Quest

Chapter 15

As they drew closer to the arch, Dane’s certainty grew. This was the same place shown in the painting. It had to be significant.

“So, now will you tell me all about your brilliant idea?” Bones asked, leaning on the rail and gazing intently at the stone formation.

“It was Fawcett’s complaints about all the ‘infernal birds’ that got me thinking. I believe they took refuge on Botswain Bird Island, not on Ascension.”

“The book did say it was a small island,” Bones agreed. “I get it. You think the arch in the painting was more than just a signpost to Botswain Bird Island. You think the arch itself is important.”

“Yep. And we’re told that Fawcett tried to recreate the map to Kephises. I think, while he was off keeping to himself and brooding over their situation, he carved a new map from memory, or at least tried to.”

Bones thought for a while. “You know, Maddock, you could be right. Didn’t the book say that Fawcett screwed it up, though?”

“He said it was an incomplete map. Fawcett was a perfectionist. If he felt he’d left out even the smallest detail, he would have been unhappy with the finished product. I’m wagering he did a reasonably good job of replicating what the native had given him. It’s the best hope we have, in any case.”

They anchored Sea Foam a safe distance from the shore and began their search. Willis and Matt headed for a spot that looked like a likely place for the crew of Quest to have taken refuge. They would head out from there, scouting out any possible pathways Fawcett might have taken. Dane and Bones went to take a closer look at the arch itself.

It wasn’t spectacular, by any stretch, but it was impressive in its own way. It was a thick column of stone rising up from the churning surf, curving in to meet the imposing cliffs of Botswain Bird Island.

They inspected the base of the arch, then used binoculars to scan its surface on either side, but they saw nothing that looked like a map, or even a hiding place where one might be secreted. A search of the island in the immediate vicinity of the arch proved fruitless as well. They checked in with Willis and Matt, but the two had not had any luck either. Discouraged, they sat down on a stone slab in the shade of the arch, letting the salt spray cool them.

“I’m thinking we’re going to have to expand our search area.” Bones didn’t sound disheartened, but neither did he seem pleased at the prospect. “Of course, covering every square inch of this island might suck, but it’s better than the alternative.”

“Which is?” Dane was only half-listening. He gazed up at the underside of the arch, turning the problem over in his mind.

“Scouring the entire Amazon basin looking for Thomas. I don’t know about you, but I want to be done with this and back home in time for football season.”

Dane had to laugh. “You know there’s nothing in the world you’d rather be doing than what we’re doing right now.”

Bones look affronted. “What? Sitting on a rock in the middle of nowhere getting our butts wet?”

Dane grinned and stretched, working the kinks out of his head and neck. “Maybe we should get back to the search,” he said, tilting his head back and popping his neck. And then he spotted something. It was only a shadow, a pool of black below the spot where the arch met the cliff face, but as his eyes fell on it, a bird took flight from somewhere inside its dark depths. He stood transfixed, keeping his eyes on the spot as if he feared it might disappear if he looked away even for a moment.

“What is it?” Bones craned his neck to see. He spotted it almost immediately. “No freakin’ way! Do you think it might be?”

“Only one way to find out.” Dane turned a conspiratorial glance his way. “Race you to the top.”

The first fifteen feet of the climb were a challenge. Here the edges of any cracks, protrusions, or irregularities in the stone had been rounded off by the surf, but the way grew easier as they ascended. Dane reached their destination first and hauled himself up into a cave just wide enough for two men to squeeze inside. He turned and gave Bones a hand, hauling his friend in behind him.

“You cheated, dude,” Bones grumbled. He prided himself in his climbing ability and hated not being the first one somewhere.

“Your arms and legs are just too long,” Dane replied, unhooking his mag lite from a clip at his waist and shining it around.

“Tell me how that makes any sense at all.” Bones took out his own light and together, they inspected the cave. The passage cut straight back into the rock, with no end in sight. “Do you really think Fawcett could have found this place? I mean, we almost missed it.”

