" This is it. " said Joe. " I've dreamed of coming here ever since I was a kid. "

We leaned on the ships rail and looked.

" It's the big one. " I said.

" The Amazon. " said Joe.

" The biggest zoo in the world. " I said.

Mr Pepperday came to join us. " Considering how many animals there are in there. " said Mr Pepperday looking at the passing trees " It's remarkable how few we can see. "'

" But they are there. " said Joe.

" I bet every one of them is looking at us looking at them. " I said. We sailed up the river to a village called Amico, where, we were informed, we could get guides to take us into the jungle.

Amico was more primitive than I had thought it would be. It was just a clearing in the jungle with a collection of mud huts and long houses with grass roofs. Apart from a single hundred foot radio aerial near one of the huts, you could imagine the village having never seen white man before.

As we tied up at the little jetty a group of villagers gathered to look at us. Mostly women and children, they stood in a long line looking and not making a sound.

" Friendly lot. " said Joe.

" Who speaks English. " shouted Mr Pepperday. The villagers just looked.

" Perhaps they speak Spanish. " said Mr Pepperday. "Alguno de ustedes uso de la palabra en el espaol. " shouted Mr Pepperday in Spanish.

" I didn't know you could speak Spanish. " I said.

" I was in a Polish prisoner of war camp during the war. " said Mr Pepperday

" They aren't going to talk to us. " said Sandy.

" Shall I go and bash one of them. " said Mr Thornby.

" I don't think that would help. " said Mr Pepperday.

" They're not much of a laugh. " said Joe.

There we all stood at the rail looking at them looking at us, the Indians made no move what so ever and we were no better.

" I know. " said Joe " Come on Sandy. " Joe and Sandy disappeared below decks. They came back carrying a crate. Mr Pepperday smiled when he saw which one it was.

Joe opened up the front of the crate near the top of the gangway and out wandered two bewildered Lasky penguins. Joe shepherded the penguins down onto the embankment. The effect on the Indians was instant, from being silent statues they were suddenly transformed, chattering and running around. They had never seen anything like these before, men began to appear out of the forest, all talking and laughing. The whole village was a different place, we were all now instant friends.

It appeared that most of them could speak English but they didn't like most visitors because they weren't much fun.

That evening we had to join in the local dance. Joe made a xylophone out of bottles filled with water and it proved very popular. Mr Peppery asked the chief about getting some guides for a trip into the Jungle. The chief agreed but when it came to a question of payment the whole thing sank.

It appeared that they were up to their eyes in beads, tobacco, knives, mirrors and all the other things we had been told to bring along for trade.

The following morning we sat dejectedly on the deck looking at the village. Everything was quiet, most of the village must have been sleeping off a hangover from the night before. Only Joe had tried the local brew and he was still in his bunk out to the world.

" There must be something they want. " said Mr Pepperday.

" Food. "' said Mrs Jabody.

" Rope. " said the Captain.

" Could we give then our dingy. " said Sandy.

" Do you suppose they need a dingy. " said the Captain.

" What do we do now. " said Mr Pepperday.

" What would you want if you lived in a village like that. " I said.

" A doctor. " said Elaine.

" Great. . . " said Mr Pepperday. " Any more bright ideas. "

A young girl carrying a large pitcher of water on her head came out of the jungle, she walked slowly across the village and disappeared into one of the huts.

" I know we haven't got a doctor. " said Elaine. " But I was a nurse once and I'm sure we could treat most of the minor aliments they've got."

" Like hangovers. " said Sandy.

" Well it 's worth a try " said Mr Pepperday.

" I've got another idea. " said Mr Thornby. " I'll he hack in a bit. . . " He got up went down the gangway and strolled off into the jungle.

Elaine and Mrs Jabody set up a table by the boat with all our medicines and bandages on it.

" I suppose all we can do now is wait. " acid Elaine as they sat down by the table.

Mr Thornby reappeared from the jungle and without saying a word about what he was up to, started rummaging about in his workshop. He pressed me and Sandy into carrying things for him and so off we went down the gangway with a collection of old oil drums, tools, bits of brass pipe and a huge length of hose pipe which Mr Thornby had found hidden away in a locker.

