Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Adventure Warriors

At 7:00 a.m., Bryant, Donagan, Wilcox and Sauvis left the sailboat.The sun was shining brightly without clouds, like the unique October weather in the northern temperate zone.The weather was neither hot nor cold, and if there were any obstacles to delay the journey or make the expedition fail, it could only be due to the topography. The young explorer set off.They zigzag around the beach until they reach the foot of the cliff.Gordon had warned them to bring Mimi, its instincts might be of great use.Therefore, the dog also became a member of the expedition. After a quarter of an hour, their figures disappeared into the bushes.Birds swarmed, but due to time constraints, Donagan had to bear with it even though he was fond of bird hunting.As for the little fan, it knows that running around is not advisable.Therefore, in addition to scouting around, he followed his master every step of the way.

They planned to walk along the bluff until they reached the headland in the northern part of the bay, starting from the waters Bryant had seen before.Although this road is not the shortest, it is the safest.And, an extra mile or two doesn't count for much for these fast-moving, well-built kids. When they reached the edge of the cliff, Bryant recognized it as the place he and Gordon had visited on their first expedition.Since there was no way south on this side of the limestone cliffs, they had to find their way north, and even they tried all possible ways to the headland.It would have taken a day to do so, but they had no other way, unless there was a passage to the east on the cliff, which Bryant explained to his companions.Donagan didn't demur in the end, either, when he tried to climb the cliff in vain and slid down.

They continued to search for an hour, and at last determined that they could only reach the headland by rounding the cliffs.Bryant was desperate to figure out their next steps.Was the tide high when they reached the shore?If the tide is high, it means that they have to waste half a day, waiting for the sea to retreat until the reef is exposed. Pointing out the importance of being on the reef before high tide, Bryant advises, "Go fast!" "Pooh!" said Wilcox, "we're not afraid of the sea getting our ankles!" "Your ankles! Possibly your whole body, even your ears!" Bryant replied. "The water will rise at least five or six feet, and we'd better keep walking toward the headland. "

"Bryant, you are the guide!" Donagan reminded, "If we are late, it will be your fault." "Then stop wasting time. Where's Sovis?" Bryant yelled. "Sovis! Sovis!" Sauvis is gone!He got lost with his friend Xiao Mi, and disappeared at the corner more than a hundred yards to the right of the cliff. It seemed to hear the echo of someone shouting, and the barking of dogs.Is Sovis in danger? Bryant, Donagan, and Wilcox immediately ran to their companions.He was blocked by a rock - it was an aged rock - that had fallen from a cliff.Due to the infiltration of seawater and the erosion of sea wind, this piece of limestone is in the shape of a semi-funnel from top to bottom, with the tip of the bucket facing down.Here the cliff thus forms a slope of 40 to 50 degrees, on which a series of footholds are irregularly distributed.Boys with their vigor could easily climb to the top of the cliff unless another rock fell to stop them.

Although this action was a little dangerous, they did not hesitate. Donagan was the first to step onto the rocky pile at the bottom of the cliff. "Wait! Wait!" Bryant yelled. "Haste is waste." But Donagan didn't listen, because he believed that this operation was very important to his reputation with his peers, especially in front of Bryant.In no time he was climbing mid-air over the cliff. His companions followed suit, but were careful not to follow him so as not to be hit by the falling stones as he stepped on them.All went well, and Donagan was very satisfied, because he reached the top of the cliff before the others.

He had taken the binoculars out of their packs, and was watching the jungle stretching eastward. Although the top of the cliff was a few hundred feet lower than the headland and he couldn't see that far, the panorama he saw was the same one that Bryant had seen earlier on the headland, just lush trees and sky. "What?" asked Wilcox. "Didn't you see anything else?" "Nothing!" Donagan replied. "Let me see," said Wilcox. Donagan handed the binoculars to his companion with great reluctance. "I don't see the water at all," said Wilcox, putting down the binoculars.

Donagan replied, "Sufficient proof that there is no sea at all. You can see it, Bryant, and I think you'll admit your mistake." "I don't care!" Bryant said. "I know I'm not mistaken." "You are absolutely mistaken!" "Exactly! The cliff is lower than the headland, and the field of view is narrow. If we go to a place as high as I used to look, you can see a blue line six or seven miles away from you. If you go to You'll see where I go. You'll see then that there's no way I could have mistaken it for a cloud." "Easy to say!" said Wilcox.

