Daring-Do and the Cruise of the Celestia

by CloudCover

Chapter 1

“The trouble with Equestrian life is that nothing ever seems to happen. Even Search and Rescue flying is so tame I can’t get a kick out of it. No adventure, no daring, no nothing; just fly from here to there, looking for some lost colt and there you are. Seems a dull business to me; what do you think about it?”

The speaker paused and glanced moodily at her companion, as if seeking confirmation of these unusual statements. Slim and athletic, with a cutie mark of a compass, her carriage suggested a wariness that was half denied by the odd, wistful look on her tan, boyish face; tiny lines graven around the corners of her mouth and steady violet eyes gave her an expression of self-confidence and assurance beyond her years. Her voice was light and carefree, but carried a hidden note of authority, as in one accustomed to making decisions and being obeyed.

Her companion, also a pegasus, was about the same age, perhaps a trifle younger, but rather more stocky in build, his flank displaying a pair of fiery wings. His round, freckled face, surmounted by an untidy straw-coloured mane, carried eyes that twinkled humourously at the slightest pretext. There was little about either of them to show they had been two of the most famed treasure hunters in, or indeed anywhere near, Equestria. They were known among such circles as nearly unstoppable, and a death knell to the chances of any opposition.

The speaker was, in fact, Daring-Do, Member of the Order of Celestia, Fellow of the Equestrian Exploring Society, who had defeated Ahuizotl and reclaimed the Sapphire Stone, and more recently snatched the famed Griffon’s Goblet from a resting place of a thousand years. Veteran of thirty-five treasure hunts, she was known, at least by reputation, from Canterlot to Fillydelphia.

The other was her close friend and comrade, Buccaneer Blaze, more often simply known as Bucks, an ex-Wonderbolt, and a companion to Daring through much of her career.

“I agree,” he replied morosely, “but what can we do about it? Nothing! I expect we’ll get used to it in time.”

“I’ll pass out with boredom in the meantime,” replied Daring with conviction, “that’s why I suggested coming down here to see Brightma. She should be able to shoot us a good lead or two, something that might provide a little challenge, for a change.”

“Why in Celestia’s name do you call your aunt Brightma?”

Daring laughed. “I don’t know,” she replied. “I used to call my mother ‘ma’ when I was a filly, and when her sister Brighteyes came up to see her I just naturally called her Brightma. I’ve never called her anything else.”

“I haven’t seen her for years, because, as I told you, she’s an archaeologist and is very seldom in the country. Neither am I, for that matter, but we never seem to run into each other. Hearing she was back on one her rare visits, I thought I’d slip along and see the old gal while I had the chance, and I thought you’d like to come along too. She’s got an interesting collection of stuff from all sorts of out-of-the-way places.”

They walked slowly on down the leafy path towards an old, dark-timbered house, which they could now see between the trees.

“Well, there are times when I positively ache to hear a pressure plate go off,” went on Daring as they drew closer. “Sheer habit, of course-”

“Stick ‘em up!”

Daring stopped dead and stared, in wide-eyed amazement, in the direction from which the words had come. Bucks also stopped, blinked, and shook his head like a mud-wrestler who has just intercepted a rather large pig with the point of the jaw.

“Odd, dreams don’t usually come true quite so quickly,” muttered Daring.

“Quit squawkin’ and do as you’re told,” growled a coarse nasal voice with a downtown Manehatten accent. The speaker, a tall, sun-bleached stallion with a squint and a face that had been scarred in a fire, took a pace forwards to empathise his words. Held in his aura was a short, wicked-looking knife. “You heard me,” he went on, scowling evilly.

“Yes, I heard you,” replied Daring evenly, eyeing the speaker with interest, “but aren’t you making a mistake? This is civilised country, not Manehatten; and we have our own way of dealing with thugs, as you’re about to find out, I think. If it’s money you want, you’ve messed up, because I haven’t any.”

“I don’t give a flying feather about no money” snarled the stallion. “Trot back the way you came, pronto; you’re not welcome here.”

Daring looked at the Manehattenite coldly and sat down before the stone wall that bordered the path. “Let’s discuss this sensibly,” she said gently, and Bucks, having heard that tone of voice before, quivered instinctively in anticipation of the action he knew was coming.