" What. " I shouted as we headed toward the jungle " Are we going to do with this lot "

" You'll see. " said Mr Thornby. .

" Bury it I imagine. " said Sandy.

" He's just petting rid of all the junk from his workshop. " I said.

It began to dawn on me what Mr Thornby was up to when we came to a steep cliff with a waterfall running down the face.

" We 're going to give them piped water. " said Sandy beating me to it.

" That's right. " said Mr Thornby. " There's a ledge up there and just enough height to give the water the pressure needed.

Me and Sandy looked up. It was a long way up.

In the mornaming mist it was quite pleasant working away in the forest listening to the birds but as the sun got up it became hot and sticky. All three of' us were reduced to working in the stream with nothing on but our underpants. As we worked our way out of the forest with the supply pipe, we could see Elaine was doing good business at her first aid station.

Mr Thornby stuck a big metal stake in the ground just on the edge of the clearing in the centre of the village. To this he fixed a big brass tap. When everything was finished and connected up we stood back to admire our handiwork.

" Let's see what reaction we get to that. " said Mr Thornby. We sat down on a small grass mound nearby to watch what happened. Two women came out of a hut with water pots on their heads. They walked over to the tap, then walked straight past it and into the jungle. Several other women and girls went for water and none of them showed any interest in using the tap.

" They must prefer it from the stream. " said Sandy

" Perhaps they don't think it's fresh. " I said.

" What are you three doing. " said Mr Pepperday coming over from the ship.

" We thought we'd give them fresh piped water. " said Mr Thornby. " But they don't seem to like it. "

We all wandered over to the tap. As we stood looking at the tap some more women came out for water.

" Have you shown them what it is. " said Mr Pepperday.

" What do you mean." said Mr Thornby.

" You daft buggers. " said Mr Pepperday. " They've never seen a tap before, how are they supposed to know what it is or what it's for. "

" We never thought of that. " I said.

Mr Pepperday turned it on. A few moments of spluttering and gurgling was followed by a rush of cold clear water. Reaction was immediate, when the three women nearby saw the water rushing out the tap they stopped in their tracks.

They gave a little squeal and they rushed over with their water jars, they stuck their jars under the running water end started shouting.

" Thmma caurna canmrna corra, toora rcora. "

More people came rushing out with pots and pans. It created more fuss than the penguins.

Amid all the fuss it took a while before it dawned on me why so many people were rushing about with pots and filling them with water. They were worried about loosing any of the magic water conning out of' the tap. Mr Pepperday also realised this and went over to turn it off. When he did so, every one went silent as the water stopped.

" Tap. " said Mr Pepperday. " Tap. " The villagers didn't want to know about magic words their water had gone. They all closed in around Mr Pepperday. Mr Pepperday turned the tap or. again. . " Tap. " He said as the water rushed out again. The villagers all started talking again.

Mr Pepperday then spent the rest of the day teaching each of the villagers how to work the tap. As he demonstrated it to each villager Mr Pepperday kept saying the word ' Tap. ' and because of this the villagers got the idea that every time you turned the tap on or off you had to say the magic word. . . tap. During the following days it was quite amusing in the early morning calm to see a girl come silently out of a hut, move softly to the edge of the clearing and then break the morning calm by shouting " TAP " at the top of her voice before tuning the tap on.

A party of sixteen men from the village were organised for our trip into the jungle and they were to he led by the chiefs eldest son Tako.

He would take us through the mountains to Anderson's plateau. Anderson's plateau is a huge mountain with a flat top. It was discovered by Captain Anderson. , why else would it have that name, and it seems Captain Anderson must have been a bit thick in the head because he landed his aeroplane on it, then found he couldn't take off again. He then tried to walk out and was lost for seven months before being found by some friendly Indians. That's the sort of thing you have to do to get a mountain named after you.

