Once Upon the Congo

by Applewhite, Claire; Harper, Chap

  Later in the day all the rafts pulled up to a clearing to the east so a meal could be prepared and repairs made. Sony’s boat was determined to be not safe enough to risk staying in at night. The rips had been patched but air continued to leak out and a hand pump had to be used at all times. Of the twelve members of the expedition still alive, three were receiving treatment for poisoning. Jan’s antidote seemed to be working, but the side effects were nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and general weakness. That meant these wounded warriors were pretty much just along for the ride now. Sony had calculated that some boats would be lost and felt confident they could get by with three if necessary. If he had calculated their time on the river correctly, they would have deep water and few interruptions during the night. Tomorrow they would encounter the first series of rapids, requiring a portage through the jungle until they found good floating water again.

  Vikki had to relieve herself, so she asked John to go with her and stand guard. John told her to inspect the area before stripping down. She found a spot that had quite a bit of ground foliage, and looked for any movement. Nothing stood out to her, so she pulled down her cargo shorts and began to pee.

  Seconds later, John heard Vikki’s blood curdling scream. “A snake just bit me!”

  Chapter 11

  Hippos and Arrows

  John grabbed his machete and cut the snake in half as it tried to slip back into the undergrowth. He examined the right cheek of Vikki’s bottom and found one fang mark. She lay on the ground screaming and crying.

  Jan ran up and looked at the green and yellow snake. “Boomslang—got one fang in you—I can treat it—you will be okay—need to calm down—makes it worse,’’ Jan said in Sony type sentences as he patted her back. In his medical kit, he found his supply of freeze dried anti-venom vials.

  Vikki stopped crying. She knew that Dr. Leeghwater was mixing a cocktail that would save her life. Suddenly, she realized that there were twelve fellow travelers surrounding her exposed bottom, showing great concern over a small snake bite. Sony would later say it was likely the prettiest rear end ever exposed in the Congo to date.

  “Okay, let’s give Vikki some privacy,” John said, while he covered her bottom with his shirt. The disappointed onlookers backed away.

  Jan gave her several shots, cleaned the wound area and placed a bandage on the fang mark.

  “The boomslang has a neurotoxin that is very slow to act, but when it does, it’s not pleasant. The anti-venom is very effective, however, and you should show minimal effects of the actual bite. Boomslangs have rear fangs. Lucky for you that means they don’t get good penetration when striking objects such as a large bottom section. Not that you have a large bottom…” Jan sputtered and his face turned red. “It is difficult to tell how much you were invenominated, but I would guess it was enough to make you very ill, yet probably not enough to kill you,” Vikki already felt much better. Jan wasn’t going to tell her that boomslangs are on the list of the top ten most deadly snakes in the world, and they make people bleed from every orifice in their body. He just hoped the bleeding didn’t happen to her. Complete blood transfusions are a common treatment for this snake bite, but that was not going to happen on a riverbank in the Congo.

  “The anti-venom does make you a little sick to your stomach, and may affect your digestive track. It will keep you alive, and there is a good chance I will need to give you shots each day. You will be sleepy and John will have to help you with daily tasks,” Jan said. He and John helped her on her feet. Jan had given her injections around the area where she was bitten, along with a strong antibiotic.

  Sony directed the loading of the four boats. He made sure there were plenty of shields in each boat, and enough fire power to give good coverage for attacks from the shore. The plan for traveling at night was risky, but Sony wanted all of this expedition back in the vehicles as quickly as possible.

  Vikki slept most of the way. So did the three men who were taking Jan’s poison antidote. They passed some hippos which were, thankfully, on the west part of the river. Otherwise, the trip went fast with no more attacks. As the sun came up, a large bluff could be seen on the right and even at a distance Sony could see dozens of natives positioned on top with bows drawn.

  “Ernie and Zuka—start blasting away—soon as you are in range. Everyone—under your shields—pistols ready. This could be bad—give them hell!” Sony screamed at the top of his voice.