“Talk nothing. On your feet, filly, and leave!”

Daring sighed wearily. “Well, you seem to have... what do you call it... the low-down on us,” she muttered. “Come on Bucks, let’s go. There’s a present for you,” she added as an afterthought to their aggressor, and with her left wing flicked a pebble high into the air above the stallion’s head.

It was an old, old trick, but, like many old tricks, it paid off. The stallion’s eyes instinctively lifted to watch the flight of the pebble, and he side-stepped to let it fall. But, even as his eyes lifted, Daring jumped closer, and delivered a powerful buck straight at the stallion’s head. She spun for another blow if it proved necessary, but relaxed, slightly put out at her opponent, already groaning on the floor. The knife had fallen to the ground, released from the stallion’s magic, and Daring, with a quick movement, picked it up and dropped it in her own saddlebags.

“Great jumping cats, I hope he won’t die after that!” gasped Bucks, hurrying across and looking at the battered state of the stallion’s face.

“Killed nothing!” cried Daring impatiently, pale with anger. “Anypony trying to make Equestria as unsafe as the places I’ve been gets no sympathy in my book. Not on your life. I don’t understand what this is all about, though; there’s something wrong here. I hope Brightma is alright, come, let’s get along.” And, without another glance at her fallen foe, she strode off quickly down the drive.

With Bucks at her heels, she reached the front door and jangled the great old-fashioned bell noisily. There was no reply. Again she pulled. “Anypony at home here?” she shouted, spitting out the bell chain.

The squeaking of a lattice window above them made them glance upwards, and the sight that met their eyes brought another shout from Daring. Pointing down at them were a pair of hunting crossbows, enveloped in a green-gold glow. Behind and dimly lit by them, they could just discern a face, the top half of which was obscured by a wild mane.

“Woah there! Don’t shoot! It’s me, Brightma!” yelled Daring, ducking.

“Throw yourself flat; you’re liable to be shot!” cried Brighteyes quickly. “I’m coming down.” The window slammed shut as Daring flung herself at full length on the dirt path, with Bucks beside her.

“When Brightma says lie down, I lie down. She’s not one to fool around, believe me,” muttered Daring anxiously.

Bucks grinned. “Not quite the picture of two upstanding citizens visiting family in the country,” he chuckled. “I’ve been thrown out on my ear before today, but I believe this is the first time I’ve gone in on it. If this how you visit your aunts, you might have warned me to wear some overalls. This is my best tie-”

The rattle of chains and the withdrawing of bolts inside the door cut him short. The great iron-studded oak portal swung open a few inches and a pair of deep-set eyes peered through he crack at them. “Quick, jump for it!” cried Brighteyes, and flung the door wide open.

Together the two pegasi leapt across the the threshold, and as the door slammed behind them, they heard a sharp twang and the dull thud of a striking bolt. Bucks, who had landed on a loose rug, skidded violently, and, after making a wild effort to save himself, measured his length on the floor.

“Can’t you even land without stunting?” grinned Daring.

Bucks groaned. “This is how you go about visits in your family?” he groaned, picking himself up and rubbing his haunch ruefully.

But Daring had turned to the elderly mare, who was bolting the door securely. “What’s going on, Brightma?” she cried in astonishment. “Have you turned this place into a madhouse? Never mind your knee, Bucks, meet Brightma, Brightma, meet Bucks, the stallion who’s managed to survive adventure after adventure more by luck than judgement.”

Bucks glanced up and found himself looking into a rugged, weather-beaten face, in which a pair of pleasant green eyes twinkled brightly. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am,” he said. “We seem have arrived at an entertaining moment.”

“You couldn’t have arrived at a better time,” replied the old traveller quickly. “I’m badly in need of reinforcements. There are some gentlecolts outside who-”

“Hold ponies up at knife-point,” broke in Daring.

“How do you know?”

“One of ‘em tried it on us.”

“The rascal! What did you do?”

“Straight buck to the face.”

“Splendid!” cried the old mare enthusiastically. “I hope he liked it. But you must be hungry. Come and have some food and I’ll tell you all about it.