“I think Fawcett could do just about anything.” Dane was confident in his assessment. “He was maybe the greatest explorer of the twentieth century, and he was stuck on this pile of rock with nothing else to do. I think he would have explored every nook and cranny. Let’s just hope you don’t get stuck in here.”

“I’d better go first in case it gets narrow farther back,” Bones said. “Anywhere I can fit, we’ll know you can get through, too. If I’m behind you and get wedged in, it could get ugly.”

“Oh, I’d just kick you in the head until I jarred you loose, but if you want to go first, be my guest.” The two switched positions and Bones headed off into the darkness, Dane right behind him. They had only gone about twenty feet when he stopped short. “Whoa, dude!” The passage came to an end at a deep crevasse. They shone their lights down to reveal a fifty foot drop onto jagged rocks. “Not fun.”

“See that?” Dane trained the beam of his light on a tangle of bone and decaying fabric amongst the rocks below. “We’re not the first to come this way.” He wondered who the person was and what had led them up to this place. Another adventurer on the track of Fawcett, or just an unfortunate soul who had gotten a bit too curious or too careless?

“You want to try to jump across?” Bones shone his light to the spot across the way where the tunnel continued on the other side of the chasm.

“I don’t think this would have stopped Fawcett, do you?” Dane gauged the distance. It wasn’t too broad a leap. It was the consequences of failure that made it a bit more interesting.

“No, but I don’t think your little legs will carry you that far, do you? It’s a good ten feet. That’s a long way for an old man like you”

“I’m a month older than you.” Dane arched an eyebrow at Bones. “You’ve already lost a climbing contest. Do I need to beat you in long jump, too?”

“Just don’t beg me to climb down and get you if you fall. I hate it when a grown man whines.”

They both made the leap with ease and continued their search. The way grew wider as they progressed and soon they could walk side-by-side. It was slow going, as they kept a careful eye on the stone walls all around in case Fawcett had hidden the map somewhere, or perhaps carved it directly onto the wall. They came upon two side passages, but neither led anywhere, each of them narrowing until they were impassable. Finally, the passageway came to an end. No twists and turns, only stone.

“Oh, no way.” Bones cursed and kicked at the pile of loose rocks at the base of the wall. “To come all this way and find nothing. This is crap.”

Dane sidestepped as a rock bounced off the wall and rebounded his way. He felt like picking up one of the rocks and bashing something.

And then a thought struck him.

“Bones, help me move these loose stones.” Holding his mag lite in his teeth, he leaned down and hefted the largest one, setting it off to the side. Bones didn’t ask what Dane had in mind, but lent a hand. They had only moved about five of the biggest stones when cool air flowed across their arms from somewhere behind the rock pile.

“Maddock, you are the man!” Bones clapped him on the back and attacked the rocks with vigor.

At the base of the wall was an opening just high enough for a man to worm his way through. Dane lay down and shone his light into the opening, revealing a small chamber on the other side, and on the far wall…

“A map!” he breathed. “Bones, this is it!”

They squeezed inside and moved to take a closer look. A curved line, presumably a river, snaked across the wall. Tributaries crept down like menacing hands. At various points, distinctive shapes were carved, signifying landmarks. At one bend, a smaller line wended away, perhaps another tributary, ending at a giant question mark.

“This question mark must signify the thing Fawcett couldn’t remember,” Dane said. “The final landmark.”

“Who cares?” Bones began snapping pictures of the map. “If the map can get us that far, we’ll figure out the last clue when we get there. After that, we have the five steps from Fawcett’s book. Mystery as good as solved.”

“Of course, we might not even have to figure out the last clue,” Dane said. “We could find Thomas along the way, or find out what happened to him, and then we could go home.”

Bones lowered his camera. “Maddock, are you telling me that you would just give up like that?”

Dane considered the question. Kaylin had asked them to help find Thomas, but now the adventure bug had bitten him again, and he knew he would have to see things through. He, like so many others, wanted to know the fate of Percy Fawcett, and to learn what, if anything, lay in the heart of the unexplored Amazon. Dane was no longer on a rescue mission. He was on a quest.