When the Singing Stops (20 page)

She finished her tea and thanked Sasha. As he escorted her through the lobby past shops displaying raw paintings of local scenes and ‘Amerindian Artefacts For Sale', she saw Antonio Destra coming towards her with a wide smile. He stopped and shook Sasha's hand. ‘I'm pleased to see you took my advice,' he said to Madi.

Madi turned to Sasha. ‘Antonio ran into me meeting a Guyanese friend in a less than salubrious coffee shop in Charlestown this morning.
He suggested I should frequent the Pessaro instead.'

‘I have to agree, of course. You were out experiencing the other side of Georgetown, eh?' said Sasha smoothly.

‘Only coffee with a friend. My big experience is yet to come.' She said goodbye to them both and went to the entrance, nodding to one of the two Pessaro taxis. Glancing over her shoulder she was surprised to see Antonio and Sasha engrossed in conversation.

It only took a week to assemble the expedition to Kaieteur Falls and on the night before their dawn departure the party of six gathered at the da Silvas' home for a barbecue and final checklist. John had two trailers to be towed by Land Rovers. Each had hollow sides which formed an extra petrol tank. Each carried spare tyres, ropes, tools, oars, water in heavy plastic barrels, cooking fuel, hammocks, tarpaulins and personal bags. Food was stored in a borrowed airline in-flight food container. Madi had followed the advice to pack as little as possible because they had to carry their own gear as well as extras.

As the final equipment was stowed in the trailers under John's supervision, Madi perched on the portico beneath a weak-bulbed light and read the appendix in Gwen's book. Gwen had listed all the items she had ordered for her expedition. Rations were served out each Sunday
morning, each item being weighed in front of her men.

‘So what does Gwen say we should have?' asked Connor teasingly.

‘She recommends keeping the sugar soldered in a kerosene drum so it doesn't get wet or punctured. Among her medicines she says Maorix is a wonderful liniment—
a secret acquired from the Maoris of New Zealand who have knowledge of herbs, the secret of whose healing properties is unknown to Europeans,'
she read.

‘What's it cure?'

‘It immediately alleviates the irritation of mosquito bites and stings.
Which reminds me, do you have repellent, Connor?'

‘Where's the list.' He pulled a scrap of paper from his shorts pocket. ‘Toilet paper, toothbrush and paste, hard water soap, mossie repellent, headache and tummy pills, plastic bags to keep everything in.'

‘Sensible shoes that can get wet,' added Ann.

‘I'm bringing my camera and extra film and a notebook,' said Madi.

‘You going to write a book too?' asked Sharee.

‘No, but I think it's nice to keep a journal. You forget things, so it's good to write impressions as they strike.'

The travellers, joined by Matthew and Kevin, slept in sleeping bags and on furniture and hammocks at the da Silvas' house, and at
4.30 they were roused for hot coffee and sweet rolls ready for the 5 am takeoff.

Matthew hugged Madi in the dawn light. ‘Now don't do anything stupid, heed Gwen's advice, and have a good time.' He kissed her cheek. ‘I hope it's all you want it to be, sis.'

‘I'm doing it, Matt, that's the main thing.' Her golden hair plaited into its thick braid sat shining on her shoulder beneath Matthew's favourite canvas fishing hat. She wore cotton jeans, a T-shirt under one of Matthew's cotton shirts, and thin cotton socks inside her tennis shoes.

Matthew turned to Connor and shook his hand. ‘Keep an eye on the kid, mate.'

‘No worries there, Matt. If I can keep up with her. When we get to the falls she'll be sprinting to be first to the top, I bet.'

‘No one sprints up that climb,' said Ann. ‘Besides, there's a lot to see on the way up, wonderful plants and ferns.'

More farewells, Kevin and Matthew giving Sharee and Viti quick hugs and then the six of them walked to the two packed vehicles, Ann, Madi and Connor getting into one, John, Sharee and Viti in the other. The engines gurgled with a throaty roar as Kevin and Matthew held open the gates, and the Land Rovers passed through.