Me, Joe, Sandy and Mr Pepperday set off with The Indians, leaving Captain Brooks, Mr Thornby, Elaine and Mrs Jabody to look after the boat and feed the animals.

We took four weeks supplies with us , we didn't intend being that long but after Captain Anderson's experiences we weren't taking any chances. With Tako in the lead we were quickly into the jungle and climbing the mountains out of the river valley. By midday we had reached a clearing where we could get a view back down the valley. The village and river were both lost in a vast carpet of trees stretching out toward the distant misty horizon. For one instant I had to shake off the feeling of being rather lonely.

By mid afternoon Tako had got us to a position where we could see Anderson's plateau and boy did it look high. He suggested that we make camp so that we may see the plateau at sunrise which was supposed to be very spectacular.

After a meal the Indians quickly put up their hammocks, we got out our sleeping bags and laid them out on the around.

" I shouldn't sleep there. " said Tako.

79

" Why not. " said Joe.

" It's up to you. " said Tako. " But you will get things creeping in with you during the night. "

" Oh " said Mr Pepperday.

Suddenly we all went off the idea of sleeping at all.

" We don't have much choice. " said Mr Pepperday.

" We've brought some extra hammocks. " said Tako.

The Indians put them up and we all elected to put our slewing bags in them. Tako, thought it was unnecessary but we didn't. About midnight a I woke up sweating like a pig. I lay there trying to be quiet, but I could not stand it. I started to wriggle put of my sleeping bag. I was trying not to make any noise and roll it up for a pillow when I saw by the light of the fire, Sandy struggling out of his sleeping bag.

Before dawn the Indians got up. I woke up stiff as a board and banana shaped. I went to unpack something for breakfast when Tako almost jumped on me.

" No. " he shouted pulling me away from the packs. Each of the Indians got themselves a large stick and started hitting our supplies.

It soon became apparent why and why Tako hadn't wanted us to sleep on the ground. Out from all the corners and crevices in the sacks and boxes came snakes, beetles, moths and dozens of assorted creepy crawlies of various shapes and sizes.

After something to eat we all sat around waiting for the sunrise to come over the top of Andersen's plateau.

Now it seems that if it's Tuesday in Bangkok or the Queen is wearing a red vest or three geese fly over Peru you don't get the most spectacular sunrise you've ever seen.

Needless to say the Queen was wearing her red vest.

The fog came down, the mist came up, the rain came down and the winds blew up. In the middle sat us.

"So much for the sun rise. " said Joe.

" You can't win them all. " said Tako.

" I hope it's not all going to he like this. " I said, packing a wet sleeping bag into a wet haversack.

" O no. " said Tako. " This is one of' the good days. " He gave a broad grin.

We did didn't say anything, we all just hoped he was joking.

The journey to the top of the plateau was easier than I had imagined it would he. A long slow ledge, about thirty yards wide ran up the side all the way to the top well almost to the top. The ledge narrowed from thirty yards to six feet about two hundred yards from the top. Because the ramp was slight and wide, with hushes and trees blocking the view, we had no sensation of how high we were getting. Untill. . . . " O crikey. " said Mr Pepperday as suddenly we were confronted with our first view of the valley. . . Straight down.

Most of the ledge had broken away and fallen into the valley taking the trees and scrub with it. Tako turned around to look at us.

" It's a long way to drop your sandwiches. " said Joe.

" We'll have to he a bit more careful here. " said Tako.

I just looked over the edge and froze. I had this feeling that the plateau was tilting over and pushing me down into the valley. " Hold him. " shouted Sandy.

Several strong hands grabbed my arms.

How every one else got up that part of the ledge I do not know. All I can remember is moving cast iron feet slowly past each other, my back pushed hard against the rock face and being roped between to strong Indians. It was the longest half hour I have ever spent in ray whole life.

After some hot tea and buns at the top of the plateau I began to relax and take some notice of the place we had come so far to see. It was mostly long grass, scrubby trees and water. Joe and Mr Pepperday were already taking some interest in a lizard that they had found. Sandy and I decided to take a walk around for a while, Tako and the other Indians made camp.

