CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
An Auca on the Path
Friday a.m.!" Nate tapped out this opening on a borrowed typewriter in Arajuno, and continued: "This morning in Shell Mera as I was dressing in the bedroom adjoining the office-radio room, I heard Marj checking a message just received from Marilou McCully, who was holding down Arajuno alone while Ed helped in a conference ministry at Puyupungu. Marilou said she had rather sound reason to believe that Aucas were in the neighborhood.
"Two things flashed through my mind: first, the opportunity to make contact with them, then the danger that a shot by one of the local Indians would ruin all the efforts made up till now-and the consequent closing of the door that seems to be opening to us.
"While Mad got the message relayed to Ed down at Puyupungu, I was rolling the plane out of the hangar. Too much was at stake to hesitate. Also, the weather was threatening to sour to the north. The mission house at Puyupungu is about five minutes from the airstrip. I got to the airstrip about one minute before Ed. We returned to Shell Mera immediately. Then while Johnny gassed the plane, Marj and Ruth got some cargo and vegetables ready. Ed loaded, and I got some equipment together for the special nature of the expedition. I found that the little blank pistol I had just bought in Quito felt very nice in my pocket. It must be because I feel that it would surely break up an attack, yet I can feel confident of not accidentally hurting anyone with it. It also shoots tear gas cartridges, but as Ed notes, if there is an attack on and I get close enough to use tear gas ... well.
"The weather held okay until we got over the Arajuno headwater valleys. There, low ceilings pushed us down into the valley and within five minutes of Arajuno the clouds were on the mesas that line the half-mile-wide valley. I kept a weather eye on the valley behind, got a final look at the clear area beyond the edge of the overcast and weighed the alternatives. In case of trouble, I could spiral up to 5,000 and head southwest into the clear area five minutes away. I yawed the plane to check the turn-and-bank indicator, without which this maneuver would be impossible. It was okay. Light rain-heavier in patches-made us circle a time or two to get a good look ahead. We slipped across the ridge and down the other valley. In about another minute (these are the long kind of minutes that seem to last about five minutes each) we had the strip under us. We kind of figured the Aucas might have wanted to take a look at the plane on the ground, and, not having found it at Arajuno, they might have headed for home. We then circled several times to let the 'neighbors' know we'd come to welcome them. We landed around 8:30. As the bad weather moved southwest it became apparent that if we had delayed five or ten minutes we would have been too late.
"Walking from the strip to the house we wondered if we were being watched. Ed went ahead with both hands full. If they are looking for large steaks on long bone, they passed it up this time. I had one hand in my pocket nonchalantly flipping the safety on and off on my blank pistol, all the while wondering how far things should go before allowing a shot to signal the end of the whole operation. Again we felt the need of God's guidance and intervention in a special way.
"As we neared the house we heard a Christmas carol in Quichua. Ed explained that Marilou was rehearsing the local Indians for a Christmas program. When we got in the house, Ed took over for a few minutes and gave the locals a pep talk on 'How to win friends and influence people,' also exhorting the Indians regarding our Christian obligations to reach the Aucas with the Gospel. It would seem that at this point the measure of missionary zeal among these new converts would depend pretty much on who saw whom first and under what circumstances.
"The rehearsal for the Christmas program proceeded rather anemically a few minutes longer and was then dismissed. Ed politely asked the Indians to hit the road for home. But they hung around. Finally, Ed offered them candy if they'd go. They agreed. He gave the two leaders some special candy for extra bravery.
"When we were finally alone, Ed ambled into the living room like the friendly local patrolman and said to Marilou, 'Now get ahold of yourself, lady. Everything's going to be okay. All we want are the facts.' (The capacity of these guys to toss something like this into a serious situation is a great asset. It kind of double-clutches you into second gear when you've been pulling too hard in high.)
"It seems that at 5:40 A.M., Fermin, the Indian who has been sleeping in the schoolhouse to help guard while Ed is away, went down the path toward the chacra to take care of the exigencies of nature. When about as far as the pole that holds the model plane aloft, he spotted a man at the end of the path ... naked, with lance, and with hair tied up in a bun on the back of his head. As they saw each other the Auca ran into the forest. At 5:40 and ten seconds past, Fermin was calling at Marilou's window. Fortunately his gun (in the schoolroom) was not loaded and he needed powder and shot. Of course Marilou would not give him any. He was sure she had gone mad and proceeded to try to convince her with sound advice on how to take care of Aucas. He was genuinely pale and excited. It looked like the real thing.