Matthew looked up at the first streaks of dawn in the sky.

‘Don't worry about her, sport. She's a strong hombre that sister of yours,' said Kevin, seeing the wistful expression on Matthew's face.

‘I'm not so worried about her safety. I just hope she finds what she's looking for. She's been a bit lost in life and she seems so sure she's going to find whatever it is that will make her happy up those falls.'

‘Good a place as any to start a fire,' said Kevin in his laconic Aussie way.

‘What do you mean?'

‘Dunno how to explain it. It was something my dad who was a scoutmaster used to say. You have to start a fire in your belly and your soul before you get anywhere in the world and find your passion in life.'

‘I've always thought the best times were sitting round a fire,' added Matthew thoughtfully.

‘Well, let's hope the falls light Madi's fire. I'm going back to bed.'

As the gold red ball of the sun rolled over the horizon, the travellers sped down the new highway past the turn off to the Guyminco mine. When they hit the dirt road, a cloud of red dust billowed behind the first vehicle. Madi leaned across from the side bench where she was sitting to shout at Connor on the other side. ‘Makes me think of the outback!'

‘I was just thinking the same thing. You been around Australia much?'

Madi shook her head. ‘Most of the capital cities. But I haven't been to the top end yet.'

‘Shame on you.'

‘I know. I'll rectify that one day. What about you?'

‘All the top spots, Mt Isa, Weipa, the Pilbara, even Rum Jungle.'

‘Work or pleasure?'

‘Both. Interesting places. The IFO has money in various corporate developments out there.'

Madi wanted to talk more but the rattling trailer bouncing over corrugated ruts made conversation impossible.

The thin curtain of greenery on either side of the road thickened slightly and Madi felt at last she was leaving civilisation. The heat began to rise and she took out her notepad and fanned herself. Hearing the engine slow and stop she jumped out to stretch her legs.

The two vehicles had skittered down to the landing where they waited for a car ferry which was ploughing its flat wooden snout through the water towards their side of the river.

The Land Rovers were squeezed in between two massive timber trucks. As the ferry punted back across the river, Sharee handed out bacon and egg rolls.

‘Never thought I'd enjoy a cold fried egg so much,' commented Connor.

The road on the other side led straight up a rutted incline. Ann passed the wheel to Connor and joined Madi in the back, stretching her legs. Red dust had turned her tanned skin and shorts a streaky orange.

‘We drive straight through to a place called Kangaruma now. Let's hope we get there by dusk. We'll camp at a guesthouse there,' she said.

Madi nodded, thinking it would be a welcome relief. The bouncing in the back of the Land Rover was shaking every bone in her body.

Then without warning they sputtered to a stop. ‘What the hell . . .' Ann swung over the side and went to Connor. ‘What's up?'

‘Don't know. She's stopped.'

‘I can see that,' retorted Ann in her racing driver's manner as she lifted the bonnet.

She started tinkering while Connor and Madi sat on the side of the road. ‘I'm not very mechanically proficient so I won't offer to help,' said Connor.

‘Good,' said Ann from under the bonnet.

Birds smashed through the trees with almost sightless abandon, insects hummed and large black flies homed in on them. ‘They're Kubowra flies, they sting, watch them,' advised Ann.

In seconds Connor and Madi were slapping at their arms, legs and necks as the Kubowra attack continued.

Ann announced that the ignition was shorting out. Each time the dash panel was screwed back on, it shorted again.

Ann swore under her breath. ‘We need some sort of insulator,' she said.

Connor thought for a second then scrambled in the back and opened a box of rum. A bottle was pulled from its carton. Flattening the
carton he handed it to Ann. ‘Here, try this to steady the panel.'

It worked and they set off again. Before they'd gone a quarter of a mile they ran into the other Rover, which John had turned around when he realised they were not behind them.

