Chapter 7.
I awoke with a start and jumped up. I knocked my head on something and fell back to the ground. After rubbing my sore head for a few seconds I opened my eyes. I was under a small bush. From one side of the bush grew a tree. Only a metre off the ground was a branch and I looked at it venomously as I guess it was responsible for the large lump on the back of my head. The tree was of a sort I had not yet seen in the Amazon. It had papery bark and branched jutted out at intervals of about a metre. The tree was nearly as high as the other trees of the lower canopy. For a while I stared at the tree until a bird call startled me. I turned around to see a Toucan barely 3 metres from me, sitting on the branch of a tree similar to the one I was just looking at. It was looking away from me, at a point about 40 metres away. It called out again and I wondered whether it was normal for Toucans to call out a lot. It seemed wary of something and slowly edged its way towards the trunk of the tree. It was now looking at a point only 20 metres away. I realised that what it was looking at was getting closer and it definitely wasn't friendly. I got to my feet and tried to see what was coming. The vegetation was dense as there was lots of light in this part of the forest. I backed away slowly and very slowly started to climb the tree I had first seen. All the while I kept my gaze on the area that was scarring the Toucan. I still could not see anything even though I was almost five metres off the ground. I kept climbing until I reached about 10 metres. I stopped and made my way around the trunk of the tree to hide from the oncoming creature.
Suddenly there was a gun shot and the Toucan fell to the ground. I nearly fell out of the tree from shock when I heard the gun shot. I put my back against the tree and pulled myself totally out of view. I heard laughing but I pressed myself against the tree even harder than before. I closed my eyes and breathed in slowly. I tried to reassure myself that I was not going to be caught and eaten by primitive Amazon cannibals but I couldn't bring myself to look. The laughing came quickly closer and soon I could sense somebody below me. I knew there were at least 2 people and from the sound perhaps even three. Suddenly I remembered, Amazons don't have guns! These couldn't be primitives, or other wise they would have used a spear! I sighed in relief and laughed silently at myself. I relaxed my grip on the tree and climbed around to meet the people.
I nearly fell out of the tree with surprise! Below me were four black people. They were dressed as most natives were and carried spears as well as guns! As soon as they saw me they shouted out and their leader brought his gun to bear on me. I yelped and dived out of the tree just as he fired. His gun was a rifle and the bullet caught me in the left shoulder, spinning me around. I hit a branch as I fell and blood flowed from a deep cut in my back. I fell to the ground nearly ten metres from the tree and straight away got up. I ran as fast as I could, which, in my present condition, wasn't very fast at all. The natives were easily catching up. I crashed through the bushes, skimming large trees and clipping smaller ones. It was only a minute later when one of the natives fired a shot at me and scraped my leg. I kept running, zig zagging to keep my hunters from getting a good shot. In less than five minutes I was struggling to stand up and I could here the river in front of me and the natives behind me. I stumbled and fell to my knees, startling a bird into flight above me. I cursed myself and scrambled to my feet just as two of the natives crashed through the bushes just a few metres from me. I cried out and leapt as hard as I could through a bush next to me. Gun fire followed me and the bush around me erupted with smoke. I landed softly on the ground. I took another leap and this time the ground moved from under my feet. I cried out and landed heavily on my side. The hunters came crashing through the bushes and nearly followed my lead. Their leader fired of a shot and hit a branch above me, breaking it off and sending it crashing to the ground in front of me. I kicked it out of the way and found myself falling head first down a steep cliff. I cried out and tumbled down.
SPLASH! I fell into a river. The force of the fall winded me and I inhaled a mouthful of water before I knew what was happening. I floated to the surface, only to be pulled under by the current. I was turning red and knew that I had but seconds to live. I struggled with my last strength to reach the surface. I reached the surface just as a half-submerged boulder appeared. I crashed into it and winded myself again. Water poured out of my mouth and a gash in my side tore open, turning the river around me red. The current was pushing me against the rock so hard I didn't even have to stand to stay afloat. I drew in a few breaths of air, coughing out the last of the water as I did so. I sudden surge in the current pulled me away from the rock and back into the wildly twisting river. I crashed through the rapids and more than once got a mouth full of water. But slowly the rapids got smaller, and in only a minute the river widened to about 200 metres. The water slowed down and I managed to pull myself ashore. I spread myself across the bank to catch what little light there was. I coughed up the last of the water and relaxed, glad in the thought that nothing else could possibly happen that hasn't already. I relaxed and found myself drifting into a hunger pained sleep.