8
They paid Mauro Lopez in American dollars and climbed into the old Jeep. It was a relief to get out of the rain and on their way. They took the Western Highway south to San Jose Succotz and then followed Diana’s directions to make a right turn and pull up on the banks of the Mopan River.
“What’s that thing?” Selena asked, pointing to a small wooden shed floating on the river.
“It’s a hand-cranked ferry,” Decker said. “Don’t tell me you’ve never hand-cranked a ferry before?”
“I don’t know about a ferry exactly,” Riley said, “but I can tell you that when we used to go out together…”
“Thank you, Riley, and do stop being so vulgar,” Selena said. “And no, I have never used one of these contraptions before. What makes you so surprised?”
Decker shrugged. “I just thought with you being an archaeologist and all you might have come across one before, that’s all. No harm no foul.”
“C’mon,” Charlie said. “Let’s pull the ferry back over to our side of the river and get on board. It’s getting late and we don’t want to be getting back after the bar shuts.”
“And remember the men with guns,” Acosta said. “Lopez said he gave them the Jeeps earlier today for their journey out to the ruins. It’s already way past normal visiting hours and yet the ferry is still on the north bank. If you ask me, the armed men he’s talking about are still at the ruins.”
“The professor is right,” Selena said. “Let’s get a move on.”
Decker and Riley hopped out of the Jeep and walked over to the riverbank in the torrential rainfall. The young Australian grabbed the crank handle and began to winch the small wooden ferry back over the Mopan. Decker checked up and down the tropical river for any signs of the armed men but saw nothing. When the ferry was in place, Charlie fired up the engine and drove the Jeep carefully down a slippery, muddy bank and then onto what was essentially a covered raft.
With everyone safely on board, Riley hopped up beside the Jeep and operated a second crank to wind the ferry slowly across the muddy, jade green river. The endless downpour clattered heavily on the ferry’s tin roof as they drifted over to the other bank. From her seat inside the Jeep, Selena peered across the rain-pocked water at their destination and saw nothing but logwood and mahogany trees obscured in the steaming rain.
When they reached the other side, Riley secured the rope and blew out a deep breath. “Not as easy as you might think. Bloody handle has ruined my nice soft hands.”
“Stop messing about and get in the car!” Selena called out from the window.
When he and Decker were safely inside, Charlie drove off the ferry and onto the north bank of the Mopan. Then he turned right and headed up a narrow track and into the trees. The steamy air surrounding the Jeep was filled with the sound of croaking toucans and rattling cicadas.
“This place gives me the creeps,” Diana said.
“Not me.” Selena shook her head. “I think it’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, it sure is,” Riley said. “But if we get there and we find some gates with Jurassic Park written on them, I’m out of here.”
“It’s not Jurassic Park waiting for us,” Atticus said. “Look!”
They followed his pointing finger through the rain-streaked windshield and saw the incredible sight of the world-famous Xunantunich Ruins approaching at the end of the tree-lined track they were driving on.
“I still can’t believe we’re going to find anything here,” Decker said. “If these ruins are so famous then surely they’ve been searched inside out by countless people over the years. Whatever the old friar thought was buried here has to have been found by now. If not by professional archaeologists then looters.”
“Not necessarily,” Selena said. “Even famous sites sometimes guard secret treasures for a long time without anyone ever finding them. Take Holmul, for example.”
“Where?” he asked.
“It’s a pre-Columbian Maya site in the Petén Basin on the border of Belize and Guatemala, first discovered by modern archaeologists from Harvard well over a hundred years ago. The city there was probably founded around 800BC and like most other places, it was abandoned around the time of the great collapse in Maya civilization.”
“When was that again?” Diana asked.
“What we call the ‘Classic Maya Collapse’ happened around 900AD,” Selena said. “And that was the end of Holmul, like most other places in their culture. But the point, in answer to Charlie’s original question, is that only a few years ago a team of archaeologists discovered two tombs in Holmul full of the most amazing treasures and artifacts. Totally untouched.”
“Tombs?” Decker asked. “Tell me more.”
Selena grinned as Charlie drove the Jeep down the track. She always liked it when Decker showed an interest in her work. “Yes, tombs. Vaulted chambers beneath two of the pyramids in the city. There was all manner of treasures inside the tombs, including a skeleton with jade-inlays on its teeth, an honor reserved for Maya royalty. They also found ceramics, obsidian, necklaces and other separate pieces of jade jewellery.”
“Quite a find,” Charlie said.
“And the point is that not only had professional archaeologists never found them, but it had also escaped looters, not only from 900AD all the way up to the find in 1911 by Professor Merwin’s Harvard team, but in the intervening years from that discovery all the way up to three or four years ago. It just goes to show, there’s a lot of undiscovered sites in a place like this, just waiting to be unearthed and brought to light. The treasures waiting to be discovered are unimaginable.”
“All that gold!” Riley said, rubbing his hands together. “Fiji, here I come!”
“All that knowledge,” said Selena, frowning. “And with some
