[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

reed leaf. It went out immediately but I knew I could get this right.
I struck the smooth stone close to the driest material I had and a
shower of sparks descended upon the tinder. I blew immediately
and industriously until the sparks began to eat into the tinder and
suddenly burst into open flame. I picked up a reed that had caught
fire and found that it made a reasonable flaming torch so I picked
my way back to Jadi and roused her.
 Jadi, there is a better spot up there, a short away. I ve a small fire
going. Come up with me.
She staggered to her feet getting tangled in her rifle sling as she
did so. I took it from her and led her to my spot. The reeds had
burnt quickly and there were only embers left. I threw on more
material and left a sleepy Jadi to keep feeding the fire while I looked
for something more substantial to burn.
I did not have far to go before I came upon driftwood washed
down by the river and I collected a large piece that I could drag
back to Jadi.
Soon we had a blazing fire going and our clothing was draped on
the reeds to dry while we soaked up the warmth and dozed.
Jadi woke me when the sun was already up.
 Freddie, I m hungry. We have to find something to eat.
I rose and pulled on my pants and shirt, checked the shotgun
and said:
 Okay Jadi, let s see what we can find. I plan to make camp as
soon as we find something to eat.
The island or peninsula, at that stage we did not know which
it was, turned out to be a lot bigger than it looked from the beach
where we originally landed. Most of it was swamp and reeds grew
everywhere but waterbirds loved it and nests with eggs were easy to
find. One problem arose though and that was finding fresh eggs;
most of the nests we found we close to hatching but eventually by
looking for a clean newly made nest we found a clutch of eggs that
had not yet been incubated.
Without pots or pans, Jadi showed me how to cook the eggs in a
hole filled with water and adding stones heated in the fire.
After eating six soft-boiled eggs each we both felt adequately
refueled and ready to explore this piece of territory.
As I remarked earlier, a lot of it was swamp and we spent much
time looking for solid ground to traverse. By the end of the day, it
was clear that it was a swamp in the middle of a lake; if such a thing
could be called an island then that is what it was.
Most of the dry ground was at the end where we had come
ashore but there was a maze of paths of solid ground weaving in and
out of the shallow pools that formed the swamp. There were fish in
those pools and that was another attraction for the water birds.
 Well, we certainly won t starve here. Jadi commented.  But I
don t plan to live the rest of my life here so how do we get off?
 The best idea I can offer you is that we find a piece of driftwood
that has good buoyancy in water, tie our weapons to it and then
swim for shore using the driftwood to keep us up when we get tired
and need to rest.
 I guess that would work Freddie. Swimming was never my
forte. Let s go find our driftwood.
We wandered along the outer perimeter of the island inspecting
all driftwood.
Jadi suddenly stopped and pointed.
 Yeah Jadi, that looks like something has been dragged ashore
here.
 Not just  something Freddie: that is the canoe that Crawley
was using.
 Where does it go to?
 They pulled it to the swamp over there and re-launched it.
 If that is what they did, you know what that means?
 Yes, of course, this is the place that Crawley was headed for.
 If we hadn t come short on the waterfall, we would have passed
this place by. I commented.
 That s exactly why he chose it. Plenty of food: fish and
waterfowl and I ll bet you that he has a reed-built shack inside there
somewhere that will never show up no matter how many times you
pass over it with a chopper. If this was merely an island someone
would have bought it for a summer retreat but as it is a swamp
no one would want it. People could wander about on this maze of
paths and never find his shack unless they came in a boat or canoe
and knew where they were going.
 That s fine, Jadi, so you are saying that we know that he is here
but we will never find him?
 That s not necessarily true, Freddie. If he uses his rifle we would
hear it and if he takes out his canoe for fishing we will see him. It
might take patience, however.
 Wait a minute, what about at night? They will need light and
also a fire for cooking. Trees don t grow too well out here so they
will have to come to the perimeter for firewood. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]