  At two hundred yards, the two AKs came to life and raked several natives off the cliff. The rest scattered out of sight and would wait until they were right under them to fire off their arrows. Sony directed the boat to the far shore which put them almost out of range but not completely. Suddenly, it seemed as though a hundred arrows were in the air at one time. Almost everyone was under shields waiting for the initial onslaught. The sound was an awesome combination of arrows striking wooden shields at different places, creating an almost musical drum tone.

  Jean-Pierre, a quiet and hardworking man from Kinshasa, stood up and came out from the protection of the shield to fire his pistol at the pygmies. An arrow pieced his skull and killed him instantly. He slumped over the edge of the rubber boat into the river and floated down the river almost even with the boats. Since the first wave of projectiles had stopped, the AK-47s started taking out dozens of natives. Zuka and Ernie were running low on ammunition, but Sony told them to use most of it. Sony figured they would be beyond their range of arrows for the major balance of the journey. Some of the pygmies ran back to the edge to shoot the rest of their arrows as the expedition cleared the cliff and headed for open water. Everyone except the sick and wounded opened on the natives and laid waste to all who were in view. Their numbers were severely depleted, and no one considered them much of a threat anymore.

  All the boats had arrows in them and the travelers patched frantically. The boats seemed to be okay, but the whole group knew further repairs would be needed. Hugging the east shore, they now passed thick jungle with little room for landing boats. Ahead were the hippos that Sony was concerned would present a big danger. The hippos were along the east shore, with some of their numbers extending to the center of the river. The rubber rafts kept to the west shore and they watched as a couple of hippos moved from center to almost in the path of the boats. One of the hippos moved back to center, but one eyed the boats and blew water in the air. The expedition paddled as fast as they could to make it by the lone hippo. Apparently, he was waiting for the last boat and submerged just as it passed him.

  For a little while everyone felt they were past any danger. An explosion of water interrupted the calm and the boat with Sani, Jomo, and Jaja was thrown in the air at least ten feet. Sani and Jaja were good swimmers and headed fast for the other boats. Jomo was weak from the poison in his system and the effect of the antidote. The hippo had him in his monstrous mouth. One horrifying bite crushed most of the bones in Jomo’s body including his skull. The hippo slung him around for a while like a doll, then discarded him and swam back to the other hippos. The boat was damaged but patched and continued to be a part of the flotilla.

  Vikki had been asleep, but now she was sitting in the boat, crying. As she looked around at her friends in the boats, she noticed that most had a stoic, emotionless and lifeless combat stare. No one else was crying because they were honed in on survival. She tried to stop weeping, but found she was barely able to do so. In a few hours they approached the first set of rapids, and this time they pulled the boats over on the west side of the shore, since most felt the threat of the natives was eliminated.

  The ancient elephant trail greeted them like an old friend. They made good time after stopping for a quick meal and continuing to perform maintenance on the rubber rafts. The walk in the jungle seemed strange after being in the boats for so long. Traveling downriver had cut six or seven days off their travel time, but none of the group except maybe for Sony, had expected the level of danger they encountered. It was growing dark, so they set up camp in an area nea
r the river that was up river from the cataracts. The group would launch in the morning and have one set of rapids before reaching the vehicles and the native village.

  It seemed as though everyone had something wrong with them. John, Jan, and Marc only had blisters on their hands from paddling the boats with small plastic oars. The rest of the expedition except for Vikki, who had her own problems, had been at least nicked by the poison arrows. Jan had given them all antibiotics but because little of the antidote was left, the rest had only a few sips.

  Since all the sacks of diamonds were packed to be buoyant, the expedition had only lost one sack of diamonds, a tent, and a few cooking supplies. Most suspected that the hippo swallowed the jewels and probably crapped it out on shore some place. No one was volunteering to dig through hippo dung while being attacked by a herd of two-ton beasts. Lightning struck a tree not far up river, and a huge limb fell, into the river causing a several crocodiles to slap the water with their tails and submerge. A clap of thunder sounded as night fell on the expedition. They all hoped that tomorrow would be an easier day, but most knew the river to be unforgiving.

