack spun round at the sound of the shot. He saw the man fall and glimpsed Ancell and Chad scuttling into the trees.
‘After them! Search them out and kill them,’ he screamed.
Inti hurried to Kgochu.
‘This is my sister,’ Kgochu proudly told Ruth and Ryan.
‘Thank you! Thank you!’ whispered Ruth, clasping Inti’s hands.
‘It’s Ancell and Chad you have to thank,’ said Inti, ‘and now they’re in danger themselves. First I have to get you to safety and then I must find them.’
‘Who are Ancell and Chad?’ asked Ryan, as Inti led them through the forest.
‘Ancell is the hedgehog and Chad the rat. They’ve sailed from the other side of the world to rescue you.’
Ryan grimaced. ‘I think that’s unlikely. Nobody cares about us.’
‘True,’ agreed Ruth, ‘But at least we’re free for the time being.’
Inti and Kgochu moved fast and Ruth and Ryan struggled to keep up, but at last they glimpsed the river reflecting the afternoon sunshine. Inti’s canoe bobbed at the bank, hidden by overhanging branches.
‘I’m going to look for Ancell and Chad,’ Inti told Kgochu. ‘You are to stay here with Ruth and Ryan.’
‘Can’t I come with you?’ begged Kgochu.
Inti took him by the shoulders. ‘If I can’t find them before dark I’ll not be able to see their tracks before morning. Stay hidden and if I’m not back before noon take Ruth and Ryan to the ship anchored downstream.’
Kgochu nodded and buried himself in his sister’s arms.
‘Remember to do exactly as I say,’ instructed Inti, and slipped back into the trees.
‘Please come back soon,’ called Kgochu.
‘Your sister’s quite someone,’ said Ryan admiringly.
Kgochu nodded. ‘She’s a bit bossy sometimes, but I knew she’d rescue me. Have you brothers or sisters?’
‘Laughing Jack and Scarletta were able to kidnap us because we have no one.’
‘That’s bad. Everyone needs somebody,’ said Kgochu.
Chapter 10
Ancell and Chad slipped and slithered through the trees. For a hundred yards they kept their distance from the sound of their pursuers, but the further they set foot the denser the jungle became. Large rotting tree trunks and barricades of bamboo barred their way. Creepers pulled at their legs and vines entangled their bodies. Chad brushed against a tree covered with vicious spikes, stifling a yelp of pain and bleeding as they staggered on. Streaming with perspiration and gasping in the lifeless air, they splashed through a pool of stagnant water and clawed up a muddy bank. Ancell collapsed to the ground, clasping his aching leg.
‘You go on. I’ll only hold you up,’ he panted.
Chad pulled him to his feet.
Ancell shook his head. ‘Leave me – go while you’re in with a chance. Anyway, if I hide they might miss me.’
Chad listened to Laughing Jack’s crew drawing closer. They were well organised, each man frequently calling his position to stay a short distance abreast of the next. Laughing Jack marked one end of the line and Scarletta the other.
‘They’re too close to each other to hide,’ he said. ‘Our best bet is to turn at a right angle and get clear of their line before they reach us. We’ll go to the right, fewer of them in that direction.’
Ancell limped after the rat. They made slow progress, only a few yards at a time before meeting another wall of vegetation, and the sound of the pirates’ cutlasses slashing through the undergrowth grew closer. Ancell suddenly glimpsed a face thrusting through the foliage. He gripped Chad’s shoulder and pointed. Silently they flattened themselves against a large tree, edging round the trunk and breathing a sigh of relief as the man crashed by. Then they heard a twig snap and stared down the barrel of Scarletta’s musket.
‘I’ve been looking forward to this moment,’ she purred.
‘If it isn’t the delightful Scarletta! Lost any more children recently?’ Chad replied, stepping forward to measure a leap for her throat.
Scarletta flushed, her scar throbbing crimson, but carefully stepped back to keep her distance. Leaning against a tree she motioned Ancell forward.
‘Stand close,’ she ordered, ‘I’m sure you’d like to die together.’
Ancell limped into the small clearing where strangely no vegetation grew. A smell of rotting fish hung in the fetid air, and he noticed an army of ants scurrying over the bare earth. It would not be long, he thought, before his carcass was picked clean. It was a dank and noxious place to die.
‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered to Chad, but the rat made no reply. Struck dumb with terror, his eyes were fixed on the branch above Scarletta. Ancell followed his gaze. The branch was moving. With the faintest rippling
movement, it uncoiled to swing slowly above Scarletta’s head. Scarletta took aim.