"First Marilou took the empty gun from the poor fellow. Then, although she is seven months pregnant, Marilou took a machete for a gift and headed down the path calling 'biti miti punimupa' ... I like you ... like you. In between her calls she could hear Fermin calling after her in Quichua... 'You're crazy ... you're crazy ... they'll kill you first.' When she was two-thirds the way to the spot where the savage had been seen, Fermin and Carmela, the Indian girl who lives with Marilou to help in the house, both came running and caught up just in time for them all three to see a fresh wet footprint on a dry board across a little ditch. The print was headed toward the house. Across the path they found grass recently stepped on, leading to the forest. Marilou then tossed the machete on the fresh path, called out some more, and returned to the house. Half an hour later when the local witch doctor arrived for school, he accompanied Marilou to the spot. Finding no further indication of visitors, Marilou picked up the machete and they came back to the house. Carmela expressed a common feeling when she said she would have suspected that Fermin imagined seeing an Auca until she saw the footprint. When Marilou asked her if she was afraid she said she was only a little afraid, and that she was sure God would take care of them. Then Marilou heard Fermin call in to Carmela and ask if the Senora was scared. Carmela answered that as far as she could tell, she wasn't; to which Fermin answered that she would be when night came and he wasn't there to protect them. Marilou then asked him if he was going to stay that night. 'I will stay,' he said, 'if I have a loaded gun. Without a gun we will all be killed.'
"We talked things over while Ed prepared a machete and a pot the way we do when we deliver them at the 'neighborhood.' At 10:30 (still raining lightly) we paraded down the airstrip decked out in the feather headdresses they have given us on the line and calling in Auca phrases while waving the gifts over our heads. We must have looked like a couple of Don Quixotes in the role of Santa Claus delivering goodies to the trees.
"At 2:30 P.M., we made another safari down to the far end of the airstrip making our most unusual offer. Then we decided that evening would be the most probable time to contact them here so we'd fly down to the 'neighborhood,' count heads, and do tomorrow's drop today. We got ready and off, arriving over Palm Beach at 3:30. Spent about ten minutes there rechecking the beach. Dye and bandage ma terial still on the sand, although nearby playas seem to have been under water at some time since last week's visit. We rolled the wheels of the plane on the beach about seventy-five yards and then poured on the coal. The approach is really difficult, but the pull-out is good except for one narrow place, but that is a good way downstream. The whole site had a friendly look to us this time. We checked trees along the beach that might be suitable for the tree house and then took the three-minute trip over to the 'neighborhood.'
"We found our friends scattered, with no waiting traffic manager, making us think that maybe indeed we had gotten them on a sevenday week by the regularity of previous visits. We made a couple of low passes over the old man's house, taking movies in slow motion. One person showed up holding the same piece of material as last week. We dropped nothing. At the airplane house we found about four people around the house and platform and three up on the cleared hill. The fellow on the hilltop had on the red swimming trunks [an earlier gift]. We dropped him a small knife with appropriate ribbons and hurried on to the main house, since by now we were convinced that men were clearly missing, making it probable that the visit at Arajuno was indeed real.
"We made a couple of low passes taking movies and then pulled up and let out a pot on the line. The contents of the pot this week were little packages of food wrapped in banana leaves, beef, chocolate, manioc, cookies, candy, and some beads. They received these gifts and helped themselves to about twenty to fifty yards of line and tied on a gift. It was larger and heavier than any so far. We made tracks for Arajuno with it. We let it down, cut the line, landed, and hit out through the brush, trusting that any intelligent snake would know enough to get out of our way. (There's anti-venin in the plane.) The gift was a large black bird, apparently their chicken, in a basket cage reinforced with netting and a piece of bark cloth. We still haven't decided what to do with the bird. Also in the cage there was a spinner's distaff loaded with cotton yarn, a well-received gift.
"Evening and night in Arajuno..."