  Chapter 12

  Cataracts

  The rain in the Congo was relentless and averaged almost a hundred inches a year. The next day would have been better spent staying in the tent and reading a book. It was a steady hard rain with lightning and thunder. Sony nixed the staying in the tent part and had everyone up preparing to leave. One of the rafts had deflated during the night, so they decided to leave it and pack everything into three boats.

  Most of the next day was uneventful which was good since moaning was the favorite method of communication among the crew. They passed by forest elephants drinking at the water’s edge and later a troop of chimpanzees in frenzy at the edge of the jungle. From a distance the jungle was beautiful since there were tropical flowers and lush green plants, trees, and palms for mile after mile along the Aruwimi. The rain stopped and steaming heat took its place.

  The group stopped for a quick lunch and break on a low bank along the river. A couple of huge crocodiles spotted what they believed to be their next lunch and moved from the opposite side of the river toward the group. No one in the expedition was in the mood for any more drama. As if summoned by a higher power, pistols and assault rifles fired at the crocs as they surfaced close to them. Even Vikki fired her weapon at the surprised animals. The big reptiles could be seen rolling in the water in a death dance that would be theirs this time.

  Everyone was back in the boat and energized by the thought that later today they would be riding in Land Rovers. The current was picking up, signaling that rapids were ahead. Sony was looking at the shore line on both sides for a spot to pull the boats to safety. As the river turned and gained velocity, the crew noticed high rock cliffs on each side. There wasn’t a place to pull out, and the rapids had grasped the small flotilla of yellow rubber rafts without warning. They were being pushed towards the sounds of churning and torrential white water that was beyond a kayaker’s classification.

  To the right and left the rapids were blasting through a series of rock-strewn death traps. A series of water tunnels fell through the center of the river at unbelievable speed. Rock walls on each side of the river had off chutes that led down to a hellish death. Sony’s boat hit the water tunnel first and found the center well enough. The mighty river grasped his boat and thrust it through a series of waterfalls that slammed the little boat into rocks as it dropped to the bottom of each waterfall. The last fall went straight down into a washboard of churning white water. Sony’s boat popped out upright even though it had no riders. Sony, Zuka, Ernie and Joseph swam after the boat and the supplies.

  Next through the water tunnel were John, Vikki, Jan, and Marc, who also hit the center of the raging channel, however; the rubber craft started spinning before it slammed into the bottom of the last steep cascade, Mark was ejected and fell on his side into the boiling water. The boat suffered the same fate as did Sony’s boat with the entire party being thrown out. Vikki was not swimming well because of her weak condition, so John slid his arm under her and swam towards their now empty boat. Jan had found Marc floating unconscious, and with Sony’s help they pulled him to shore.

  Jan started chest compression, which quickly caused Marc to throw up water and then, screaming with pain, he reached for his right arm which had the fibula protruding from the skin. Jan administrated morphine and waited for it to take effect so that he could set the fracture.

  Meanwhile, one more boat was being directed by the great river to the tunnel of evil. Joseph, Sani and Jaja were yelling at the top of their lungs as their boat spun out of control and slammed into the wall of the water passageway. Then the unthinkable occurred, and the boat flipped, ejecting all the passengers before the big drop over the falls. Joseph and Jaja could be seen being spit out by the rush of water. Zuka and Ernie swam out to help them. Both had broken ribs, and cuts and bruises but were alive. Jan didn’t have time to help them until he had set Marc’s compound fracture.

  Everyone waited for Sani to be thrown out of the rapids. After several minutes it became clear he was not coming. He was probably knocked unconscious and jammed beneath one of the side chutes under rocks. They had lost the fifth member of the expedition and hoped he would be the last one to give up his life on this mission.

