Anaconda Ambush by Justin D'Ath

Author:Justin D'Ath
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781742283944
Publisher: Penguin Group Australia
Published: 2009-07-03T04:00:00+00:00

14

KILLER KING

The jaguar is the top predator in the Amazon – but only on land. In the water, the electric eel is the undisputed killer king. When it’s hunting or feeling threatened, it can produce six hundred volts of electricity – enough to kill a horse. It doesn’t even have to touch you to be dangerous. Electricity travels through water. You can be swimming five or six metres from an electric eel and still be electrocuted.

And I had one wrapped around my leg. If I moved, or if it saw me as prey, I’d get zapped.

‘Sam, what is wrong?’ Gabriel asked from the shore.

‘There’s an electric eel,’ I said softly.

Gabriel and his father had a short conversation.

‘Father say come out from water plenty plenty slow.’

‘It’s coiled around my leg.’

Gabriel spoke to his father again. The man muttered something in reply, dropped his blowgun and the dead monkey on the ground, and vanished into the jungle.

‘Father get sleepy berry,’ Gabriel explained.

Before I could ask what a sleepy berry was, his father returned with a leafy branch. At its tip was a bunch of purple berries. He twisted the bunch free and tossed the berries onto the lily pad next to me.

‘Father say squeeze berry, make juice go in water,’ Gabriel instructed.

The berries were ripe and soft, full of dark juice that dribbled through my fingers when I squeezed. It created a pink underwater cloud that spread slowly around me until I could no longer see the eel. But I could still feel it wrapped around my leg like a big, soft rope. I hoped the juice of the sleepy berry wouldn’t upset it. My survival depended on the eel remaining calm. If it got scared or confused by the pink cloud in the water, it might turn the power on. The big, soft rope would become a high voltage electricity cable. ZAP!

It didn’t happen. After about a minute, I felt the creature’s grip on my leg begin to relax. Then it let go. I held my breath as the two-metre eel floated to the surface next to my elbow. It wasn’t moving.

‘Is it dead?’ I asked.

‘Just sleeping,’ said Gabriel. ‘Father say you can wash now.’

Within minutes of rejoining the main track, I heard the sound of children’s voices ahead. We turned a corner and found ourselves at the edge of a wide jungle clearing. Standing in the middle was an enormous round building made of sticks and logs and palm fronds. It looked big enough to house fifty people. There were gardens all around it. Two women picked long, bean-like vegetables from a row of leafy plants propped up with sticks. A couple of small naked children played nearby. They noticed us and came running. Twenty metres away they stopped and stood gawking at me. We stopped, too. Gabriel’s father said something, then walked ahead carrying the monkey. I started to follow, but Gabriel clutched my elbow.

‘Father say you wait here.’

I began to feel uneasy. The women had stopped work. One came hurrying forward.

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