“You are going to find it hard to believe the story I am about to tell you,” went on Brighteyes when they had pulled up their chairs in the old, oak-panelled dining-room to a rather frugal meal of hay and pickles. “In the first place, you had better understand I’m under seige.”

Daring nearly swallowed a pickled onion in trying to speak. “Seige?” she managed to gasp. “By who?”

“Wait a moment; don’t be so impatient,” interrupted Brighteyes. “I trust it will not be necessary to use them, but I’ve taken the precaution of bringing in from the trophy room what weapons I have available. From time to time I let fly at one of the trees with the arbalest in order to encourage the enemy to keep at a distance.”

The two adventurers followed his eyes to the wall, upon which hung a worrying large variety of objects with a common theme of extreme sharpness.

“But why on earth didn’t you call up the Guards?” cried Daring in amazement.

“Because it wouldn’t be the slightest use,” replied Brighteyes gravely. “I’ve always been a little shoddy at the whole communication branch of magic anyway. But I’ll tell the story if you listen.”

“Go ahead Brightma. I won’t interrupt,” said Daring apologetically.

The old explorer filled a well-worn hardwood pipe, and when she got it going to her satisfaction she continued.

“The story really begins some years ago. As you know, I’ve spent my life exploring off-the-path parts of the world, but chiefly in the mountainous south, the old llama kingdoms, what is now Coltombia. I have long held the opinion that this ancient civilization extended much farther eastward than is generally imagined. The reasons I had for thinking so we do not need to go into now, but once when I was in Canterlot I read a lecture before the Society in which I stated these views, and to my disgust I was made to look a fool. The newspapers joined in the chorus of jeers,and that made me rather angry, especially as none of my critics had even seen the country.

“Well, to make a long story short, I went back to the Matto Grosso, which is a province that occupies most of the vast hinterland of Coltombia, stretching to the southern mountains, determined to find proofs. I found them, too; in fact, I found rather more than I bargained for.” The old explorer leaned forward dramatically. “I was on the trail of Atahuallama’s treasure,” she whispered. “The vast treasure of gold and gems that was being taken towards Cuzcolt by thousands of terrified nobles to appease the dragon that had settled there, holding Atahuallama, their Prince, hostage in his own palace.

“You probably know the story of how Pizzaro, the dragon, coolly murdered his captive, and the prince’s people, upon hearing the news, turned about and hid the treasure so effectively it has never been found, despite thousands of attempts that have been made to locate it. There is no doubt about the existence of the treasure, but I must admit it was certainly not in my mind when I discovered the first clue.

“What was it?” muttered Daring involuntarily.

Brighteyes rose, crossed the room, opened a drawer in a desk, and returned with a rough oblong shaped piece of metal, which she flung on the table with a dull crash. “Gold,” she said tersely, “solid gold; and I picked up in a place where the, ahem, experts say no llamas ever came. I followed up the clue and found other things. Frankly, I was surprised. I always thought was more likely to father north, nearer Cuzcolt.” Brighteyes looked long and searchingly across the gardens, taking care not to expose herself, before she continued.

“Unfortunately, I hired some very dishonest helpers. Porters are always difficult to obtain in the south at any time, and they are always unreliable. I had four ponies and a mule, named Stinking Pool, the worst of the lot; a coward, a thief and a liar. He is outside in the park at the moment.

“Well, let’s go and deal with him,” suggested the practical Daring instantly.

“Impossible,” declared Brighteyes. “It would be assault, or, even worse, murder. The Princesses take a rather unforgiving view of that sort of thing.”

“Hmm. I suppose you’re right,” agreed Daring reluctantly.

“These rascals,” continued Brighteyes, “decided they could turn a better profit without me and deserted, taking all their food and stores with them, and there was little to be had there. I won’t trouble you now the harrowing details of my trip home, or how I was found almost dying of starvation by a rubber collector and taken down the river in his canoe, and then to Mahorse, which, as you know, is a large town on the Xena, the great river that runs the length of the country.”

“Imagine my surprise, when I got there, to find an expedition just leaving to recover the treasure, led, if you please, by Stinking Pool, my late porter, and a Manehatten wastrel named Wily Card. I was too ill with fever to do anything, but I was nearly fit again when the expedition returned. It had failed, and for the simple reason that, while Stinking Pool knew roughly the location of the treasure, he did not know the exact spot, and it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. At first I was mildly amused, but that turned to alarm when they tried to kidnap and force me to divulge my secret.”

