a while and more passing of the bottle they had become frustrated with their captives not knowing the answers they thought they should know, and were sure that if they beat them they’d suddenly acquire the knowledge. Or maybe they just enjoyed beating helpless people. Ah Cuxtal didn’t regain consciousness until the next morning and found that the men were gone and his brother was dead.
The ropes were also gone. Why waste good ropes to tie dead men to trees? Ah Cuxtal in a panic escaped into the forest to the north of the kidnappers trail and had been running ever since, blundering through the trees.
He had seen Arnulfo and, at first, was terrified that he had stumbled back on the killers. He realized that that couldn’t be and, in fact, vaguely recognized that Arnulfo was a sometime chicle gatherer and not an enemy. Certainly not a foreigner.
Arnulfo and Lucy questioned Ah Cuxtal at some length as to where this had taken place and what direction the group was headed. Ah Cuxtal said it was near tunich b’ox k’as—place of the big black rock—and they were headed west.
“I know the tunich b’ox k’as,” said Arnulfo. “If they start there and head west, that will put them in the general area of where we think Kanan Óox is.”
Lucy also wanted a description of the men in the group, which Ah Cuxtal was glad to supply in detail and with some animation. She told me later she had been sure that the Runt would be among them but, if he had been, Ah Cuxtal hadn’t seen him.
“I told Ah Cuxtal he was free to go back to his family, and that we would supply him with enough provisions to get there. He told me ‘my family is dead. I am dead’. I want that…something…to be dead’, he used a Lacandón word I didn’t know, but I can guess.”
Do you think that’s a good idea? I asked. This could all be a set up. “No, I don’t,” Lucy answered, “but I wanted to know what he’d say. I don’t know how much he understood last night, since we were speaking Spanish and English. I have no reason to believe he knows anything about our purpose but he does understand that we are going in the same direction as the guys who killed his brother. He wants to come with us and I would rather have him here where we can keep an eye on him. Lacandones are sometimes not too trustworthy, but I basically believe him.”
He might try to sneak off in the night, I said. “True,” Lucy agreed. “The night guards will have to watch for that, difficult as it will be in the dark.” Yes, I agreed, and he is a woodsman. “So are we,” she answered, “some of us are pretty good at it.” I had to agree with her on that and that it was better to have him around where we could see him. We talked to the rest of the crew. They made it unanimous.
We sat in the dark around our non-fire and discussed developments. We decided we had better change our course to find Kanan Óox and beat that bunch to it.
“We start at dawn, or just before,” Arnulfo said, “and now we’ll have to start pushing it. We will travel more quietly without the horses and after a certain point we’ll need to. There is a place we can leave the animals about halfway there and pick them up on the way back.”
I drew the straw for the last watch. That made for early rising, but at least I would be ready when it was time to leave. The forest seemed scarier tonight for some reason.
Early rising was right. I was up at three and spent a couple of hours nervously listening to the dark, which didn’t seem nearly as friendly as it had the night before. I knew those guys were far away, but even so, they were out there somewhere.
It was still dark when we saddled up. I hoped Mirabal could see something because I knew I couldn’t. It wasn’t long, though, before things started to be merely dim instead of pitch black and presently we were back to our usual twilight. The night sounds went away and the day sounds came out. I felt better.
We spent the day traveling at a slightly increased speed, but couldn’t go much over a fast walk. Even so we seemed to cover a good distance. Ah Cuxtal refused a ride at the start, insisting he was used to walking in the forest but along toward our lunch break he began stumbling and weaving. Lalo convinced him to get up behind him on his horse, telling him we needed to keep moving. He no doubt was used to walking through the forest, but he wasn’t used to being beaten up and needed some rest. Takes a lot out of you—I know from experience.
We fixed a utilitarian lunch from our dried supplies. Ah Cuxtal pointed out some fruit hanging from a climbing vine as a welcome desert. Then we were on our way again.
Over a supper that was not even as tasty as lunch, Arnulfo told us we would be leaving the horses sometime the next day and continuing on foot with backpacks. We could take one mule, but might wind up abandoning him. Even though I was getting a little tired of being on horseback, I didn’t think that walking was going to be a change for the better. And it wasn’t. Besides, Mirabal and I had become new best friends and I was gong to miss her.
We packed our backpacks as best we could in the dark to be ready for an early start. We did have flashlights, but used them as sparingly as possible to save the batteries. At some point we might really need them. I was glad the ammunition was in belts that I could wear. That was going to be hot, but the backpack was already plenty heavy. Some of that ammo would hopefully go on our remaining mule, but there was a limit. If we overloaded him he would balk and we would wind up carrying the stuff ourselves, or throwing it away.
I drew the first watch for a change, but otherwise the night was a repeat of the one before. A certain sameness, but I was definitely not bored. The dark was just as dark and the sounds were the same. Mostly twittering and cooing but, so far, no roaring or gnashing of teeth. That at least was reassuring. If the sounds suddenly changed, then I would really worry.
We were up again before dawn and started out in the dark. “I think we’ll be there around noon,” Arnulfo said. “There’s a family encampment about that many hours from here. They’ve been living in that general area for a long time. They raise some chickens, a few pigs, make a clearing to plant some corn and chiles and stuff until the soil wears out, then move on a little bit and start over. I know this family because I’ve stayed there from time to time when I was doing the chicle and I’m hoping they’re still there so we can leave the horses and mules with them. The animals will be all right and they’ll take good care of them.”
We moved through the forest, dodging huge extended tree roots, immense fallen logs, outcroppings of stone and the occasional pit. I had no idea where we were in relation to anything. I had a compass, which I looked at from time to time, but it didn’t tell me much. The others, except for Jeb, seemed to have a better idea, especially Arnulfo, who was in the lead. How he, or anyone, could navigate through this dim green ocean was beyond me. Jeb and I were used to desert terrain full of bright sunshine where you could see to the horizon all around you.
Eventually we came to a slight ridge and turned to follow it. Aha! I thought, an actual landmark, now things will make a little sense. After a couple of miles we turned again, losing the comforting landmark and headed in the same direction we had been going.
Suddenly, I smelled smoke. Arnulfo called quietly for a halt. He came back to us and said, “We’re here. Let me go on ahead, they don’t trust strangers, but they know me. I’ll get them used to the idea and come back for you all.”
He strode on ahead, leading his horse, as the rest of us dismounted. We all stood around, not saying much, except for Ah Cuxtal, who was standing apart from us, muttering to himself. What is he saying? I asked Lucy.
“I can’t make sense of most of it,” she answered, “about all I can make out is cimzic. Means kill. And p’ec, kind of like hate.” Do you think he’s completely
