Hunting Thingamajigs

"Some of the most dangerous animals in the world live in these rivers," Sergio said. "It is not a place to swim or test the waters. You will have to contend with anacondas, arapaimas, black caimans and crocodiles, pirahnas, and in the jungle are panthers, vipers, poisonous frogs, tigers, and that's just the start. You must not ever go off alone--no matter how good you think you are with a wand. You never leave the group. No matter what. And if you think you have any thoughts of modesty, lose them now. Any modesty you have just might cost you your life."

"I believe in my people, Sergio," Brian said. "They can step up, or I wouldn't have brought them. And besides, Angus and Michael and I have all been here before. We're all coming back out of this one alive."

"Maybe, Amigo," Sergio laughed,, breaking the tension with a warm laugh and a smile. "If you can survive on those rations."

"Those rations have improved significantly," Angus said. His head spun to the side, as movement in the water got his attention.

"Anaconda," Sergio said. "A big one. Looks like that one is about 30 feet long. This would not be a good time to go overboard. We would not have time to retriee you even with the quickest spell. I suggest we just let him pass and get on with his business."

"After dark?" Angus laughed. "Did you really look at that map? Its going to be a couple of days down river. We're most likely going to have to anchor before dark, hike into the jungle and carve out a campsite overnight, unless you all can sleep in shifts so that Sergio and I can keep this thing moving southward down the river."

"I suggest we watch how far we go after dark," Sergio said. "Remember the white water. We need to make sure we stop before we hit the white water."

"Oh, yeah," Angus said, remembering. "That was not fun."

"I didn't think it was so bad," Brian shrugged.

"That's because it wasn't your boat that went over the falls, Mate," Angus scowled.

Khaat perked up, hearing a horrible loud growling sound. "What is that?" she asked. Sergio slowed the motor of the boat.

"Hippo fight," Angus said. "We'll stop the boat and drift a bit until it quits. Hippos are exceptionally deadly when they're angry. Best we let them duke it out and not bother them til its over. It sounds like they're a ways away yet, so I'm not overly worried, but good catch on that, Khaat. Thank you."

They proceeded steadily down the river until they hit a bend where the river took a 45 degree turn to the left. It was late afternoon. Sergio steered the boat towards the left shore. He and Angus and Brian seemed to be scouting the shoreline very carefully before deciding to dock. Angus slid into the water in thigh high water and took the mooring lines and waded to shore and pulled the barge as close to shore as he could get it, and tied the barge strongly to a tree.

Khaat was ready to get off, but Michael stopped her. "Wait," Michael said. "Me first. " He got out into water that was midway between his knees and his ankles and scouted carefully before letting anyone out. "Alright. Carefully. But waste no time. Head to shore quickly. Keep your eyes open. Don't go grabbing anything that looks like a vine, and for pitys sake, don't sit on anything. Not yet. Watch all around you, from above, below, behind--all around. There are dangers at all levels here until we get camp established." He took her hand and helped her safely to shore as Sergio and Angus disappeared ahead into the underbrush to look for a campsite. "Who's next?" Michael asked.

Khaat was intrigued by the beautiful plants and trees, by smells and the sounds all around her. She took just a few steps towards a beautiful enormous scarlet blossom on a plant, and she heard Michae's voice.

"No!" he fired a wandless magic spell to sway the plant out of her grasp. "Not a friendly flower. Don't touch it!" She stopped short and looked back at him. "That plant is exceptionally dangerous. Do you see those drops of what looks like dew on the petals?" She nodded. "Look. Watch." He picked up a shell from the beach and touched the shell into the apparant water droplets. The shell began to smoke and dissolve. "Acid," Michael said. "Pure acid. And very, very deadly. When we said touch nothing, we honestly meant it, Sweetheart."

"Sorry," she said.

"No problem," he said. "Anyone who hasn't been here before, you pair up with one of us who has been here."

"Over here!" Angus called through the trees. "Here's a clearing. We're setting up the wizarding tent and starting a camp fire."

"I'm not going to work on it that hard," Angus said, already flicking his wand at the backpacks. The wizarding tent set itself up and the furnishings resized and floated into the tent. Michael was assembling a fire ring with stones and was accio'iing firewood. He set it on fire with a magical flame.

"Give us a few minutes and we'll have dinner in place," Angus said. "Give the tent a minute and then go in and fin yourselves a bunk. Its four bedroom--two on the left, two on the right, a central livng room and kitchen area."

"I'll start dinner," Michael said. "You all might want to stretch your legs a bit, and that's fine, but do stay in the clearing and don't wander off into the brush."