Me and Sandy gone about half a mile when we came to a large grassy clearing. I began' to photograph some of the grasses when Sandy who had wondered off ahead gave a shout. It sounded urgent, I ran across.

" Look. " said Sandy pointing at the ground.

I looked ..... there in the mud was a large footprint, it was five times the size of an elephants with four toes and a heal.

" What on earth made that. " said Sandy. Not so much what, but when. " I said. "

" Look here's another. " said Sandy marching off to a position about six feet away.

We both followed the footprints to the edge of the clearing where they just stopped.

" What. are they. " said Sandy as we examined them more closely.

" Dinosaur. . . . " I said.

" They must he millions of years old. " said Sandy.

" Not on this ground. " I said. " The rain would have washed them away wi thin two or three years"

" Then. it's still around. " said Sandy.

" We'd better get back. " I said.

We met Joe and Mr Pepperday as we were walking back so we took them to see the foot prints. Mr Pepperday measured and photographed them, he said that they were all left hand foot prints which was a bit of a puzzle.

" Somewhere out there. " said Joe looking around at the surrounding scrub land. " Is a one footed dinosaur hopping about in the mist. "

" Looking for a mate. " said Sandy.

" You suppose it's a new species. " I said.

" I don't know. " said Mr Pepperday. " I've never seen a print quite like that. " Mr Pepperday stood and looked around. " We had better see what the Indian's have to say about it. "

When we got hack the Indians had set up quite a respectable base camp.

Tako had got some lunch cooking over a large log fire. It was nice and warm near the fire end made a nice change after the rather damp atmosphere of the plateau.

Mr Pepperday mentioned to Tako about the foot prints.

" Which ones. " said Tako.

" You've have seen them then. " said Mr Pepperday.

" Most of them. " said Tako.

" Do you know when they were made. " said Mr Pepperday.

" More to the point what made them. " said Joe.

" They were made last June. " said Tako.

" You saw it. " I said.

" O yes. " said Tako not looking at all surprised. " I was there. "

" Was it a one footed dinosaur then. " said Sandy.

" No. " said Tako. " It was the special affects man. "

" Special effects man. " said Mr Pepperday.

" Yes. " said Tako. " We brought some film people up here last year, they were making a film about a lost world full of monsters. "

" O what " shame. " said Joe.

" Were you hoping to see one. " said Tako.

" It would make a change to see something really big. " said , Joe.

" The biggest thing up here are the Goeyhas. " said Tako.

" Goeyhas . " said Mr Pepperday. " That's a new one on me. "

" They're a kind of hairy pig. " said Tako.

" We'll have to try and find a couple of those. " said Me Pepperday

" It's possibly a new species. "

We all agreed that tomorrow would he spent hunting the Goeyhas.

That night I didn't sleep much, partly because it was so hot and damp, partly because of the strange sounds coming from the jungle and partly because I couldn't help thinking that, perhaps there was just one dinosaur left, hopping about on one leg somewhere in the dark.

We rose early next morning and sat eating breakfast looking towards the place where there would have been a magnificent sunrise, that is if the mist hadn't been in the way.

Joe and I shouted and banged our way though the jungle. Sandy and Mr Pepperday did the same on the left. The Indians worked there way around on our right. The nets had been set up and we slowly converged on them from all sides with the hope of frightening a pig or two into them. Over the noise we were making we couldn't hear if there were any pigs in front of us or not.

As we closed onto the nets we could hear sequels indicating that at least we had had some success, in fact we had more success than we had anticipated . Several pigs were wriggling about getting further and further tangled on in the nets, all protesting loudly.

Now getting a fat struggling pig out of a net without the slightest bit of co-operation from the animal is no easy matter.

By nightfall we had managed to get two grumpy specimens into cages. Mr Pepperday said that they were not a new species hut a rare example of a subgroup. They were so very hairy it was almost impossible to tell which end was which. The best way to tell without getting your hand bitten off was to wait and see which direction it walked off in. That night I didn't care about any one footed dinosaur, I slept like a log.