“I had thought, while recovering, of forming another expedition, but I quickly discovered it was out of the question. Apart from the fact that the ponies I engaged were promptly bribed by the enemy to disclose my plans, it became clear that my life would not be worth a single bit if I ventured far from civilization. Indeed, so desperate did matters become that I had no alternative but to flee the country. That’s what it amounted to, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.”

“I was puzzled for a long time to know how this gang, for it is nothing less, managed to get enough money to pay for all this, but by employing their own methods, that is, by a little bribery, I discovered they had two of the wealthiest ponies in Coltombia backing them. These two handle all the rubber from the upper Xena, which is one of the biggest exports of the country, and for this reason they are known locally as the Rubber Barons. Quite apart from the treasure, they dislike me personally because they know I know the methods they used to become so rich, and it amounts to slavery when all’s said and done.”

A partly muffled scuffling from downstairs revealed that the opposing party had dared an attempt on the house. The pegasi leapt to their feet, but Brighteyes retained an utterly unconcerned expression.

“The pantry window is an obvious blind spot. Rather too obvious. You haven’t yet seen my collection of foreign, and very interesting, weaponry. I really need to re-organize that, it could be dangerous for somepony,” she said idly.

A series of crashes and yells, followed by the sounds of a rapid retreat, indicated that said weaponry had become a little more disorganized.

“Anyway, I sent you a courier to say I was on my way home. I was astonished again when, within a week, I saw Stinking and Wily Card in the park. I narrowly escaped, but I managed to get back to the house, missing a couple of hairs on my tail. The next move was when they tried to get into the house at night. I nailed up the windows on the ground floor and got my crossbows out. I am a mare of few wants, and the small staff I had left me, thinking I was insane. I had to let them go; it was not much use trying to explain the position to them. And that’s how things stand at the moment. I am here alone with those villains in the park. You see, even if I could get out and ask for protection, they would just fade away, and return when everypony had left again. What can I do?”

“I tried to escape, but each time they drove me back, for these rogues do not hesitate to use their weapons. So there we are,” concluded the old mare with a grim smile.

“Well, if anypony except you told me that tale I should say he was off his rocker,” declared Daring emphatically, “but, knowing you, I can only say I am glad we’ve flown up to lend a hand. We shall even things up a bit, I hope. What do you think of it, Bucks?”

“Same as you,” agreed Bucks decisively. “But what are we going to do about it?”

“It’s difficult to see what can be done about it,” admitted Brighteyes. “I don’t feel like being run out of my own house, but at the same time I feel even worse about living as a cat in a tree with a terrier at the bottom.”

Daring nodded. “I think you’re right there,” she agreed. “The obvious plan that occurs to me is to go out and let these toughs have a dose of their own medicine, but that, as you say, might only lead to complications. The alternative seems to be to get away and lie low; they might clear off when they discovered you’re gone.”

“Yes, but they’ll certainly try to follow me, and this state of affairs would only be repeated elsewhere. The ideal thing would be to give them the slip entirely and get back to the south while they are looking for me here.”

“The south? Out of Equestria again?” echoed Daring with a trace of a grin.

“Of course. Where else? I certainly do not propose to abandon my quest altogether on account of a bunch of cut-throats.”

“Going back into the frying pan sounds like a grim proposition to me,” muttered Daring doubtfully.

“I do have friends there, as well as enemies,” replied Brighteyes.

“Well, you please yourself, but I should feel inclined to leave it alone if i were you,” advised Bucks. “After all, Daring claims you have plenty of money. Why risk everything to get more?”

Brighteyes shrugged her shoulders. “It really isn’t how much the treasure is worth that appeals to me; it is the historical value of what I know exists there. We still know almost nothing about the llamas and what happened to them.”

“I see,” replied Daring slowly. “Well, if you are determined to go back, the thing is to think of the quickest way of getting out there, getting the treasure, and then getting back.”

“Precisely!”

“Have you ever thought of flying?” enquired Daring, after a moment’s pause.

