Forest of the Pygmies(23)

Once again Alexander felt how the tropical climate drained the body and produced a profound indifference in the soul. He missed the clean, invigorating cold of the snowy mountains he climbed with his father and loved so much. He knew that if he felt overwhelmed, his grandmother must be on the verge of a heart attack, but Kate rarely complained. She was not disposed to be defeated by age. She said that people betray their years when they get bent over and make old person sounds: coughing, hawking, creaking, moans. Which was why she always stood very erect and stifled any senior noises. The group practically felt their way forward as monkeys rained down projectiles from the trees. They had a general idea about the direction they should be heading in, but no notion of how far they were from the village. They suspected even less the kind of reception that awaited them.





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They walked for more than an hour, but they made very little headway; this was not terrain in which you could hurry. They had to cross through more than one swamp with water up to the waist. In one of them, Angie took a false step and screamed when she realized that she was sinking in quicksand and that her efforts to free herself were futile. Brother Fernando and Joel held one end of a rifle and she grabbed onto the other end with both hands, and in that way was pulled to firm ground. In the process Angie let go of the duffel she was carrying.

"I lost my pack!" Angie cried when she saw it sinking into the mud.

"That's of no consequence, miss; what matters is that we got you out," Brother Fernando replied.

"What do you mean, no consequence? My cigarettes and my lipstick are in there!"

Kate heaved a sigh of relief. At least she wouldn't have to smell Angie's delicious tobacco any longer; the temptation was getting unbearable.

They stopped by a small pool to rinse off a little, but they had to resign themselves to mud in their boots. In addition they had the uncomfortable sensation that they were being observed from the impenetrable growth.

"I think someone's spying on us," Kate said finally, unable to bear the tension any longer.

They formed a circle, armed with their reduced arsenal: Angie's revolver and rifle, one machete, and a pair of knives.

"May God protect us," mumbled Brother Fernando, a prayer that was escaping his lips more and more frequently.

After a few minutes, human figures as small as children cautiously emerged from the thicket, the tallest no more that four and a half feet tall. They had yellowish brown skin, nappy hair, wide-set eyes, short legs, long trunks and arms, and flattened noses.

"These must be the famous forest Pygmies," said Angie, greeting them with a wave.

They wore only minimal breechcloths, except for one whose tattered T-shirt hung to below his knees. They were armed with spears, but they weren't raised threateningly; rather, the men were using them as walking staffs. Two of them were carrying a net rolled onto a pole. Nadia realized that it was identical to the net that had trapped the gorilla where their plane had come down, many miles away. The Pygmies answered Angie's greeting with confident smiles and a few words in French; then they launched into uninterrupted chatter in their own tongue, which no one understood.

"Can you take us to Ngoubé?" Brother Fernando interrupted.

"Ngoubé? Non! Non!" the Pygmies exclaimed.

"We have to go to Ngoubé," the missionary insisted.

The man in the T-shirt seemed to be the one best qualified to communicate, because in addition to his limited vocabulary in French, he knew a few words of English. He introduced himself as Beyé-Dokou. Another Pygmy pointed to him and said that he was the tuma of their clan, that is, the best hunter. Beyé-Dokou quieted him with a friendly push, but from the satisfied expression on his face he seemed proud of the title. The other men started laughing uproariously, loudly teasing and making fun of him. Any hint of vanity was viewed badly among the Pygmies. Beyé-Dokou sank his head between his shoulders, embarrassed. With difficulty he explained to Kate that they should not go near the village because it was a very dangerous place; they should leave as quickly as possible.

"Kosongo, Mbembelé, Sombe, soldiers," he repeated, and his face reflected his terror.

When the travelers insisted that they must go to Ngoubé at any cost, and that it would be four days before the canoes returned to pick them up, Beyé-Dokou seemed very worried. He consulted for some time with the other men and finally he offered to lead them by a secret route through the jungle back to the place they had left the plane.

"They must be the ones who set the trap," commented Nadia, motioning to the net the two pygmies were carrying.

"And it seems that the idea of going to Ngoubé doesn't suit them at all," commented Alexander.

"I've heard that they are the only humans able to live in these swamps. They move through the jungle by instinct. It may be best for us to go with them, before it's too late," said Angie.

"We're already here, and we will continue to Ngoubé. Wasn't that what we agreed?" asked Kate.

"To Ngoubé," Brother Fernando repeated.

With eloquent gestures the Pygmies made clear their opinion about the folly of that move, but finally they agreed to guide them. They set down their net beneath a tree, and without further ado took the duffels and knapsacks from the foreigners, threw them over their own shoulders, and started off at a trot through the ferns, so fast that it was nearly impossible to keep up. They were very strong and agile. Each of them was carrying more than sixty pounds, but it didn't hinder them in the least; the muscles of their arms and legs were like reinforced concrete. As the International Geographic crew panted along, near fainting from fatigue and heat, the Pygmies, without the least effort, ran with short little steps, feet pointed out like ducks and jabbering all the way.