Temple of the Jaguar God (10 page)

“
What, in the
hell,
are we going to do now?”

Jeremy
shrugged.

“
Beats me, Uncle Harry.”

Beats me.

“
Where did the artifacts come from?”

Day,
perhaps realizing cooperation was his only hope, answered for the
two of them even as Melody put the gun down on the
table.

“
Syrmes had stolen them years before. He worked at a big museum
in Caracas. He’s very convincing, and he weaseled his way in
somehow. Think of all the English-speaking tourists they get.
Anyways. He grabbed as much as he could carry, and booked out. He
was on the run, and he had no choice but to find safe keeping for
them. Those artifacts are pretty well-known. Someone will recognize
them. I don’t know what the real crime was, originally, back in
England. Probably murder, knowing him. His whole life was like
that. But then, he was fortunate to get back home with a new name
and a new face. And after all that time, four years later, he runs
into you and your little talk at the Explorer’s Club. You can
imagine how it hit him—now is my chance to go back. Now is my
chance to recover the jewels. Now is my chance to be rich…” He’d
been dreaming about it forever, but he didn’t have the
resources.

He
sighed deeply.

“
And that, Doctor Fawcett, is basically the whole
story.”

The big question, and it was odd to hear Mister Day say it,
but what were they going to do with
us
two,
as he put it.

And as Uncle Harry said,
that
was one very good question.

***

“
What an extraordinary tale.” They were back in
school.

The
nights were getting longer, dull, drab routine was settling in, and
his good friend and colleague Richard Hamble was
astounded.

Possibly
even unbelieving. Jeremy had been sort of holding him off, and at
the same time savouring his knowledge, perhaps even his new powers.
They’d finally gotten together in Hamble’s digs, his room-mate
temporarily off in the study hall.

“
Yes. The funny thing is, that it’s already sort of fading into
history.”

“
Would you ever go back?”

Jeremy
laughed.

“
I go back next summer. By then, they should have quite the
camp set up, with shacks for the workmen, a proper cookhouse, maybe
even a bathhouse, everything they need to properly survey and
excavate a major archaeological discovery.”

Mister
O’Dell’s and Mister Smith’s bodies had been recovered, receiving a
far more Christian burial than that provided for Mister Syrmes.
With no known next of kin, they would get small, plain white
headstones in the local cemetery and that was about it. The whole
thing had cost about twenty pounds, at least according to Uncle
Harry.

Hamble
had cut their obituaries out of the Times and proudly presented
them to Jeremy.

“
I find it hard to believe that your uncle would be fool enough
to hire Mister Day.”

Jeremy
shrugged, reaching for a macaroon, mug of cold milk all ready for
the dipping.

“
Yes. Well, he wasn’t such a bad chap. He really is qualified,
and he was on the spot. There are not too many educated Englishmen
around, and it’s possible that they understand each other a little
better now. Gerald…seemed pretty grateful and he knows he’s sort of
on probation. He’s learned one hell of a lesson, when you think
about it.” As Jeremy had as well, many lessons, some of which would
never be forgotten.

Some of
which might take a while to sink in, as he put it…

“
I refuse to believe that your uncle has taken up with this
O’Dell woman. And what are they going to put in this alleged book
that he’s writing?”

Jeremy
grinned, and then sighed.

“
Melody is a very beautiful woman. She’s smart, she’s tough,
and she’s also very independent minded.”

“
Yes. But how can he ever trust her?”

“
I don’t know, Hamble. Maybe he’ll have her watching Gerald.
And he’ll have Gerald watching her. The gold’s been returned to the
museum, and he got a pretty big reward. He was smart enough to get
them to sign an agreement before ever leaving London. Harry ain’t
exactly stupid, when you get right down to it. That money’s sitting
in the bank, so they have to play pretty straight with him. But
there is such a thing as love, and I have this insane idea that
they might actually make a pretty good marriage out of
it.”

“
Marriage?” Hamble shook his head. “Unbelievable.”

“
Yes. Incidentally, if you’re looking for something to do next
summer, you might just want to consider coming out. It’s only a
couple of months, really. A chance to travel. You can shoot and
everything, right, you’re a big strong boy, and there’s going to
have to be guards. Otherwise all kinds of poachers and grave
robbers will be in there…” There was some safety in sheer numbers.
“You might have to do a little work, of course.”

Lots and
lots of guns.

“
And what about the bloody cat—Ozzie, or whatever?”

“
Ah, yes. Mister Day has promised to look after her—it’s a
girl, actually. The thing comes and goes, that’s for sure. But
there’s no way I could ever bring it home.” It was probably the
wrong thing to do and he couldn’t see how it could ever work
out.

Certainly, back home in Norfolk, there was no real place for
it.

It was a
sad admission, but probably true.

Hamble
sat there, mouth open, eyes unfocused.

Then he
came around, rather quickly, intelligent brown eyes noting again,
his tanned and rather daunting friend. Jeremy had filled out, over
the summer, and he’d grown an inch or two as well. His voice was
deeper and he had this impressive way of thinking a second before
he spoke.

He had an air of manly confidence. The boy he’d once been was
now someone else, someone truly different. Hamble had always been
the lead hand with their little crew and now suddenly something had
changed…
interesting.

Venezuela?

Excavating the Temple of the Jaguar God?

For
money, and everything.

“
Right. Right!” Hamble grinned fiendishly, sitting up
straighter. “Yes—that might do rather nicely. Do you really mean
that? Is that what…er, is that what your Uncle Harry is really
saying?”

Jeremy
nodded firmly.

“
Yup. You know how he loves the Rugby spirit…the right sort of
man. A gentleman can do anything, all that sort of
thing.”

Hamble
choked at little on what was either a laugh or a
question.

Jeremy
tipped his head to one side, taking a minute and having a
thought.

Why not.

Why not indeed.

Hamble
was a bloody good fellow.

The best
friend he’d ever had, and just when he’d needed a friend the
most—

Hamble
had stood up for him, which was something unusual in Jeremy’s
experience…

“
I am, in fact, authorized to offer one or two positions to the
right sort of person. And I reckon we’re always looking for talent,
Hamble.”

Well!

That one
sort of straightened the bugger up, didn’t it?

End

About Zach Neal

Zach Neal has
been writing ever since he can remember. A forestry management
professional, he prefers the outdoors to the office. He lives in
the Halton Hills overlooking the Greater Toronto Area. He studied
at the University of Toronto. Zach’s a single father of two healthy
and energetic children. Zach’s boys, Aaron and Jason, mean
everything to him.

>
Zach
Neal
<