River Of Death

'Not really. A couple of canoe-loads of Indians approached us just after midnight. We turned the searchlight on them and they turned and headed back for shore.'

'No shooting?'

'None.'

'Good. Now, the big question tomorrow is the rapids that the Indians call the Hoehna.'

'Rapids?' Kellner said. 'There are no rapids shown on the chart.'

'I daresay. Nevertheless, they're there. Never been through them myself although I've seen them from the air. Don't look anything special from up there, but then nothing ever does. Much experience with rapids?'

'A fair bit,' Kellner said. 'Nothing that a boat hasn't navigated though.'

'I'm told boats have made it through the Hoehna.'

'So where's the problem? A hovercraft can navigate rapids that no boat made by man could ever hope to.'

Serrano said: 'Knowing you, Senor Hamilton, I thought you would have had us on our way by this time. A clear night. Bright moon. A beautiful night for sailing. Or is it "flying" in one of those machines?'

'We need a good night's rest, all of us. It's going to be a hard day tomorrow. The Hoehna rapids are less than a hundred miles away. How long to get there, Kellner?'

"Three hours. Less, if you want.'

'One does not navigate rapids by night. And only a madman goes there in the hours of darkness. Because of the Horena, you see.'

Tracy said: 'The Horena? Another Indian tribe?'

'Yes.'

'Like the Chapate?'

'They're not at all like the Chapate. The Horena are the Roman lions, the Chapate the Christians. The Horena put the fear of living death into the Chapate.'

'But you said the Muscias —'

'Ah! The Muscias are to the Horena what the Horena are to the Chapate. Or so they say. Goodnight!'

'Rapids!' Ramon called out. 'Rapids ahead!'

In the two and a half hours since the hovercraft's dawn departure the Rio da Morte, though flowing at a rate of about fifteen knots, had been almost glassily calm and, although visibility had been poor because of fairly heavy rain, no problems had been encountered. But now conditions had dramatically altered. At first indistinctly through the now sheeting rain, but then suddenly, frighten-ingly, and all too vividly rocks could be seen, some jagged, some curved, thrusting up from the river bed. For as far as the eye could see hundreds of them spanned the entire width of the river with white-veined, seething water coursing down between them. The hovercraft, throttled back to a point where directional control could just be maintained, was almost at once into this white and seething cauldron.

When Kellner had said that he had some little experience of navigating rapids he had been doing himself less than justice. As far as the untrained observer could see, he was masterly. He was positively dancing a jig at the controls. He no longer had the throttle pulled back but kept altering it between half and full ahead which, considering their speed, might have seemed foolhardy, but wasn't. By doing this and by ignoring the air ducts and maintaining the cushion pressure as high as possible he could all the more easily avoid making violent course alterations which would have slewed the hovercraft broadside and into disaster. Instead, he was deliberately aiming for and riding his hovercraft over the less fearsome rocks in his pat,..; Even here he had to be selective, searching out the more rounded rocks and avoiding the jagged ones which, at that speed, would have ripped even the abnormally tough apron skirts, leading to the collapse of the cushion and turning the hovercraft into a boat which would then have foundered in short order. One moment he was jerking the pitch control back, putting power on the left fan, then if this proved insufficient, applying right rudder to give him directional stability while only seconds later he had to reverse the procedure. His task was made harder by the fact that even the high-speed windscreen wipers were capable only intermittently of clearing the spray and rain.

Kellner said to Hamilton who was seated beside him: 'Tell me again about all those boats that were supposed to navigate the Hoehna.'

'I guess I must have been misinformed.' Further back in the hovercraft no-one spoke because all their energies were concentrated on hanging on to their seats. The general effect of the motion was that of a roller-coaster — except that this roller-boaster, unlike the fairground type, also shook violently from side to side.

Up front, Kellner said: 'Do you see what I see?'

Some fifty yards ahead the river appeared to come to an abrupt end. They were obviously approaching a waterfall of sorts.

'Unfortunately. What are you going to do about it?'

'Funny.'

The hovercraft was being swept helplessly along to what was indeed a waterfall. The drop in the river level must have been at least ten feet. Kellner was doing the only thing he could do — trying to keep the hovercraft on a perfectly straight course.