It was Brighteyes’s turn to start. “I have not,” she said emphatically, wiggling her entirely wingless back. “Most certainly I have not. Do you for one moment suppose I am likely to risk my neck in one of your crazy cloud chariots?”

“You might do worse,” retorted Daring, frowning. “I can’t understand ponies like you. You take the most outrageous risks with crazy collectors, poisonous reptiles, wild beasts, fever, and Goddesses know what else, yet you jib at the safest form of transport in the world.”

“But-”

“Never mind but,” broke in Daring. “It looks to me as if you haven’t much choice if you don’t want to be murdered en route. Dash it all, it seems to me the answer to the question.”

“I couldn’t see anypony pulling a chariot over those mountains, even in the air.”

“Dash the mountains. I’m not flying over them myself, so you needn’t worry about that. We could fly to Appleloosa, put the chariot in a storage cart, and take the train over the mountains. We’d fly onwards when we were past.”

“Why do you say ‘we’?”

“We three. Who else?”

“Then you’d come?”

“Of course we’d come. I was only saying to Bucks as we came up to the house I was about sick of loafing about. This sounds interesting enough to me.”

“I don’t know what to think about it,” muttered Brighteyes anxiously. “I think the best thing would be for you to work out a definite plan of action for the whole trip. Then we’ll talk about it, and see if it seems doable. How’s that?”

“Fine! But first you’d better tell me a few things about the Matey Grocer-”

“The Matto Grosso.”

“Sorry. Well, tell us about it, so that Bucks and I can see if we’ll need anything special.”

“Very well, the atlas is in the library, and the windows there have a better view of the grounds, in case our besiegers try any funny stuff.”

“They won’t find it so funny if they do,” growled Daring as they made their way to the long, low, oak-panelled room which was used as a library.

“The Matto Grosso,” began Brighteyes when they had made themselves comfortable, “is nominally a province of Coltombia. Actually it takes up the vast majority of the the explored south. To the north lies the Xena, the mountains, and Equestria. To the west, the even greater range of the llama homeland, and to the south another vast tract of entirely unexplored territory. It is hard to describe the sheer extent of the place. It is nearly twice as large as Equestria, with many unknown parts. It is possibly the wildest country in the world today. There are plains and forests larger than the Kingdom of Canterlot, and inhabited by tribes of wild ponies, some of whom have not yet even heard of the Princesses. The grazing is poor, but it is a rich land nonetheless, rich in precious metals and gems, as well as rare plants. The greatest wealth of the settlers has come from the rubber, which, as you know, is collected from the trees which exist near the banks of the rivers, which are the only highways for us earth-bound folk.”

“They’d be the only places to safely land a chariot, too,” mused Daring. “What are the weather conditions like?”

“It’s all wild of course, even over the larger towns. On the uplands it can be cold at night but, being in the tropics, the days are usually very hot. Storms of rain greater than any pegasus screw-up sweep across the country in the monsoon season.

“Any wild beasts, lions or things like that?” asked Bucks anxiously.

Brighteyes laughed. “No lions,” she said. “Plenty of other dangerous creatures, jaguars and less familiar things. The rivers are full of crocodiles, and pirahnas are found in many places.”

“I can see I shan’t do much swimming,” muttered Daring with a grimace. “I suppose there’ll be snakes as well?”

“Oh, yes, you’ll find snakes everywhere, both on the land and in the water, including some of the largest in the world. They often run upwards of seven metres in length. I could tell you some queer stories about snakes,” mused the old explorer reflectively.

“You shouldn’t, not unless you me to change my mind about coming,” interposed Daring.

“The snakes don’t really matter; one soon gets accustomed to them,” went on Brighteyes. “The real pests are the insects, and they do scare me, I must confess. There are so many of them. There are bees which do not sting, but make your life a misery by crawling all over you, into your eyes, ears, nostrils and even mouth.”

“We can fly higher than they can,” observed Daring confidently.

