'Nothing.'
'Yes, you have. Give me that bottle of disinfectant. I know it will only hold a couple of mouthfuls, but water is important right now.'
I slung the water-bottles over my shoulder and got ready to go. 'Stay awake if you can, Harry,' I said. 'I don't know how long I'll be away, but I'll make it as quick as I can.'
I wanted to get down to the cenote before nightfall. It was quicker moving when you could see where you were going, and I wanted to get into a good position while the light held. As I came out on to the trail I took a scrap of paper from my pocket and spiked it on a twig as an indication of where to find Harry.
The chicleros had lit a fire and were cooking their evening meal. I manoeuvred into a strategic place -- as close to the water as I could get yet as far from the camp as possible. The fire was newly built and the leaping flames illuminated the whole of the cenote and I settled down to a long wait.
The fire burned down to a red glow and me men clustered around it, some cooking meat held on sticks, and others making some sort of flapjacks. Presently the scent of coffee drifted tantalizingly over the cenote and my stomach tightened convulsively. I hadn't eaten for nearly two days and my guts were beginning to resent the fact.
I waited for three hours before the chicleros decided to turn in for the night although it was still quite early by city standards. Gatt, the city man, stayed up late, but he remained in his tent, no doubt under mosquito netting, and I could see the glow of a pressure lantern through the fabric. It was time to go.
I went on my belly like a snake, right to the water's edge. I had already taken the corks from the bottles and held them in my teeth, and when I put the first bottle in the water it gurgled loudly. Just then the first howler monkey let loose his bloodcurdling cry, and I praised God for all his creations, however weird. I withdrew the bottle and put it to my lips and felt the blessed water at the back of my parched throat. I drank the full quart and no more, although it took a lot of will-power to refrain. I filled both bottles and corked them, and then washed out the disinfectant bottle and filled that.
I daresay that anyone with keen eyes could have seen me from the chiclero camp. The sky was clear and the moon was full, and a man, especially a moving man, would be easily spotted. But I managed to get back into the cover of the forest without any outcry, so probably the chicleros hadn't a guard.
I found my way back to Harry without much difficulty and gave him a bottle of water which he drank thirstily. I had a problem -- we had to get on the other side of the cenote under cover of darkness and that meant that Harry would have to move immediately, and I didn't know if he was up to it. I waited until he had satisfied his thirst, and said, 'We'll have to move now. Are you fit?'
'I'm okay, I guess,' he said. 'What's the hurry?'
'This cenote lies between us and Uaxuanoc and we want to get around it without being seen. I've discovered a trail on the other side which heads the right way. We'll be able to make better time tomorrow.'
'I'm ready,' he said, and hoisted himself slowly to his feet. But he had to clutch the tree trunk for support and that I didn't like. Still, he moved fast enough when we got going, and stuck close on my heels. I think the water had done him a lot of good.
I had a choice of making a wide sweep around the cenote and going through thick forest, or going straight down the trail and crawling around the chiclero camp. I chose the latter because it would be less strain on Harry, but I hoped he'd be able to keep quiet. We managed it without trouble -- the dying embers of the camp fire gave good orientation -- and I picked up the trail on the other side of the cenote. Once out of sight of the camp I checked the map and the compass and it seemed that the trail led pretty much in the direction of Uaxuanoc, which was all to the good.
After a mile of stumbling in the darkness Harry began to flag, so I made the decision to stop, and we pulled off the side of the trail and into the forest. I got Harry bedded down -- he wasn't in any shape to climb a tree -- and said, 'Have some more water.'
'What about you?'
I thrust the bottle into his hands. Fill up; I'm going back to get some more.' It had to be done -- if we didn't get more water we'd never make it to Uaxuanoc, and since we only had me two bottles we might as well drink what we had.
I left him again and marked the place by thrusting a machete into the middle of the trail. Anyone moving along the trail would be certain of falling over it, including me. I didn't think anyone else would be moving around at night. It took me an hour and a half to get to the cenote, fifteen minutes to fill up, and another hour to get back and bark my shins on that damned machete. I swore at it but at least I was certain that Harry hadn't been discovered. He was asleep and I didn't wake him, but dropped into an uneasy doze beside him.
Harry woke me at daybreak. He seemed cheerful enough, but I felt as though I bad been doped. My limbs were stiffened and I was one big ache from head to foot. I had never been a hearty camping type and this sleeping on the ground didn't agree with me. Besides, I hadn't had too much sleep at all and had been stumbling around in the forest for most of the hours of darkness.
I said, 'We have a decision to make. We can stick to the forest, which is safer -- but stow. Or we can go up that trail with the likelihood of meeting one of Gatt's chicleros. What do you say, Harry?'
He was brighter this morning and not so disposed to mere acceptance. 'Who is this guy, Gatt?' he asked. 'I've never heard of him before.'
'It's a bit too involved to go into right now, but as far as we're concerned, he's sudden death. From what I've seen, he's allied himself with the chicleros.'
He shook his head. 'Why should a guy I've never heard of want to kill me?'
'He's a big-time American gangster,' I said. 'He's after the loot from Uaxuanoc. It's a long story, but that's the gist of it There's a lot of money involved, and I don't think he'll stop at much to get it. He certainly won't stop short of killing us. In fact, he's already had a damned good try at it. I can't think of anyone else who'd sabotage your chopper.'
Harry grimaced. 'I'll take your word for it, but I hate like hell the idea of tackling the forest.'
So did I. An inspection of the map showed that we were a little more than five miles from Uaxuanoc. As we already knew, the forest in the immediate vicinity of Uaxuanoc was exceptionally thick and, in our present condition, it might take us two days to hack our way through. We couldn't afford two days, not on our limited supply of water.