  The exhausted team lay on the shore using their own first aid kits to bandage cuts and lacerations. Jan promised to take care of stitches once he had Marc’s arm set. Sony and John helped him set the fracture and place the splint. Marc’s puncture wound where the bone protruded was stitched and the morphine had calmed him and eased the pain. Jan was bleeding from a cut on his head. John and Sony cleaned and placed gauze on the wound. The doctor then began to stitch and clean all the wounds suffered during the encounter with the rapids. Jan didn’t stop to think how many lives he had saved on this trip but his efforts didn’t go unnoticed by everyone else.

  “Jan, I just wanted to thank you for saving my life—everyone else too!” Vikki said.

  “You can thank me when we fucking get out of here,” he said with considerable tiredness in his voice.

  Once everyone was patched up, the boats were loaded again. Some of the team had been swimming around picking up supplies as Jan was doing his job. With bandages displayed on almost every expedition member, they appeared to have all just descended from a wartime Pork Chop Hill.

  A couple hours later as they rounded a lazy bend on an increasingly widening river they spotted canoes coming fast toward them.

  “Boss, I’m out of ammo,” said Ernie.

  “Me too—I got nothing,” yelled Zuka to Sony who was in a boat with the doctor and Marc.

  “It’s okay—we’re safe!” remarked Sony who had realized that the canoes were from the village where they had left their vehicles.

  Chapter 13

  Safe

  Shortly afterwards, the Land Rovers came into view and cheering broke out among the remaining nine member of the expedition.

  After they were ashore, the natives asked questions through the translators in the group. Two of the rafts had shields still in them and one was given to the chief along with about twenty arrows sticking in it. Sony gave them a few diamonds for keeping the vehicles safe. The chief was very pleased and actually liked the shield better than the diamonds.

  Everything was loaded into the five Land Rovers and the less crippled were assigned as drivers. As soon as they started moving, Sony was calling in on his built-in short wave in the lead vehicle. He wanted helicopters for the wounded and poisoned, which included just about everyone. He found a large clearing off the main road that would serve as a heliport and called in the coordinates. The copters would come from Stanleyville and fly directly to their airport. Then private aircraft would take the poison and snake bite victims to Johannesburg’s largest hospital. Marc was okay to fly to Kinshasa and go to the hospital there. Jan chose to go to South Africa with his patients, plus he needed medical att
ention as well. John had not been nicked by a poison arrow and had only suffered some cracked ribs, cuts and bruises. He would fly to the Ivory Coast with the diamonds which were now three bags short. A division for payment to the crew would give packets of diamonds to all crew members, including the ones who lost their lives. Sony would make sure the families of the deceased men would get a fair share. Every person on the expedition received over a million dollars in diamonds, and the royalty agreement for John Cole’s family would most likely generate payments for a hundred years or more.

  As they approached the clearing, two large military helicopters were waiting. The Land Rover and supplies were left to be retrieved at a later time. Once in Stanleyville, John kissed Vikki goodbye and said he would join her in Johannesburg in a couple of days.

  She whispered in his ear, “John, require that our part of the diamonds be placed in the ‘Cole Family Trust.’ That way our kids can get it after we’re gone.”

  John knew that no such trust existed but would very soon. Vikki’s words were her way of saying they would be married, and she wanted to have a family with him. He was all smiles but concerned about a little blood that was dripping from one of her ears. Jan gave her another dose of anti-venom.

  “Vikki, I’ve been giving you freeze dried meds, but in South Africa you will be given a much stronger liquid product so you will be well much sooner.” Jan had called in all the medical conditions and expected a quick recovery for everyone.

  John hung around the Stanleyville Airport until Vikki was safely on her way. He then took a flight to Kinshasa and then to the Ivory Coast. There, Cangé met him at the airport where John presented the diamonds and three journals, to be copied and returned to Sony, Jan and Marc. John spent a good deal of time at the bank suggesting that about a million dollars a year of the diamonds be sold and then divided, twenty-five percent going to his trust and then twenty percent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The rest would go to Haiti but would be held by the bank.