was patient; after all, this sort of thing was new to Melanie, while Carolyne had successfully endured the mutiny of her bearers in the Gobi, as well as assassins in India who had intended an international incident by taking out the English/American botany team at Tumkur. “Maybe, whoever didn’t, because we interrupted him before he finished,” Carolyne suggested. “Maybe, he wasn’t clever enough to see how stealing our food could be as debilitating as smashing our radio. Maybe, a lot of things. If he left us food, he can’t be counted upon to be so obliging within the next hour, day, even week.”
“Week?” Melanie shouldn’t have been surprised. Without communications to the outside, they were at least that long of a forced march from the Georni Ranch.
“Now, as to our lopsided vote to stick here,” said Carolyne, “rather than launch an immediate search for Felix’s assailant, or Teddy, or for the source of the gunfire down by the river. It’s a question of not having the faintest notion of the exact whereabouts of any of those. It’s a big jungle, out there, my dear. Look how unsuccessful our concentrated efforts to locate even one Lygodium cornelius, a jungle plant, when any search for Teddy and Gordon would best be accomplished in just that same way: splitting the area into sections, one for each searcher. Except, as individuals, we’re more vulnerable than as a group.” She held up her hand to delay interruption. “We can’t know the assailant will be any the less vindictive to you, or to me, than he was to Felix, and we shouldn’t chance that will be the case. Teddy and Gordon, out there somewhere, know exactly where we are and the way to get to us.”
“What if Teddy is injured?” Melanie asked, although she still refused to believe Gordon responsible. “What if Gordon is hurt? What if either of them fired those shots to get our attention?”
“Then, get our attention they did,” Carolyne reminded. “However, their logical follow-up would be more gunfire, in an established rhythm, to indicate shots less likely aimed at an enemy and more likely a signal for help. What have three, erratic shots told us but that someone was off in the direction of the river with a gun? Is he there now? Is he injured, or is his intent to injure? We don’t know, and it’s preferable we do know. Our best bet is to wait until we have a better grasp of our situation. Until then, I suggest, you check your weapon to make sure it’s operational.”
“I could never shoot anyone,” Melanie prophesied.
Carolyne’s smile made redundant her, “You may be surprised by what you can do, my dear, if put to the test.” She went to soak a towel for Felix; it was a chore originally assigned Charles, then Melanie, but forgotten by both. If you want something done.…
They were joined as Melanie, surprised by how hungry she’d been, contemplated seconds from the stew pot. It was a good thing the new arrival wasn’t the enemy, with full intent to do bodily harm, because, although he remained concealed, he was within easy striking distance of one and all when he requested, “Permission to join the party?” His voice was so near that Melanie dropped her mess kit in surprise. Still concealed, he filled in more pertinent details: “Roy Lendum, here. Remember me from this morning? I introduced myself, and you were kind enough to let me use your radio to relay a message via the Georni Ranch.”
It was obvious by how Carolyne and Charles looked about that neither had located Roy yet. Melanie was only certain he was very close; she was right.
“I heard gunshots.” Roy emerged from his crouch within a group of ferns not six feet from where Melanie had been seated before his announced presence had brought her to her feet. “I thought maybe you’d lucked out by bagging that rare bit of game. The idea of some fresh meat appealed to my meat-deprived taste buds.”
“We suspect two-legged quarry.” Charles replaced his pistol in its holster. “There’s been a bit of mischief, as Felix and our radio can bear witness.”
If he hadn’t already, Roy noticed Felix’s towel-draped head. Of the four, Felix had responded the last to Roy’s unexpected arrival; he sat, eyes closed, and his head against a tree root that conveniently bowed up though the soil.
“I’ve seen no one,” Roy admitted. His mental headcount was two short. He mentally went through the introductions of that morning. “Teddy and Gordon presently missing, right?”
“Both possible candidates for the gunfire,” Charles conceded. “Although, we presently lean toward Gordon who.…”
“You, personally, presently lean toward Gordon,” Melanie corrected. “I’m not putting any responsibility on anyone until I have more to go on.”
“We all need more input,” Carolyne agreed.
Charles wasn’t assuaged: “Gordon made a pass at Melanie just last night, and Teddy took exception. I used to wonder why, in all those adventure movies, there was always one attractive woman among all those virile men; it seemed to beg trouble, and this just proves my assumption right.” He realized his faux pas and diplomatically made amends: “This expedition, of course, comes complete with two ravishing beauties.”
“Charles, cut the crap!” Carolyne knew she wasn’t a beauty, ravishing or otherwise; nor had she ever been. Certainly, she didn’t look her best with her hair gone grey at its roots, clothes continually wet with the humidity and perspiration, bathing and toilet facilities next to nonexistent. Even Melanie, who had looked so good for so long, was beginning to go a little ripe around the edges; far less likely to spark unbridled lust in someone not hopelessly lost to the outside world for a very long time. Then, again, what did Carolyne know about men? Two husbands, and as many divorces later, still didn’t exactly make her an authority.
“Pubescent boys will be boys,” Charles concluded his summation.
“Not to where Gordon would endanger our lives and smash our radio,” Melanie defensively insisted.
Roy was getting the specifics piecemeal.
“Took off with our satellite gizmo, too,” Carolyne admitted.
“Wouldn’t have run across a stray radio or space gismo, lately, have you Roy?” Charles knew it unlikely. Roy, a prospector and geologist, traveled light in order to cover a wide range of rough terrain. It was because he considered even his damaged radio excess baggage, jettisoned, that he’d appeared earlier that morning to borrow the use of theirs.
“I can offer a quick run-through of the immediate area,” Roy volunteered, “if you’d like me to take a look.”
“Would you?” Melanie was quick to accept.
Carolyne was reluctant. “We’ve decided it’s best to stay put for the time being. Certainly, I wouldn’t want you hit by a bullet that didn’t even have your name on it.”
The pros and cons were temporarily made moot by Teddy’s call from a distance: “Hey, you guys, I’m coming in!”
Melanie would have rushed into the bush to meet him, but Roy, closest to her, put a cautionary hand on her shoulder.
Neither Roy, nor Carolyne, nor Charles took any chances; each had a pistol drawn. Even Felix drew his.
As was usually the case in the thick greenery, Teddy was heard long before he was seen. That he didn’t go out of his way to be stealthy was emphasized by his virtual stumble into the small clearing.
“Teddy!” Melanie was the only one with welcoming arms, not an aimed gun. She hugged him close, her cheek so tightly against her fiancé’s sweaty chest