“You might, but they’ll be waiting for you when you land,” said Brighteyes drily. ”The ants are the worst. They are everywhere in countless myriads, in all colours and sizes. Sometimes they march about in columns, and sometimes they work independently, but they are always on the rampage. I don’t know which are the worst, the big saubas, which are over an inch long and bite like a manticore, or the cupim, which are the notorious white ants and the most destructive creatures in the world. Nothing is safe from them. Leave a pair of saddlebags on the ground and they will be gone come morning, carried away in thousands of tiny pieces. They eat the entire middles out of trees, which is one of the reasons trees are always crashing down in the forest. You must never forget that the ant, not they give you much chance of forgetting them, for they are the real rulers of the country.”

“Then there are the piums, tiny beasts worse than mosquitoes which squirt a sort of acid into your eyes, and the polvoras- the name really means ‘powder,’ because they are so small. They fly about literally in billions and sting you all over. Worse still perhaps, is the little horror known as the carrapato, which is a flat beast the size of a quill-tip. It has unbelievable clinging powers by means of the hooks on its feet. Its great goal in life is to stick its head under your coat and suck your blood. The trouble is, you can’t get it off. If you pull it the head breaks off and sticks in your skin, makes for a nasty sore.

Brighteyes paused to let her words sink in.

“Any more horrors?” asked Bucks.

“Plenty,” replies Brighteyes, grinning. “There are the carrapatinhos, which are the younger a perhaps more active brothers of the carrapatos?”

“Don’t tell me about them,” broke in Daring quickly.

“Sounds a good place for a picnic,” observed Bucks drily.

“Tell me this,” asked Daring: “what are our chances of landing near the treasure? I mean, is there a flat plain, or river nearby where the chariot could get down?”

“And however would you plan to land a chariot in a river? I’m afraid that will be the only option, there’s no flat ground for some distance.”

“Not a problem, Brightma. We attach a drifter, which is rather like a large fabric balloon, to the underside of the chariot, and it floats, just like that.”

“Then I should think that the rivers would be the safest places to land, but you will have to wary of waterfalls, rapids and a whole plethora of dangerous creatures. In any case, in order to reach the place we should have to fly up the river, at least as far as Mahorse, which is the best part of a thousand miles from the edge of the mountains, in order to be as near as possible to our destination with a full load of stores. I have a contact there who should have supplies ready for us by the time we arrive if I send a note now. You must understand there is absolutely nothing anywhere else, nothing except what i have told you. There are no settlements or places where food can be obtained, besides foraging in the jungle”

“I should tell you, the actual treasure is on, or rather in, a hill. I’ll explain the deatils, then you’ll get a better grasp of the whole thing.” Brighteyes refilled her pipe and settled a little deeper in her chair before attempting to continue. She was interrupted by more sounds from the depths of the house.

With a faint smile of amusement, she gestured for the others to sit again. “If one of these thugs was a little brighter than the others, as I suspect my friend Wily Card to be, he might have found the passage leading from the ice-house to the cellar. Have I mentioned my collection of snakes? Poor things, they don’t like our dry air. I find it helps to keep them somewhere damp. None of them are very poisonous, but it can be hard to tell in the dark.

A faint scream seemed to confirm this theory.

“I was exploring a tributary of the Madeira River, which in turn is a tributary of the Xena, travelling, of course, by canoe. The difficulties of travelling overland are almost insurmountable. I had four porters with me, as I have told you, and a pretty lot of cutthroats they were. I had already overheard them discussing the possibility of making off with my kit, and you can readily imagine that travelling in these circumstances becomes a bit of strain. We were in an interesting stretch of country. If you look at the maps of the district, such as they are, you will see mountain ranges dotted about. They are usually shown in the maps many miles from where they really are; indeed, I came to the conclusion years ago that most of the physical features on the maps are just stuck in the map-makers for decoration.”

“I had wandered away along such a range of mountains and came to the side of a steep cliff, which rose perhaps a thousand feet or so above the small stream along which I was walking. As far as I know, no living ponies had been there before, the nearest being the Bororo, who at that time had an encampment about a hundred miles to the north. These wild tribes are nomadic. They burn the undergrowth, dig the earth, plant their corn, being all earth ponies, and then, as the jungle closes in on it, as it does astonishingly quickly, they move on the a new place. They wear big macaw feathers in their manes, and are altogether unwelcoming to outsiders. I was quite glad I was some way away and that I was in a district where, as far as I knew, they never came.”

