Tommy's Amazon Adventure

The flight back to the plantation was rough and tumble. The rain fell heavily and was accompanied by high winds which

buffeted their craft about. Even with their seat belts firmly in place all three had to hold on to a support so they wouldn’t be

thrown back and forth. Landing was very tricky; Dave had to maneuver in such a way that he used the wind currents to his

advantage. When he finally did manage to land it was a jarring landing; the craft plummeted the last ten to fifteen feet.

Tommy helped his uncle strap the helicopter down and refuel it while Dave rushed to a radio in the workshop where he

could monitor the search. When Uncle Mike and Tommy joined him about 30 minutes later they were told that, because of the

weather, all aircraft had returned to their bases.

“The search has been halted for the present.” said Dave. “As soon as the weather improves we’ll all be back up. In the

meantime, I’ll keep an ear tuned to the radio.”

About 3 that afternoon a message came that one airplane had returned to its search pattern and found the crash site.

The airplane was not able to land but a helicopter might. A position was given and Dave was asked how soon his helicopter

could be airborne. By then, the storm had abated somewhat and it was not raining at the crash site. Dave answered that

they could be in the air immediately and ran to tell Mike.

Again, Tommy was allowed to go along. In a little over a half hour they were in the location where the crashed plane had

been sighted. Five minutes later they saw light reflecting from metal on the ground and were able to see the path the plane

had taken as it plowed through the trees. The problem then became one of finding an open space in which the helicopter

could be landed. After 20 minutes of searching a small clearing was spotted a half mile from the crash site.

“We’ll have to hack our way through the jungle,” said Mike. “That could take a while.” He had a compass in hand to mark

the direction they would need to take.

In the meantime, Dave was on the radio advising the search coordinator of the situation. When they landed each of them

shouldered a pack containing emergency medical supplies. They also each carried a machete to cut their way through the

thick undergrowth. Tommy noticed that the men also strapped on a holstered revolver. He remembered to take his camera.

Passage through the jungle was extremely difficult. After more than an hour of working their way through dense foliage,

cutting through vines almost two inches thick, and trudging around an impenetrable swamp they arrived at the crash site. The

plane, a two engine cargo craft, was suspended in the branches of a large tree, about 20 feet above the ground. For some

reason it had not caught fire. Perhaps the pilot had had the presence of mind to switch off the gasoline supply to the engine.

Dave uncoiled a length of rope he had taken from hs pack and, after several attempts, looped it over a branch close to

the airplane. He then climbed, hand over hand, up to the branch. After scrambling around the wing of the aircraft and looking

inside the cockpit he called down to the others.

“The hatch covers are jammed shut; see if you can find something to use as a lever.”

There were many broken branches lying on the ground, sheared off from the plane’s impact. Mike used his machete on

one of them about two inches thick. He lopped off the smaller branches and then sharpened the end to a wedge shape.

When this was done he tied the branch to the rope Dave had used as a ladder.

A few minutes later Dave called down again, “Wow, wait until you see what I’ve discovered. It looks like the plane was

being used to smuggle drugs. There are hundreds of plastic bags full of white powder in the cargo section I’m going forward

now to check the cockpit.”

It was several minutes before Dave stuck his head out through a cockpit window and said, “there are two dead men here,

probably the pilot and the dealer or his representative. No signs of life and no other occupants that I can find. What do you

want me to do next?”

“I think the question is, should we just report what you’ve found, or should we destroy the merchandise?” was Mike’s

reply. “Knowing what we do about how drug rings operate we can’t be sure what would happen to the drugs. The person we

report to might be honest or might be part of the problem.”

“I see what you mean,” replied Dave. “I have an idea, let me think about it.”

Dave’s head disappeared from the window and they could hear him rummaging around inside the plane. When his head

reappeared he said, “I think I have an answer. What if the plane suddenly caught on fire?”

“How would that happen?” asked Mike.

“Simple, if the pilot had forgotten to turn off all the switches and a gas line had broken, sooner or later a spark would

ignite the gas. What do you think?”

“Go for it,” said Mike. “but get down out of there before it happens.”

“Okay,” was the response. Dave’s head again disappeared from the open window. Tommy and Mike heard him moving

about. They heard a tearing sound and a loud thump and then Dave scrambled down the rope.

