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the raft, you have to listen to me and do just as I tell you.’

I’ve replaced one tyrant with another, I thought to myself, though I knew he was right. I had been silly, but it was only to hide my fear.

Karl was up first as usual and roused the rest of us. He wanted to get an early start.

The atmosphere was fraught with tension. Marcus fussed with his backpack. Karl joked around a bit, trying to get his spirits up, without a great deal of success. Finally they were ready, each with his pack on his back. Karl had the shotgun, and a knife dangled from his belt in place of the machete he had left with us.

‘Well, that’s that. Time we were going,’ he said. ‘I’d rather walk on the opposite bank, since Yossi and I have already been a ways upriver on this side without coming across any traces of a trail. We might find one on the far side. So now would you be good enough to take us across the river on the raft so that Marcus won’t get his feet wet.’

‘That’s my only hope,’ Marcus said. ‘As long as my feet stay dry, I’ll be able to walk. If they get wet again, all of the skin will peel off.’

Once we had taken Karl and Marcus to the opposite bank of the Ipurama, we all shook hands. Karl commented jokingly that he hoped we wouldn’t be fishbait by this time tomorrow. Then he gave us a final warning: ‘Stay together, no