“I was just passing a big fissure, or crack in the rock, when my eye fell on something that grabbed my attention. It was a rock carving, quite small and simple, the sort of design a schoolfilly might make with a hoof while idly waiting for somepony. I took a closer look at the design and nearly let out a yell, for the design, which represented a pair of stars, was characteristically of Llama origin. It was definite proof of my theories, as it showed conclusively that at least one llama had come as far westward as this spot. I trotted around looking for more, but in vain, and I thought that something might be found in the cleft itself, so in I went. The first thing I stumbled on was a piece of pottery, also unmistakably of llama manufacture. Horn-lighting my way, I advanced, and soon picked up a copper spear. That settled it, for the llamas were the only race to discover the secret of tempering copper to a steel-like hardness.”

“As you can imagine, I began to see I was on the track of something. The cleft had by this time widened out into quite a cave, and I went on slowly. Then i saw a small oblong article lying at my feet. I picked it up, and when i felt its weight I didn’t have to look to see what it was.” Brighteyes leaned forward dramatically.

“Gold,” she whispered, “a lump of solid gold. It was, in fact, the piece I have already shown you. Then I got a rather nasty surprise. The cave came to an abrupt end. Side to side, floor to ceiling was a wall that had obviously been built by hooves. It was formed of great blocks of stone, slotted together without mortar, and fitting so tightly you couldn’t get a hay-stalk between them. Only one race in the world could do that. Llamas. The ruins of Cuzcolt abound in walls and buildings which are constructed in the same way.”

“Well, there it was. What lay behind the wall? I didn’t know, but I could guess. Obviously they hadn’t built a wall like that just for fun, no matter how odd llamas seem to have been. No, it hid something the builders were eager to hide, and the bar of gold I had found told its own story. Perhaps they had left a guard at the entrance while they were working, and that guard, in a fit of absent-mindedness, had carelessly left a mark which betrayed the secret.”

“Trembling with excitement, I hurried back to the entrance to of the cave. It was nearly dark outside, I had been in there longer than I thought. However, I reached camp and found things in a serious state; my porter were having one of their regular mutinies, but one glance showed me it was worse than usual. Stinking came up to me with a nasty frown on his face and told me he wouldn’t go on any farther; they wanted their pay and were going home. I gave them their money and told them they could get off as soon as they liked and I hoped they enjoyed being ambushed by the natives. That was the usual way I met their demands, and from experience I knew perfectly well that when it came to the pinch they wouldn’t go, because with out me they knew they had a jolly poor chance of getting through.”

“Then things went bad. I was taking off my saddlebags, to wash, when the material, rotten with the damp heat, broke under the weight of the gold which was in the pocket and the lump of yellow metal fell to the ground. Stinking broke off in the middle of a sentence and stared at it, transfixed. Then he dragged his eyes away and looked at me. He knew what it was, for I saw a look of greed and hatred in his eyes. I picked it up carelessly, as if it were nothing important, but it didn’t deceive him, and soon after I saw him in earnest conversation with the others. I was in a pretty pickle, and I knew it. It was out of the question to think of breaking down the wall in the cave, for the scoundrels would never now let me out of their sight, and if they saw what I suspected was behind that wall, my life wouldn’t be worth a bit. Luckily they didn’t know where the place was, but they knew I did. What to do, I didn’t know, but finally I slung my hammock, as usual, some distance from them and rested to think it over.”

“I slept with one eye open, as the saying goes, I had become pretty adept at it. I wasn’t in the least bit surprised when, just after midnight, I saw a dark shadow crawling towards me in the moonlight. As it came nearer I saw it was Stinking, his mouth twisted by a knife he held in his teeth. Pretending to be sound asleep, I felt quietly for my weapon and let him come on. I waited until he was about ten yards away, and then, with a shout, I sprang from the hammock. He jumped to his hooves and would have bolted like the coward he was, but I was furious and fetched him a blow to the face. The knife flew out of his mouth, and he started babbling, but he picked himself up and ran off moaning. I let him go, what else could I do? I couldn’t make a prisoner of him in such a place, and even then I wasn’t angry enough to actually consider killing him.”

