Email:
Lespion@msn.com
Sawatis was a perfect
gentleman. “A little too
perfect,” Melissa mused. They
had been waiting for a week, sharing the cabin of the downed
aircraft. It would have helped
to break the boredom if the Mohawk had at least made a pass at her, but he
had kept strictly to himself. It
was not that he avoided her, the tiny cabin was too small for that, but he
remained absolutely correct.
“I know I’m not ugly,” she
thought. What is the matter with
the man?” She
sighed. What did it matter
anyway? If Sawatis had made a
move on her, she would have had to refuse him and that might make for strained
relations. Damn Western
morality! Why couldn’t he
just haul her off and have his way with her as had happened so often to
Larra? Rumor had it that her
mentor had been abducted and … well, subjected to certain
outrages.
She sighed again, this time so loudly that Sawatis gave her a sharp
look. She fetched him a shy
smile. “Who am I kidding?”
she thought. “I’d be
scared to death if any man ever tried to
…”
“Bored?” interrupted Sawatis.
“Don’t blame you.
There really is not much for you to do but
wait.”
“Aren’t you bored?” she
asked.
“A little, but I’m more used to living in these isolated conditions,
unlike a big city girl like yourself.”
Melissa looked at him closely to see if he was
joking. She decided he wasn’t
and picked up the book she had been
reading.
Fundamentals of
Archeology. It wasn’t really all
that interesting, being mostly about the identification of broken pottery
and such.
Sawatis got up. He was carrying
his rifle. “I think I’ll
see if I can find some fresh meat.
I’m getting a little tired of eating out of cans and
boxes.”
“So why don’t you take me?” Melissa
thought. Hunting sounded like
fun. At least it was better than
sitting around the cabin of the downed
aircraft. But she knew the
answer. Sawatis was the trained
woodsman. He could probably hunt
better without her than with her.
And she had to stay where she was to light the beacon fire, just in
case a search plane flew overhead.
She sighed again. “Have
a good time.”
“Thanks,” he said as he opened the door, letting in a waft of cold
air. “I should be back
soon.”
Melissa returned to her reading.
“If I’m here long enough,” she thought, “I’ll
know more about archeology than Larra.
Or maybe I’ll just know more about broken
pots.”
Two hours later, Sawatis had not returned, and Melissa was about to put down
her book. She had brought several
books with her on the trip, most of them unread, but she was getting bored
with reading about archeology. She
needed a change of subject.
Rummaging through her pack, she came up with a book she had been saving
for a special occasion. It was
Larra’s most recent book describing some of her discoveries on her last
trip to the Lost World. If it
was anything like her previous books, it should be pretty exiting reading.
She turned to the first page and read the inscription
“Dedicated
to my friend John Grey, and all my
loyal companions.”
Melissa smiled. She
was now a loyal companion. She
wondered who John Grey was. A
faint droning sound filtered through to her
brain. “That figures,”
she thought. “Just get started
on a good book and a mosquito shows
up.” Then she gave herself
a mental slap.
A mosquito, at twenty degrees below
freezing? She came out
of her seat with a rush. She
had to get the signal fire lit!
Matches and a small container of aviation fuel in hand, Melissa dashed over
to the pile of wood that she and the others had stockpiled as a signal
beacon. Quickly, she splashed
the fuel on the driest logs and then struck a
match. The fuel exploded into
flame, sending up a thin column of oily
smoke. Within a few seconds the
wood had caught as well, and large flames were soon shooting
skyward. Melissa added green
spruce boughs to the flames, and was rewarded with a thick column of heavy
smoke.
By now the sound of the plane was quite
distinct. Looking toward the
sound, Melissa caught a flash of silver in the
sky. Then suddenly the sound
of the aircraft changed as it changed
direction. In a few seconds,
she could see it quite clearly as it flew directly toward
her. The plane flew overhead,
and then described a wide turn before dropping and coming in on the frozen
lake.
Melissa jumped for joy. They
had been found. Now all she had
to do was direct the plane in the direction Larra and Lemaire had taken and
the entire party would be rescued.
The plane taxied right up to the edge of the
lake. Apparently, the pilot was
concerned about the thickness of the ice and wanted to be sure that the plane
did not break though. Leaving
the fire, Melissa dashed down to the shore to greet her
rescuers.
The plane halted, and a tall man wearing a heavy parka got
out. “Miss Gallant, I
presume.”
Melissa was a little surprised that the man knew her
name, and even more surprised that the man had an
upper class English accent, but she was too overjoyed at the thought of finally
being rescued. “Yes, I’m
Miss Gallant. I’m so glad
you found us. Now we can rescue
the others.”
The Englishman ignored her answer.
“Where is
“Oh yes, she is safe, but she is not
here. She and Lemaire are trying
to get to
“Yes, we can do that. Get
into the plane.”
“Oh, but we have to wait for Sawatis,” said Melissa pointing toward
the woods. “He’s out
hunting. But he must have seen
your plane. He should be back
very soon.”
“I said get in the plane.”
The icy sound of the Englishman’s voice made Melissa
turn, startled.
He was pointing a gun at her.
PREVIOUS
CHAPTER WIZARD'S
LAIR MAIN PAGE
L'ESPION'S
STORY PAGE
NEXT
CHAPTER