"Easy to prove," replied Bryant, "walk through this place, through the jungle, till we reach the sea!" "Very good!" Donagan sneered. "Then we have to go further. Is it necessary?" "Then Donagan, you stay here." Bryant retorted, "I'll go with Sauvis!" "I'm going too," said Wilcox. "Donagan, let's go!" "That will have to wait until we have something to eat!" Sovis protested. This has been recognized by everyone.Half an hour later the team set off again. Soon they walked another mile.The green grass seems to be unobstructed, sometimes you can see some stones with moss and lichen, and occasionally some bushes dot the grass.Also ferns, moss bulbs, heath holly, and leaf rot.These tree species thrive even at high latitudes.

After Bryant and his partners crossed a higher plateau, they found that on this side of the cliff there was a slope as high and steep as on the other side of the sea.They would have been able to reach the headland directly if the road had not been difficult to walk in the dry depression caused by the flood. After reaching the woods, the road became more difficult.Fallen trees barred their way; some bushes grew so thick and tangled that every now and then they had to cut off a few branches.The boys swung their axes like a group of entrepreneurial pioneers breaking into the jungles of the New World.Doing so means stopping almost every minute.The hands were more tired than the legs, and it was these delays which prevented them from advancing three or four miles by nightfall.

No one seems to have ever set foot in this jungle, at least not leaving a trail to walk on.Many trees fell, not by man, but because of storms or their own age, and fell from time to time in the bushes.Traces of some unknown small animals can be seen everywhere in the bushes, but they are rarely seen. Donagan always had the urge to pull out his gun and fire at the timid quadrupeds.Bryant had to intervene to stop his indiscretions, lest their whereabouts be exposed.Donagan realized that since he had to keep his beloved weapon quiet, he'd have to talk a lot more eloquently.Every step they take will startle a group of delicious meat partridges or some rock swallows.Wild geese, grouse and many other birds abound along the bush.If you shoot, you can kill hundreds of them.If the boys stop here, their shotguns will bring them plenty of food.Donagan had to admit this, so he made up his mind to make up for the current regret in the future.

