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I handed the note to the boy and asked him to deliver it to the two gentlemen.

Half an hour later Karl appeared. ‘What’s with you guys? Why the hell didn’t you come down to the river?’

‘What for?’ Kevin asked.

‘We have to check the raft’s buoyancy with all four of us on it. Besides us, we’ll still need another two Indians to represent the weight of our provisions and equipment,’ Karl explained.

Kevin apologised. ‘We didn’t understand the kid. He didn’t tell us that you needed us.’

‘Well, no big deal.’ Karl smiled congenially.

We walked to the river with him and boarded the raft. The logs were a bit paler than they had been but still green. The raft was heavy. It sat too low in the water and was clumsy to handle.

‘No good,’ Don Jorge said. ‘You have to wait longer.’

‘I don’t have a lot of time,’ Karl said with evident concern. ‘We may not have any choice but to walk back to Apolo.’

‘There is another alternative.’ Don Jorge said. ‘On the other side of the village my brother’s neighbour has four strong, dry balsa logs. Go see him. If he’ll sell them to you, we can add on the dry logs, two on each side, and they’ll make a big difference.’

We all went back to the cabin. I hurried in ahead of Kevin to get dibs on the bed. Kevin accepted defeat and sank down on the straw mat. Karl went