Aari and his team had decided to walk ahead and meet up with us, just in case we were having some unexpected trouble. He cleared it with Rock and Nelson first since they would be going into an unfriendly country illegally. After walking for a day however, he was getting concerned. The area was sparsely treed which would make us too visible to any enemy aircraft, and they had heard helicopter activity further ahead of where they were.

He got an idea and changed direction for a while. Meanwhile, back home. “I do not like this,” said Rock, “why have the cats not sent a message since their second day?” “I am not sure,” said Annelie, “but I cannot get through to them either. Something must have happened, perhaps their batteries have died.” “They were supposed to have extra batteries with them,” said Nelson. Annelie sighed.

“Yes, that is true,” she responded, “that is why I am so worried.” “Get a message to Aari through Rusty,” said Rock. She did so and the return message was not good. Route 3 was quite open country at that point which would make it easy for a helicopter to spot them. “Route 3 was supposed to have lots of tree cover all the way,” said Nelson, “so I smell a trap here.”

He then called the Prime Minister and talked with him about it. He said that an investigation would begin immediately. Then he told that to Rock and Annelie. “Too late to help Steve and the 4 cats though,” said Annelie with a big sigh, “they do not have much of a chance now.” Now back to us. We had stopped for a rest and since Storm just woke up I sent him ahead to scout around a bit, but I told him not to go far.

He was not gone long and came back saying there was a big open area ahead. “That does not make sense,” I said, “we have definitely been betrayed. Now we need to turn and head back to route 2 and go out that way.” “That will add another 2 days, at least, to our journey,” said Kat, “and if there is no water along the way we will be in big trouble.”

“There is no water here either,” said Catalina, “and there should have been a stream by now.” “Yes, another sign that we have been led the wrong way deliberately,” I said, “so we must make that change now.” We continued our scheduled rest, then turned back, but at an angle away from our trail. Hopefully they will not notice that we have changed, at least until we have a good lead.

Soon the sun was rising over the hill and we could tell it would be another hot day. We were nearly out of water, but we needed to keep walking until noon anyway. About 10am Storm said he could smell water again, so he and Kat went looking. I looked at Muffin, she was obviously not doing well. “What is wrong Muffin?” I asked her.

Meow,meow.=Storm and me not have water for long time. Heat hard and make heart do flip flops. Catalina looked puzzled. “Muffin has heart problems,” I explained, “but it has not bothered her for a long time now.” Catalina quickly took some water and gave it to Muffin. Muffin drank slowly from her hand. “No more of this going without water Princess,” said Catalina, “we share in this team.”

Meow,meow.=Me thank you for being so nice to Muffin. Storm and Kat returned with bottles filled with water. “There was not much water in that stream,” said Kat, “but we got enough to last us for quite a while. Hey, what is wrong with my little Muffin?” “It is her heart,” I said, “not enough water and this heat are causing problems for her.”

“Storm was telling me they have been without water for too long,” she said. We rested for the afternoon in the shade. It would have been nice to have some wind, but it was completely calm. After our meagre meal, we continued with our hike, staying under the large pines. We were stopping every two hours for a break so the girls would not get too worn out carrying me.

Kat was getting worried about my leg since the swelling was not really getting any better. “Bouncing around on this makeshift stretcher likely is not helping,” said Catalina. “Um, what are you doing?” I asked. “Trying to help your leg,” she said calmly, “and if you argue I will slap you.”

“This team is getting dangerous,” I said smiling. The cats giggled. “There, maybe with your leg elevated a bit it might help,” said Catalina. Soon we were off again. The night was cooler and felt so good, there was even a light breeze.

About 3am we stopped for another rest and I said we would change direction slightly to follow closely along route 2, but not directly on that route. Storm went scouting all around the area, but was not gone long. Meowr.=Me not see something, but me sense trouble not far…

To Be Continued.

©Steve McLeod.