Judging by the appearance of the motors, that was true. Some were twenty years old, but all proved serviceable when attached to the loaded boats. The four boats that formed the strange flotilla started out at a slow but steady speed down the narrow jungle river that marked the first stage of a long, adventurous journey.
Each boat carried a crew of three. Biff and Kamuka were in one boat with Mr. Brewster. Jacome and a Wai Wai Indian were in another with Hal Whitman. The third boat was Nara’s, with Igo and Ubi as its crew. The fourth, which served as a kitchen boat and carried the food supply, was manned by three Wai Wai tribesmen.
The packs, which included tents and other equipment, were in the boats commanded by Mr. Brewster and Mr. Whitman. The ore from the mine was mostly in Nara’s boat, which squatted lower in the water due to its added weight. But it maintained the same speed as the other craft for the simple but sufficient reason that Nara had equipped it with the largest of his old-model motors.
The containers of gasoline were distributed among the boats, and all were careful not to waste any of the precious fuel. At times, they used the oars or let the current carry them. When they encountered channels that were narrow or shallow, they poled the boats through.
They were deep in the jungle when the river opened into a fair-sized lake, where Nara pulled his boat alongside of Mr. Brewster’s, to check the map again.
“This is one of the lagoons that connects with the Casiquiare Canal,” explained Nara. “Actually, the Casiquiare is an overflow from the Orinoco that reaches the headwaters of the Rio Negro, forming a link with the Amazon. But sometimes the canal backs up and flows the wrong way. The important thing is that it is always navigable, clear to the Orinoco.”
The job now was to work from one lagoon to another, through channels that would have been shown on the missing portion of Kirby’s map. Nara knew the route from memory, and fortunately he had been over it several times. But he still had trouble picking his way through a lot of lesser channels, and at times he called upon Mr. Brewster to check the course by compass.
“Taking a boat through a jungle,” declared Nara, “is just like going for a hike in the woods. First thing you know, you’re traveling in a circle. Only you don’t ever really know it, because wherever you are, it always looks the same.”
The more Biff thought that over, the more true it seemed. But when he discussed it with Kamuka, the Indian boy disputed the notion.
“One place is not like another,” declared Kamuka. “I look there, and I see so many trees. I remember them like picture. You show me another place, the picture is different.”