Temple of the Jaguar God Read Online Free PDF Page B

probably turn up again. Why he should worry about it
or feel sorry for it was a good question. The cat was much better
suited to survive in the jungle than any of them.
    With a
brief survey, they had determined that the land sloped down to the
southwest, ending in a finger of land with deep creeks or side
branches of the river on both sides. The land gently sloped up to
the northeast, and that seemed the next logical direction of
travel. For the time being, camp would have to stay put. They would
take care to blaze a proper trail, both sides of the tree, one that
could be followed easily. Jeremy had the axe, a fitting irony, but
he was more than happy to make sure—especially after the other
night.
    “ Right. Gentlemen.” Standing there with his compass in hand,
Uncle Harry pointed at the green wall of brush. “Here, I
think.”
    Mister
Smith spoke in that curious mixture of the native tongue and then
Spanish when he ran into a word he didn’t know. Two husky workmen
stepped forwards and started whacking at a thin spot with their
machetes, stained and sticky with dried sap from previous days.
They babbled excitedly in their own language. Kevin Smith, armed
with a slung Army-surplus Lee-Enfield .303 rifle, turned away and
stood calmly watching the water’s edge as he’d just seen something
cut the surface in his peripheral vision.
    “ What is it, Mister Smith?”
    “ There—”
    “ What? What?”
    Smith
pointed, waving the tip of the weapon around to indicate an area of
surface, green leaves floating upon it, but black as the Ace of
Spades in the shadows.
    Something moved, and Jeremy had the impression of dark,
scaled body with the thin line of a long, low fin along the back
and tail.
    Thankfully, not a snake as one of that diameter would have
been a big one indeed.
    “ What is it?”
    “ Electric eel.” His eyes twinkled under sandy eyebrows. “Which
actually might explain Mister O’Dell’s disappearance. Assuming he
slipped and fell in when trying to cross on a log for example. If
one of those buggers was right there, it could have stopped his
heart. They say a croc tries to take one once in a while, and it’s
not an easy death.” Not for either one of them—the croc would break
the eel’s neck with a good bite, and then die trying to let go as
its victim shocked and shocked trying to defend itself even in
death.
    Harry
and Mister Day were listening, but also following closer now that
the men had advanced a few yards into the jungle. While the trail
would quickly overgrow, for a few days at least, the white ends of
cut branches and saplings would make navigation easy.
    “ Go on, Mister Smith.”
    His
uncle’s thoughts were on other things. But this was
interesting—
    “ That’s about it, actually. It could have been anything, but
that would account for why Jeremy didn’t hear him. An electric
shock like that, it completely paralyzes the victim. He wouldn’t
even have time to cry out.”
    “ That’s true—I’ve had a good shock once or twice. Even one and
a half volts, one amp, can kill. The shock went right up my
arm—it’s like a hammer beating inside of you, it really is.” Jeremy
and a friend had been fascinated by magnets, electricity and taking
things apart rather than building anything practical.
    The
trouble was, they didn’t really know what they were
doing.
    Smith
grinned at this explanation.
    Jeremy
stepped in close, making sure his area was clear of people.
Swinging, he knocked a good couple of chips out of the bark, making
it big, white and about as high as he could comfortably get. This
first one would be visible from the stone jaguar.
    He and
Kevin were bringing up the rear.
    “ Now around to the other side.”
    “ You don’t have to tell me twice.”
     
    ***
     
    A good
hour had passed. Uncle Harry thought the effort worth it. They had
advanced perhaps a half a mile and then the ground turned abruptly
upward.
    With all
the noise, predators being shy creatures, Kevin had