Temple of the Jaguar God Read Online Free PDF

faster.
    Jeremy’s
eyelids were hanging heavy and he couldn’t recall the last time
he’d been so whipped.
    It was
right about then that Melody reached over and patted him on his
scratched, bruised and sunburnt right knee.
    “ Thank you. What’s for dinner, anyways?”
    “ Roast peccary, I believe.” She had an interesting tone, almost
one of amusement.
    He
didn’t waste too much time on that one.
    Roast
peccary.
    Awesome.
     
    ***
     
    They
were holding court over the dessert dishes.
    Even
Melody was participating, more animated now with a bit of grub and
a half a bottle of calvados in her.
    “ But where could he have gone?” Her voice, increasing in pitch
and intensity, bewailed her own fate as much as her
husband’s.
    The
problem was that she just didn’t seem to get it.
    “ Well. My dear. You really must admit that there’s nowhere else
for him to go. I mean, really. No, I fear we must reconcile
ourselves to the possibility.”
    She was
hardly stupid.
    “ But—but what do you mean?”
    Mister
Syrmes stepped in, using a gentle tone and placating
gestures.
    “ We really must consider the possibility, well—that’s
he’s gone, Melody.”
    There
was no shyness in using her first name with Syrmes. He was pure
business all the way, one of his less attractive qualities. Like
all such men, he was completely unaware of it. Jeremy had wondered
once or twice why Uncle Harry had hired him to begin with, let
alone put up with him in the bush. His qualifications were
impressive enough and he’d come with good references.
    References weren’t everything, and Jeremy was very
tired.
    “ Gone? What do you mean, gone?”
    Uncle
Harry sighed, patting the lady on the back of the hand from his
place at the head of the table.
    “ What he means, my dear, is that there are possibilities. And
it doesn’t make much sense for him to go walking off on his own, no
matter how absent-minded or scatter-brained a person may be. I must
say, your husband didn’t impress me as that type. No, we must
consider the facts. He may have fallen or hit his head on
something. There are crocodiles, electric eels, and caribes, ah, piranha. He
may have cut himself and fallen into the water—”
    Her hand
was over her mouth as she stared at him.
    “ You mean, like dead?”
    “ Ah, yes, my dear. However, if so, we certainly didn’t find any
signs of it. There is always hope. At least until we know
better.”
    Other
than the walking stick and the water bottle, thought Jeremy. The
eye-glasses—that really said something.
    “ He might have had a heart attack, Melody.” The matter seemed
settled to Mister Syrmes.
    She stared, and slowly the hand came down. She turned and
stared in interrogative fashion at him of all people.
    All
Jeremy could do was to shrug and nod helplessly.
    At that,
tears welled up in her eyes and then she sort of collapsed into a
short paroxysm of grief. They sat there in poignant silence and she
seemed to get a hold of herself again…
    At that
point, the damned ocelot came roaring down the trail. It stopped
dead upon seeing a group.
    “ Hey. Ozzie—”
    Uncle
Harry’s eyebrows were climbing and Jeremy launched into the rest of
his story.
    The
ocelot, jumping into his lap and nuzzling contentedly at his hand,
was a nice touch.
     
    ***
     
    “ We know it has to be around here somewhere.” Mister Day seemed
pretty adamant.
    “ Oh, I don’t know. All we really have, Gerald, is the statue.
Which, admittedly, would appear to be about the right age. The
style is unknown, completely unheralded by any similar discoveries
in this or any other area. It’s completely barbarous. Unique,
really.” Harry took another walk around it, now that they had
scrubbed it free of dirt, mildew and what Jeremy thought were black
lichens, although at first impression they looked like
runes.
    They
were sticking together, although the cat had wandered off on its
own. Jeremy figured it would be able to hear them for miles. The
creature would