Both vehicles were now driven as fast as their loads would allow to make up time. They lurched and bounced across the rough troughs in the road, the trailers shimmying and sashaying. Madi and Connor hit their heads on the roof one minute then crashed their bottoms on the metal seat the next. Madi untied a pillow from someone's belongings and sat on it, which helped a little.

‘This is worse than my first riding lesson,' shouted Connor.

The road was narrow and overhanging sapling branches poked through the open sides of the Rover.

Then without warning, the second Rover stopped again. Cold dead.

This time it was serious. John drove back to them and conferred with Ann. Viti and Sharee joined Connor and Madi by the roadside.

In the late afternoon light, Madi looked along the road admiring the clumpy low plants lining the edge. As dusk fell, they lifted their heavy velvet green leaves towards the sun, displaying brilliant burnished red gold undersides.

Darkness fell. It seemed to Madi that it
happened in less than a minute. Now the jungle loomed high either side of the road and it seemed to creep towards the group huddled by the two vehicles. The stars gave no light, the moon had yet to rise above the fortress of trees.

By torchlight John and Ann began to rewire the panel. With surgeon-like precision they worked in silence, occasionally requesting more light or ‘pass the red wire through here'.

Madi stood to stretch her legs as the others sat on the road, leaning against the second vehicle. As she moved around the vehicle with her back to the jungle, she felt a spine-chilling, hackle-raising sensation that someone or something was behind her. She spun around and gasped as she came face to face with an Amerindian who was watching the proceedings with great interest. He was short, dusky-skinned and wore only loose khaki shorts. His hair was cut in a black fringe and he held a handful of tall spears. He was barefoot and gave her a friendly smile. ‘Broke down, eh?'

‘Yes,' replied Madi, still a little stunned, not expecting her first encounter with an Amerindian in the forest to be quite like this.

John pulled his head out from under the dash where he was half lying on his back.

‘Big re-wiring job, know anything about engines?'

The Amerindian shook his head and grinned. ‘Just outboard motor. Good luck. I go hunting now.'

‘We are on the right road to Kangaruma?' asked Ann suddenly.

‘Yes, many hours yet.' The hunter disappeared into the forest as soundlessly as he'd arrived.

For two hours they worked, stripping down bits of wire from here and there to rewire and bypass the ignition, wiring direct from the coil. Finally John straightened up and looked at Ann. ‘Well, we have no lights, she won't idle, but she'll go.'

‘Right, let's move,' said Ann and they all piled back into the vehicles. The engine turned over and kept revving and they took off into the darkness.

The night was inky and eerie. The track fell away into massive holes and hollows, or was barred by fallen trees and deep piles of sand, the lights from John's Rover in front barely helping.

‘This is bloody impossible,' yelled Ann as they crashed over another log. ‘Can't see a thing. Get a torch.'

Connor shone the torch from the passenger window. But it was little help.

Madi shouted to Connor to hand it back to her. ‘I'm light, I could go on top and shine it down onto the middle of the road.'

‘Well, hang on,' said Connor, handing her the torch. Ann slowed as Connor helped Madi climb the small ladder onto the roof where she lay flat, one arm linked to the roof railing, the other shining the torch onto the track ahead. It was
only a pinlight of brightness but Ann yelled out it was doing the job.

They edged up the mountain, then began the descent, the slopes of the ravine dropping away on either side. Then away in the moonlight, glowing white against the jungle, Madi saw the small arch of a suspension bridge over a stream. The water moved slowly, glassy black, the near full moon lit the sandy bank like a luminous pearl.

‘Not long now,' called Ann. She could now drive by moonlight, and Madi climbed down into the Rover. Connor rubbed her aching back.

‘Having fun yet?' he asked in her ear. Madi was too tired to answer.

They followed the red tail-lights of John's vehicle as he gave a blast on the horn and turned left. Peering out of the side Madi saw a polished wooden signpost that pointed to
Guesthouse.

They'd arrived at their first official stop. Connor glanced at his watch. It was just on midnight.