‘Bye-bye,’ she murmured.
‘Wait! There’s something I’d like to say,’ blurted Ancell.
‘No more talking and no more dreaming for you,’ replied Scarletta, and tightened her finger on the trigger.
Then the anaconda struck. Scarletta reeled from the blow of the snake’s head. Half stunned she began to crawl, but the snake moved fast. She opened her mouth to scream as it coiled round her, but uttered only a gurgle. For a few moments she struggled, but with every effort the snake imperceptibly tightened around her, and every breath she took became more shallow. Then her eyes stared, her head lolled, and she struggled no more. Keeping an unblinking eye on the petrified hedgehog and rat, the anaconda uncoiled the twenty-one feet of its heavy olive-green body, as thick as a small tree. Still watching them, it then opened its mouth very wide, the black rings about its length flexed gently, and head first, Scarletta slowly began to disappear.
Ancell stared back at the snake, paralysed with fear. Chad stood transfixed beside him, trembling violently. Suddenly the powerful stench made Ancell retch. His shuddering body startled Chad into action.
‘Best run while it’s still eating,’ he whispered.
‘It’s still looking at me,’ whimpered Ancell.
‘In that case, and as you’re less edible than me, you keep an eye on it and I’ll edge back a little.’
‘On the contrary, I’m far tastier than you.’
‘Stop quibbling! Anyway, you can do your rolling up act. That’ll put it off.’
‘You can run faster than me. Best if I back off first.’
Chad stared at the snake. It would not be long before Scarletta’s boots followed the rest of her.
‘We’ll count to three, then make a dash for it together.’
‘One,’ whispered Ancell slowly.
‘Two, three!’ said Chad quickly, and fled.
‘You cheated!’ yelled Ancell furiously, chasing after him. The anaconda watched them blunder into the undergrowth without interest and settled down to digesting Scarletta.
Fear propelled them for fifty yards before they burst through a curtain of vines to tumble into a ditch of sluggish water.
‘Maybe it’s flowing to the river,’ panted Chad, and started off again along the gully, only to plunge into a morass of mud. They hauled themselves onto the bank and stood gasping for breath.
‘Do you think it will follow us?’ whispered Chad.
Ancell clung to the trunk of a tree for support. ‘I think they sleep after they’ve eaten.’
‘Makes sense,’ agreed Chad, ‘though it will probably get nightmares with Scarletta inside it.’
‘Which direction do we go now?’
‘I’ve not the slightest idea.’
‘I thought you knew where you were going.’
‘I would if we were on Misty and I could see the sky.’
‘If you put that tail of yours to use and climbed a tree you might be able to see the river.’
Chad stared up at the forest canopy high above and shook his head. ‘Frogs!’ he announced.
‘What harm in a frog? And anyway, frogs don’t climb trees.’
‘Poison Arrow frogs do. As for harm, they’re only probably the most poisonous animals on earth. Inti told Doc it’s their poison she dilutes for her blowpipe darts.’
‘I don’t see any frogs.’
‘They’re tiny, and they’re probably watching us now, waiting for you to persuade me to climb. I’d never get to the top anyway – I doubt even Waff could manage that height.’
‘So we’re lost!’
‘Correct.’
‘At least we’ve shaken off Laughing Jack and his crew.’
‘For the time being. How long will the wounded ones be paralysed?’
‘Inti said several hours.’
‘Several years would be better,’ grumbled Chad.
‘Look on the bright side. We’re still alive, and we won’t see Scarletta again.’
‘True – it’s just that this jungle gives me the creeps, and it’s getting dark. You’re always saying something will happen. How about happening us safely onboard Misty before nightfall?’
‘Inti won’t desert us. Meanwhile we need to sleep.’
Chad pointed to a hollow in a tree trunk large enough for them to snuggle into. Ancell listened to the all-encompassing silence of the forest, broken only by the chirps, twitters and coos of birds returning to their nests at the end of the day. A toucan flapped lazily from the canopy, and for a moment the topmost branches above them swayed as a family of white faced capuchin monkeys swung home through the twilight. A small lizard scuttled past their feet, stopped abruptly to stare at them with bulging eyes and dashed up the nearest tree. As night fell the cicadas commenced their chirruping chorus.
Ancell felt strangely at peace. He imagined the joyful welcome of Ruth and Ryan on board Misty.
‘At least the children are free,’ he said.
