Two little red dots glowing just above the surface meant an alligator was watching too, but thankfully they saw none. They drifted downriver, staying close to the shore and watching the shallow waters with their flashlights. Jevy guided the boat to a bank with some growth.
We’ve been lost for three hours, Nate wanted to say. We might get lost if we keep going in the dark.” “It’s safer here.” He said this with the confidence of a seasoned river guide. “We can take turns napping in the boat,” Nate said. But Nate would not force Jevy to admit it. There had been very little conversation during the storm. Jevy stopped the motor and studied the edges of the river. Then lightning came and for a while they could almost see where they were going.
Jevy selected a tributary, one of several, and proceeded as if he navigated this corner of the Pantanal every day. JUST BEFORE dark they passed through a large flooded plain, a temporary lake that looked vaguely similar to the place where they’d found the fisherman in the weeds. The current was churning with whitecaps.īack at the junction, they talked for a moment, shouting through the wind and rain, then selected another river.
Now they raced into the storm, and it was a terrifying sight. Nate was convinced they were lost.Īfter a few minutes, the river disappeared into a thicket of rotted trees-a memorable sight they had not seen earlier. Jevy reduced the throttle to survey the waters, then hit the gas and took a sharp right as if he knew precisely where he was going. They came to a fork that Nate was certain they had not passed earlier, then to a junction of rivers they could barely see through the rain. He took his bucket and began shoveling rainwater. But the water was accumulating around his feet. Nate wanted to curl up under his aluminum bench, clutch his floatable cushion, and hide as much as possible under his poncho.
They would stay in the boat because they had no choice.Ī gale swept in behind them, driving the boat forward as the rain pelted their backs. They were in the middle of a flood, with only the tops of the brush and a few trees to guide them through the rivers and swamps. There was nothing but water around them, water for miles in all directions. There was nowhere to hide, no safe harbor to dock at and ride out the storm. Nate felt completely exposed and helpless. Clouds boiled low to the ground so that the mountains could not be seen.
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