The trees of this forest are mainly birch and beech, and the flexible green leaves reach more than a hundred feet above the ground.There are also dense cypresses, myrtle trees, and a surprising number of winter trees, whose bark smells like cinnamon. At 2 p.m., they took a second break in a glade.A narrow little river runs through it, the kind called a stream in South America.The river water is crystal clear, and it flows slowly over the black rocks at the bottom of the river.Looking at the calm shallow current, with no dead trees or shrubbery floating on it, no one would believe that their source is so far away.There is nothing easier than crossing the creek on the boulders strewn across the river bed.But there was one spot where some flat stones were distributed so symmetrically that it caught everyone's attention. "How strange!" said Donagan. The stones appear to be a causeway from bank to bank. "You could call it a dam," Sauvis murmured as she walked. "Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" Bryant reminded him. "We have to study the rocks first!" "They couldn't have formed themselves," Wilcox pointed out. "Yes," Brian agreed, "It looks like someone built a river crossing, come closer!" They examined every stone on this strange embankment.The stones are only a few inches above the river level, and they are covered with water during the rainy season.But does this confirm that these stones were artificially placed in the river?No!They are most likely washed down by floods and accumulated over time.This is the explanation Bryant and his partners came up with after careful study. There is no footsteps on either side of the bank, and there is nothing to prove that anyone has ever set foot in this jungle. Did the creek rush northeastward into the sea that Bryant had seen from the headland? Donagan said, "At least it's possible that it's a tributary of some river going west." "We'll know then," said Bryant, unwilling to provoke further disputes, "but since it's going east, we can go along the river if it's not too meandering." The four boys stepped onto the dike, crossed the creek, and continued on their way.Walking along the shore is very simple, except that sometimes some large trees are rooted in the water, and their branches and leaves intertwine in the air, stretching from one side of the river bank to the other.Although they stooped from time to time, the compass showed that the general flow of the creek was still east.Its source must have been far away, for the stream did not pick up speed nor widen its bed. At about 5:30 in the afternoon, Bryant and Donagan were forced to admit that the creek had turned to the north, so that going along the river would definitely take them away from their original route, so they had to abandon the river and travel. Dive into dense birch and beech forests. The fallen leaves were so thick at this time of year that they had to yell intermittently in order to keep up with each other. They had been walking all day without any sign of approaching a large body of water.Bryant began to look restless.Could it be that the level of the sea he saw from the top of the headland was a phantom? "No! No!" he said to himself. "I can't be mistaken! Impossible! It's not like that!" It's 7pm and the end of the jungle is still in sight.The night was coming, and soon it would be very dark, and they could go no further. They decided to stop and spend the night under a tree.With a good steak, they don't have to worry about starvation; and with bedding to keep them warm, they don't have to worry about the cold.In addition, they can make a fire with some dead sticks, as the best protection against wild animals.In this way, the beasts that come out to feed at night will not attack them. "It's best not to run around when there is danger." Donagan reminded his partners. All agree with that.All were thinking about supper, for they now had a peculiar appetite.They ate most of the dry food they had brought.As they were preparing to snuggle up to sleep under a giant beech tree, Sauvis pointed to a bush a few yards away.In the bush grows a medium-sized tree with lower branches hanging low to the ground.In this way, the four of them lay on a pile of dry leaves, covering themselves tightly with their bedding.It's easy to fall asleep at their young age, so they drift off to dreamland in no time.Leaving Xiaomi to guard them, but it also fell asleep with them. Once or twice, the dog heard a long howl.Apparently some animals, domestic or wild, were foraging in the woods, but they did not approach the camp. It was nearly 7 a.m. when Bryant and the others woke up.The sun's rays slanted through the thick leaves, faintly illuminating the place where they had spent the night last night. Sovis was the first to walk out of the bushes.Suddenly he yelled, "Bryant! Donagan! Wilcox! Come here!" "What's the matter?" Wilcox replied.He is always fond of blaming people. "Sovice, you gave us a fright." "It's better to scare you to death." Sovis said, "Look! Here, look at the place where we slept!" It turned out that the place where they slept was not a bush at all, but a hut made of branches.A kind of hut called "Ajuba" by Indians is composed of intertwined branches.This kind of hut has been around for a long time, the roof and walls are built with trees, and its style is the same as that of the South American residents. "So, is there really anyone here?" Donna Gan asked suspiciously.Then he took a quick look around. "At least it was once lived in," Bryant said, "because the hut couldn't have been made." "This also solves the mystery of the passage in the middle of the creek," Wilcox pointed out. "Yes." Sovis added, "If there are people here, they are good people who built such a hut for us to live in." In fact, the most uncertain thing now is whether these indigenous people are good people or not.Evidently, they had haunted this jungle area not long ago, or a long time ago.But if the place is connected to the mainland, they may be Indians or Polynesians; if this is an isolated island in the Indies, they may even be man-eating savages.If this is the case, then their danger will be even greater.Therefore, it is even more important for them to figure out whether this is an island or a mainland. When Donagan offered to take a closer look at what appeared to be a long-abandoned cabin, Bryant sprang into action.They might be able to find some utensils, containers, or tools, and figure out the origin of the hut. They carefully turned the pile of dry leaves.Sovis found a fragment of burnt earth in a corner.It may have originally been a bowl or a teacup.That's enough to show it's an artifact, but nothing more. They must move on. At 7:30, they embarked on the journey again.Compass in hand, they headed straight east.The terrain gradually declined.For two hours they made their way slowly through dense brush and groves, occasionally hacking their way with an axe. Just before ten o'clock, they saw the horizon through the trees.At the end of the forest is a vast plain dotted here and there with frankincense, thyme, and bushes.Another 2.5 miles to the east, the edge of the plain is a strip of sand where waves lap and the sea stretches to the distant horizon. Donagan was speechless.He was a little annoyed to discover that his companion had been right. Bryant didn't say anything.He doesn't want to show off in front of his friends. He picked up the binoculars and looked around. The sun shines on the north side of the beach, and the coast turns to the left, as does the south side of the beach, only more curved. So far there is no doubt.The shipwreck is not the mainland, but the island.All other hope of leaving this place must be given up, save by external aid. Other than that, they didn't see any other islands.It seems that the island is floating alone in the vast Pacific Ocean. The four boys walked across the plains to the beach, stopped at the edge of a sand dune, and were ready to finish their lunch before heading back to camp through the jungle.If they hurry, they may return to the wreck before sunset. The meal was not very pleasant.The four of them hardly spoke a word. Finally, Donagan picked up his pack and gun and said, "Let's go!" All took one last look at the sea.Just as he was about to leave, suddenly the dog ran to the beach. "Little fan! Little fan! Little fan!" Sovis yelled. But the dog still ran happily along the wet sand, and finally rushed to the sea to drink water. "It's drinking sea water!" cried Donagan. After a while, he also went to the seaside, drinking the water that Xiaomi drank heartily. It's fresh water!This is a lake that stretches east!This is not the sea!