“I heard a commotion as he reached the others and then the sounds of weapons, crossbows and spears, being readied- they had made sure they were armed as protection against the dangers of the jungle. I called out to them that i would shoot the first man who showed himself before daylight, and, thinking I would be as good as my word, they drew off, muttering. As you can well imagine, I didn’t have much sleep for the rest of the night, but towards morning I must have dozed off, for when I opened my eyes it was near daylight. I thought everything sounded very quiet; there was none of the usual grumbling and moaning of the porters loading the canoe. I was soon to discover the reason. They had gone, and that was not all. Gone, too, were all my stores, everything except my saddlebags and hat. I was alone in the forest, more than five hundred miles from the nearest point of civilization. I don’t mind admitting I was pretty well stunned for a bit, as I had no delusions about what that meant. I thought I was a goner, and that’s a fact. Death from starvation or in a dozen other ways stared me in the face. If you have ideas about reaching out and picking bananas or coconuts in the south, forget it. What few edible fruits and nuts exist are only on the tops of the trees, where the birds and monkeys alone can reach them. Those that fall to the ground are immediately carried away piecemeal by the ants.”

“By a marvelous piece of luck I had with me a fair amount of food. I manged to survive on that and what leaves and grasses I chanced across. You’ll believe me when I tell you that my adventures on the rest of that trip, which took nearly six months, would fill a book. What with fever and hunger, I often went days on ends with nothing past my lips, I was not exactly a pretty specimen when I was discovered by a rubber collector and taken to his hut. As soon as I was able to get on my feet I made my way slowly down the river to Mahorse. There, as I told you, I got another shock when I discovered my late carriers and two Manehattenites, Wily Card and a new villian, a pegasus mare called Drizzle, setting off to find the treasure. They failed, and the rest you know. The point is, what is the next move?” concluded Brighteyes.

Daring pondered deeply for a few minutes. “Frankly, I see no reason why this trip to the Mater Grasso-”

“Matto Grosso,” corrected Brighteyes again.

“Sorry. Well, I don’t see why it shouldn’t be undertaken by sky, but the carriages can be quite pricey.”

“It would cost that anyway,” declared Brighteyes. “On my last trip I spent thousands of bits on equipment. Why, I had to pay my porters ten bits a day, and feed them, and food up there costs its weight in gold.”

“All right then,” said Daring conclusively, “If your willing to hoof the bill I’ll tell you what we’ll do. I’ll get away from here after dark, leaving Bucks to help you to hold the fort, so to speak. You give me an open cheque on your bank and some money for expenses, and I’ll buy a four-seater amphibian, so we can all fit inside if we have to, and the rest of the equipment we are likely to require. I’ll look up Shamrock, he’s been part of my crew before, and is an expert on the carriages, and get him to come with us. I don’t think he’ll need much persuading. I’ll have the carriage shipped over the mountains, and Shamrock can go with it. Then I’ll come back here in a hired chariot, arriving about dawn, and pick you up in that long meadow at the end of the garden. I ought to be able to get back here in a week.”

“The night before I’m due to arrive, you and Bucks pack up here, and you creep out to the edge of the field, and lie hidden. As soon as I touch the ground, break cover and jump on. I’m not the strongest flier, but there won’t be anytime for Bucks to hook up, and hopefully we should be away before Stinking and his toughs spot the game. The advantage of flying is they wont know which way we’ve gone, won’t be able to track us. Once in the air, we’ll return the machine and take the Express to the mountains. As soon as we get there we’ll assemble the carriage and head in a beeline for Mahorse. Make sure your agent there will have supplies ready for us. How’s that?”

“As far as nigh-suicidal expeditions that I haven’t been asked about go, it sounds good to me,” grudgingly agreed Bucks.

“Splendid,” said Brighteyes, grinning. “It would give me the greatest pleasure to outwit these villains after all. When do you propose to start?”

“Tonight. We’ve decided to go with this, so there’s no point in wasting time. The sooner we get on, the better; besides, you’ll be running out of food, I expect.”

Brighteyes said grimly, “I hope neither of you have the idea that this is going to be altogether a picnic. Knowing what I know about the south, I should say there are exciting times ahead.”

Even so, she little guessed just how exciting they were to be.