“I suggest we move back,” said Dave. “When it goes it might be like a bomb.”

After removing the climbing rope they moved behind a large tree and waited for the event they were hoping would

happen. Dave was about to investigate when they heard a “whoosh” and suddenly the plane was engulfed in flames. As they

watched the entire craft was consumed. They heard several small explosions that sounded like shots. Dave remarked, “Stay

behind the tree, I forgot there were a couple of guns on board. It sounds like the bullets are being set off by the heat.”

In another half hour, except for a few tendrils of fire in the tree top, the fire had ceased burning.

“My turn to check things out,” said Mike. He looped their rope over another branch and climbed up to the airplane. “All I

see is two charred bodies in the cockpit and a gooey mess in the cargo area. It doesn’t look like anything can be salvaged.

Tommy, pass up your camera and I’ll take a few picture for the authorities. That should make it official for them. Then we’ll go

back to the helicopter and call in what we’ve found.”

When they returned to the helicopter Dave called the search center. “We found the plane. Apparently, there was a gas

leak and an electrical short as the plane caught fire shortly before we arrived. All we found was two dead bodies, any

identification papers must have been destroyed in the fire. Nothing we found was salvageable, perhaps a crew should come

in to investigate.” Before he signed off Dave gave the coordinates where the plane had crashed and also of the clearing

where they had landed the helicopter.

The flight back to the plantation was a quiet one. Tommy had all kinds of questions going through his mind but didn’t

know how to ask them. That evening, after dinner, Tommy asked his uncle to explain what Dave had done and why.

“Well,” began Mike, “it’s a long story. We’ve had a number of problems at several villages with so-called ‘drug lords.’

They’ve tried to recruit help from the villages and when they were opposed burned the villages to the ground. Complaints to

the government didn’t do any good. Either the village was too remote for the government to take any action or the

government officials are corrupted by the drug gangs and look the other way when anything happens. As a result villages

have banded together and found their own solution.

“That’s what we did today, and why we did it. It seems to be the only way we can fight them. We aren’t going to tell

anybody what we did and I hope you don’t tell anybody either. If the drug distributors found out, they might come here and

wipe us out. I can’t even tell my bosses.”

“I won’t tell a soul,” promised Tommy.

A few days later another incident happened that made Tommy even more aware that life n the jungle could be dangerous.

John, the cook, went fishing in the river. He caught several fish which he attached to a stringer. As he was reaching down to

remove the stringer from the water a crocodile’s jaw came crashing out of the water and clamped John’s leg in a viselike

grip. Fortunately, John had a revolver with him and shot the crocodile before it could pull him into the river. Even so, he came

staggering into camp with several deep lacerations on his leg.

Word spread quickly and several of the workers carried John to the infirmary. Then they sent for Olaf. When Tommy

heard the news he ran to the infirmary and was astonished to see Olaf bending over John using a needle and sutures to sew

up the wound.

“I didn’t know you were a doctor,” exclaimed Tommy.

“I’m not, but I haf had some training in medicine so I’m der vun dey send for ven dey need a doctor.”

Tommy noticed that, in spite of his size, Olaf was very gentle as he applied himself to the wounds on John’s leg. In a few

minutes the task was completed and a dressing in place. John, somewhat shakily, walked with assistance to his cabin.

The next few days were quiet ones at the plantation. Tommy wandered around and helped with different jobs as there

was a need.

Three weeks after his arrival Tommy suggested to his uncle that he was ready to go home. "Enough is enough of the

jungle,” he joked. “I think I’m a city boy at heart and need to get back to civilization.”

Arrangements were made for Tommy to fly to Manaus on the next supply run in two days time. Dave got on the radio and

talked to a representative of an airline in Manaus that had scheduled flights to New York. From Manaus he could make

connections for the rest of his flight home. Dave also talked to a telegraph operator in Manaus who promised to contact

Western Union to have a telegram sent to Tommy’s parents.

The trip home was uneventful. Within an hour after arriving in Manaus he was on the flight to New York. Other than his

luggage all Tommy was bringing home was a dollEND made from coconut husks. One of the women at the plantation had

made it for him as a good luck charm. He had been told that if he traveled without it misfortune would come his way. He

wasn’t about to risk that.

END