Chad nodded. ‘Let’s hope so. And I’ve done what Truegard would have expected of me.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I owe him. A long time ago I was a useless mess. He gave me a chance and persuaded the skipper to take me on. I’ve sailed with Misty ever since.’
‘Was Truegard the reason you risked your life to rescue me when I was too exhausted to go on in the desert?’
‘Maybe. I know Truegard would have. I don’t think about these things too much.’
‘With luck you’ll be back onboard Misty tomorrow, and happily brawling in a bar in a couple of months.’
‘No more of that for me.’
‘Getting old?’
‘Just something Chantal said.’
‘Miss Strait will be pleased. You’ll be her perfect lodger.’
Chad yawned and stretched. ‘I could do with some of her freshly baked bread just now. Talking of which, what is likely to eat us tonight?’
‘Nothing that I know of – unless that anaconda’s daddy is around.’
‘Don’t say that! Are we going to take turns keeping watch?’
But the only reply Chad got was a gentle snore. He dug the hedgehog sharply in the ribs. Ancell jumped awake in a panic only to see the rat glaring at him.
‘What did you do that for!’ he complained.
‘You were snoring. Every creature in the forest will come to see what all the noise is about.’
‘Stop nagging and relax,’ muttered Ancell, and fell asleep again. Chad stared about moodily – then tiredness closed his eyes too.
A rustling in the clearing woke them. Peering into the dark, Ancell spied a three-foot long animal with a bushy tail and white stripes about its shoulders. Stifling a squeak of alarm, he immediately curled tightly.
The animal stared at them curiously, decided they were of no danger, and shuffled past with its snout close to the ground.
Ancell poked out his head. ‘Has it gone?’ he whispered.
‘If you’d stop rolling up you’d see for yourself,’ retorted Chad.
‘I thought it was a badger.’
‘So?’
‘Badgers eat hedgehogs.’
Chad giggled. ‘It was an anteater. Not surprisingly, they eat ants!’
‘Anything that looks like a badger is no laughing matter,’ snapped Ancell.
‘But on second thoughts I recall that South American anteaters do enjoy an occasional hedgehog,’ mocked Chad gleefully. ‘A nice fat hedgehog is their favourite treat, and I think it’s coming back. It certainly looked hungry and…’
‘You remember that anaconda,’ Ancell interrupted him sharply. ‘Imagine, if it was eating you, the tip of your tail would be disappearing just about now.’
Chad shuddered. ‘Will you pleas
e shut up about that snake.’
‘Only if you stop sniggering about animals pretending to be badgers.’
‘Very well, but no more rolling up. It’s extremely irritating.’
‘It’s instinctive.’
‘It’s still irritating.’
‘I’m going back to sleep.’
‘Don’t snore!’
Ancell scuffled and wriggled into the leaves until he felt comfortable. Chad curled his tail about him and silence descended on the forest once more.
Chapter 11
The clearing was already dappled with sunlight when Ancell awoke to a discreet cough and looked up to see Inti smiling down on him. Chad opened his eyes, and they both scrambled to their feet to embrace the girl.
‘Thank goodness you’ve come! How did you find us?’ asked Chad.
‘It’s taken longer than I hoped,’ said Inti. ‘I picked up your tracks close to the camp, but first the pirates trampled all over them and then you unaccountably ran around in circles.’
Chad looked indignant. ‘With good reason! We were nearly eaten by a snake!’
‘Are Ruth and Ryan safe?’ demanded Ancell.
‘They’re waiting for us with my brother.’
‘Can we chat later and get going before that snake regains its appetite?’ pleaded Chad.
Inti smiled. ‘Are you sure it wasn’t just a vine?’
‘Am I certain!’ exploded Chad. ‘It ate Scarletta in front of our eyes!’
‘Was this at a clearing of bare earth?’
‘And masses of ants,’ said Ancell with a shudder. ‘How do you know?’
‘I found a gun. I buried it. And there is an anaconda thereabouts. The ants live in a particular tree there and poison the ground so that nothing else can grow and their tree has plenty of light. It’s a place we avoid. Incidentally that anaconda won’t eat again for many weeks.’
Chad brightened. ‘Just to clear up a little matter,’ he asked, ‘who would a snake eat first? A hedgehog or a rat?’
Inti regarded him thoughtfully. ‘A rat without question.’
Chad glared at Ancell. ‘I told you!’ he said.
Compared to their previous day’s blunderings, the going was easier with Inti swinging a machete to clear a path. She stopped by a tree that to Ancell looked like any other.
