J. B. Stamper Tales For The M

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Ahead, in the next canoe, Pete was working hard to keep up with his older
brother Phil. He didn't want to look like a sissy in front of Phil --
especially since he had persuaded Phil to take him and his friends on this
canoe trip.
In the lead canoe, Jake paddled on with his smooth, strong strokes. Eric
shared this canoe. Eric tried to do everything exactly as Jake did.
As their canoe glided within a few feet of the land, Jake leaped out into the
water. Eric followed him a few seconds later. They guided the boat onto the
shore and then pulled it out of the lake, watching for sharp rocks in the
shallow water.
Several minutes later, Phil and Pete went through the same process. The four
of them waited for Ty andrqu to come to shore. It wasn't unusual for them to
have to wait. Ty and Ron were always five to ten minutes behind,
"Get a move on it, you two," Jake called out. "You're slowing us down." Jake
liked to push on as fast as he could.
The canoe skimmed into the shoreline. Ron jumped out into the water to guide
it in. In the back, Ty struggled awkwardly to leap out of the boat. He jumped
into the water, and then lost his footing. While Ron pulled the boat up onto
land, Ty floundered around in the water. Finally he waded out, totally
drenched.
The others laughed at him. "You'll make a good target for the mosquitoes,"
Jake said. "At least you're good for something."
Eric laughed his high, whining laugh. He always laughed loudest at Jake's
jokes.
"Let's go," Phil said, hoisting their canoe on his shoulders. Jake and Ron
carried theother two canoes. Pete, Eric, and Ty carried the supplies.
The portage was a long one. Jake said it would take over an hour. The six of
them tramped through the spongy undergrowth of the woods. The water squished
in their leather boots with each step. They had all pulled down then: mosquito
nets to cover their faces and necks. But their hands and forearms were
unprotected. The black northern mosquitoes buzzed around their bodies, thirsty
for blood. It wasn't so bad for the supply carriers. They could slap the bugs
away. But carrying the canoes required a tight grip of both hands. Jake cursed
as he watched the welts rise on his arms. Ty stumbled along some way behind
the rest. He stopped every few yards to swat away the mosquitoes that circled
his body in a swarm.
"Look over there, in the crook of that tree," Phil yelled. "It's a gooney
Page 46
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
bird nest."
Everyone looked in the direction Phil's arm was pointing. There was a huge
nest with large gray eggs in it. Gooney bird eggs.
"OK, you guys, it won't be the last time you see a gooney bird nest. Let's
get going," Jake ordered, without breaking his stride.
They continued the rest of the portage in silence. When they came to the next
lake, Jake pushed his canoe into the water and Eric loaded in the supplies.
"I thought we were going to have lunch now," Ty complained in the whimpering
voice the others had grown to hate.
"On the next portage," Jake said without consulting anyone else.
"I'm starving, too," Ron said under his breath. But he pushed the canoe out
into the lake, trying to catch up with the others who were already out ahead.
The three canoes moved out over the blue, clear lake. There was no
conversation. Each person was either lost in his thoughts or too worn out by
his physical exertion. The air was still.
Then, the silence was broken. The hoarse, croaking call of the gooney bird
echoed over the lake. Seconds later, a huge bird dove down from the sky like a
kamikaze bomber. Its body shot into the water, not more than twenty feet from
the last canoe.
"That one came close," Ty leaned forward and whispered to Ron. He didn't like
the gooney birds -- in fact, he was afraid of them.
The two boys watched for the gooney bird to reappear. It took over a minute.
Then it surfaced, several yards away from where it had entered the water. A
silver fish was clamped in its strong beak.
The six canoeists watched as it took flight again. Ten minutes later, another
hoarse croak came from in the sky. It was loud, incrediblyloud. Everyone
looked up. Even Jake couldn't believe his eyes.
"That's the biggest gooney bird I've ever seen," he exclaimed.
No one took his eyes from the bird. Its body straightened out like an arrow,
ready for the dive. When it hit the water, waves rippled out that slapped
against the canoes.
"A bird like that could kill you if it wanted to," Phil said in a quiet
voice. Pete looked around to Ty and Ron. He had the same scared look on his
face that they did.
The gooney bird resurfaced farther away from their canoes. But they could see
its prey wriggling desperately in its beak.
No more gooney birds dove around them on the lake. They reached the next
portage. After getting an OK from Jake, they pulled out the squashed loaves of
bread and the peanut butter and jelly from their packs. It wasn't much food,
hungry as they were, but they couldn't eat a lot until the evening meal, when
they made camp.
The six sat silently, wolfing down their sandwiches. Ty finished first. He
reached for more bread. Jake grabbed his arm as his hand went into the bread
Page 47
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
wrapper.
"You've had your share. That's all you get today. This food has to get us all
the way back to base camp."
Ty withdrew his hand. Jake's grip had left marks on his arm.
The others started talking about the day's journey as Ty sat alone, feeling
sorry for himself.
"You've been in this part before, haven't you, Jake?" Eric asked.
Jake said, arrogantly, "Not where we're going today."
"But I thought you said..." Phil began.
"I know, I know, I told you we'd go the regular route. But I've done that a
million tunes. I thought I had a good group here." He stopped and sniggered,
"That was before I found out about Ty." Then he continued his explanation.
"Anyway, I decided last week that I'd go somewhere new. Somewhere that canoe
parties don't go to."
"Great," Pete said without enthusiasm. He was too tired to feel adventurous.
Phil stood up. "Let's get moving, then." He felt a little worried. He had
hired Jake and he was responsible for everyone else. But as long as Jake knew
where he was going....
They started the portage. Jake took the lead canoe again. But this time Pete
and Ty shouldered the canoes while Phil and Ron and Eric carried supplies.
Eric broke a trail through the woods, directed by Jake.
"Hey, look at this," Eric called out after they had been walking for twenty
minutes.
The rest of them came to a halt around Eric. He had found another gooney bird
nest. And two pearly-gray eggs filled it. Butthese eggs were unlike the others
they had seen. They were huge. Too huge, almost, to belong to the same kind of
bird.
"I want to go back," Ty whimpered. The huge eggs had set his imagination
wild. In his mind, he could see a giant bird swooping down on him.
Eric laughed at him. "What's wrong with you, Ty, you scared of these eggs?"
Eric walked over to the nest and took his walking stick and poked at it.
"Leave them alone, Eric," Phil ordered.
But Eric was looking at Jake, to see what Jake thought. Jake was smiling at
him.
Eric took his stick in both hands and raised it high in the air. Then he
drove it down, tike a stake, first into one of the gooney bird eggs, and then
into the other.
The others watched him do it in hushed silence. Then, high above them in the
trees, there was a rustle of wings. An agonized cry pierced through the
stillness of the woods. It continued on and on like an eerie death wail. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Podstrony