El Cayo
...continued
“Where are we going?” He demanded, and in an excited voice I responded.
“You’ll see, we’re almost there!” The thick brush pieced my palms as I pushed my way through. It gave way to a chamber only three meters high and in the centre a large sarcophagus.
“There it is.” I said with triumph. Matt behind me stood in awe at what I had led him to. I quickly moved to were I remembered the crack had been, and lying down on my side I peered inside. I shined my pocket Mag-light to see it reflect off a shiny ruby.
“Ha ha.” I laughed “it’s still here. Matt get over here.” I got up to make room as he mimicked my position. “This is the real reason why we’re here.” He shined his light around.
“What am I—.” He cut himself off. “Is that what I think it is?”
“It’s the biggest ruby I’ve ever seen! I discovered it when I was last here. But I couldn’t bring it back… Help me get this thing off!” I yelled forcing the lid to one side. Matt jumped up and helping me push.
“Wait.” He said a few moments later. “Can we do this. We should call Corzon and
get—.” I grabbed him by the shirt and pulling him in stared into his eyes.
“You crazy? I didn’t risk my neck to hand this over to Corzon or the Mexicans. Now stop talking crazy and help me get this thing off.” I held him a while as it sunk in. Then we were back to work. But we didn’t get far before we heard screaming and weird noises coming from all around. We abandoned our efforts to investigate.
Emerging from the bush, I carefully covered back the entrance before joining up with the rest of the expedition.
“What’s going on?” I demanded hurrying back. As I said so the surrounding jungle became alive. Virtually materializing out of the thick brush forty or so men moved swiftly into the clearing. They appeared to be farmers from a nearby village. They were not large men, but the flex of their arms and the machetes they carried was very intimidating. Their skill with this instrument was unsurpassed. Having had watched them work in the fields and the ease with which they disposed of eighty-foot snakes made us all uneasy. They demanded to know what the archeologist were doing here, and Anesto Corzon began to explain our intentions. They were close, too close. I glanced at one of the men’s machetes and back up to see his eyes that had an unearthly glow and clearly fixed to mine as a weird shiver shot through my body. Corzon presented the government papers from both Mexican and local Mayan governments, which proved we had permission for this dig. However government seals didn’t carry much weight in these parts and sure didn’t ease the tension with armed men surrounding us. The Mayans left with the papers, vanishing the same way they came back into the jungle. They left three men behind to observe us as we slowly continued our work. Like the dire creatures of myth, these stone sentinels observed us.
“What are we gonna do about the ruby?” Matt’s whispers to me were strained.
“We can’t go back now. I’ll find a way.” I reassured. Eventually we were all huddled together to contemplate our position. They had been taught in well-lit institutions and foraged through University libraries; they weren’t used to digging in treacherous jungle let alone under armed guard by this most unnatural audience.
“I say we cover back the altar and get the hell out of here!” Anaya exclaimed. I was the only one who objected to the idea. Matt didn’t say anything he simply had that look he gets after an intense session of soporific narcotics. I looked down at his hands to see them trembling.
“Guys, by tomorrow we’ll have the altar dug up and by the afternoon the chopper will be here, and then we can kiss this place goodbye.” I insisted but was outnumbered and it was decided that we should rebury the altar. They pilled on large stones hoping that it would dissuade looters and by tomorrow we would be well on our way back to civilization. That night nobody slept and my hopes for retrieving the ruby began to fade. By the next morning when darkness began to give way to light I went to find the opening, but pushing through the brush I so carefully arranged to look natural only found solid rock. Perhaps too good of a job, as I stood baffled and unusually worried. While the rest pilled on the rocks it turned out the Mayans had no intention of leaving us alone as once again they spilled out of the jungle. They ordered us to suspend work immediately. They produced our government papers and as Corzon moved to collect it they burst into flames before him.
to be continued...
