Chapter 18 – Costa Rica

"The jungle does not know mercy."

'2nd March 1780,

General Dalling has spent the last few months finalising his plan, gathering supplies and arming his men. It was two weeks ago when I broke away from the main fleet, and now I follow Collingwood and the old Badger as he leads us into Costa Rica. This will all be over soon…'

Nelson could feel it, the power of the other key, it felt as close to him as the one that he had secured to a silver necklace around his neck. Nelson was inside the great hall of San Juan. He stared up at the high wooden ceiling. When he looked down he saw animal rugs laying flat on the floor and tables spread out across the great room. In the centre of the hall was a large square fire pit that was fenced off with sturdy iron bars to keep the wood from tumbling out. The fire crackled and the smoke sailed up until it exited the hall through a chimney in the roof.

On the tables around the hall sat small banquets of food, free for the higher soldiers to devour. There was a full roasted pig sitting at the main table. It was seasoned with spices and salads, and there were also fruits, fish, meats, bread and sweet cakes for after. It appeared that General Cortez had prepared a feast for himself. Cortez sat at the head of the main table. He was formally dressed in a white shirt and breeches and he wore a red military jacket over the top. His long hair and beard were still loose and scruffy.

During the meal, Cortez stood up with a tankard of wine in his left hand and he spoke to all of his men, who listened with great deference. 'The time has at last come for us to crush the British. In a few days we will send our fleets to Port Royale. We will ravage them and be one step closer to obtaining the great artefact that will grant us all,' He paused to add effect. 'Everlasting power!'

With an uprising of cheerful war cries Cortez thrust his cup high into the air and some of the wine spilt out as he did. Nelson began to see that Cortez considered himself as much more than a general. No normal military officer would throw such a banquet. Deep within Cortez's eyes was the look of a conqueror, a king even. He did not wish to imagine what chaos a man like Cortez would cause if he had gotten his hands on the apple.

When the celebration died down, Cortez returned to his room in the hall with his little wooden box by his side. The room was surprisingly well furnished, with a desk to one side, a dresser on the wall, a double sized bed and a heavy wooden chest beside it. The chest had been bolted to the wooden floorboards. Cortez reached into his shirt and fished out a key from the silver chain around his neck. He fit the key into the lock and turned it, there was a quiet snapping sound and the chest was opened. Within, the chest was rich with gold coins of all kinds. There was also a large expense of jewellery and a collection of documents bound by string.

With the touch of a lover, Cortex gently opened the smaller wooden box and from it, he removed the key. As the little round object came into view it began to pulse with glowing green patterns, and Nelson felt the impulse to reach out and take it, if only he could. Cortez carefully placed the key inside the larger chest and then sealed it away, as if it would be forever parted from him. When he was done he raised his large body up and placed the chest key back around his neck. At last Nelson knew where to find it.

'Sir,' There was a strong voice probing at the back of his mind. It came again, but louder. 'Sir, Collingwood sends word from The Badger.'

Reality hit him like a shot of strong whiskey and Nelson found himself once again navigating The HMS Hitchinbrook through the wide Colorado River. The sounds of the insects and the songs of the wild birds carried through the early morning haze. Nelson looked around his environment, on both sides of the river was an impenetrable jungle wall, beneath the haze the brown river water ran with a strong current, and in front of them, past Collingwood and the Badger, the river ran on and on until it joined up with the San Juan River.

Nelson turned his attention towards Collingwood's message. 'What is it boy.' He demanded.

The messenger cleared his throat before speaking. 'Collingwood says that we will soon be in Nicaragua and that the crossing into the San Juan River is coming up now.'

Nelson handed the wheel over to his coxswain. 'Good, tell him that we will be ready to beach when he demands it.'

The messenger nodded and then returned to his longboat. For the remainder of their voyage through the Colorado River, Nelson set about to preparing his men for the long jungle march into Jan Juan. He had all of his men gather their weapons, swords, pistols, muskets, clubs, and then there were the two selected people to carry the powder explosives that would take down the main gate. He then assigned people to carry water and food for the men. According to Collingwood it was just over a days march from the San Juan River to the fort.

This however was without rest and was with a smaller force. Together The Badger and The Hinchinbrook carried one hundred and forty fighting men, which was a relatively hard force to move though jungles such as those of Costa Rica. As Nelson managed his ship he pondered over his most recent vision. It seemed that General Cortez was more resourceful than anyone had expected, if he was already prepared to launch such an attack on Port Royale.

'What if he learns of the infantry force?' Nelson wondered. If so then he would be walking directly into a trap, so he could only assume the worst. However, they had come too far to turn back now. Nelson decided that he would decide what to later when he re-joined with Collingwood.

After about half a day of smooth sailing Collingwood finally raised the blue flag from the quarterdeck and it flapped gracefully in the gentle breeze. This was the signal that they had reached their destination. Nelson assisted Elizabeta in lowering one of the rowboats and then they climbed into it along with a dozen other soldiers. With four men pushing the oars, they drifted over the strong river current until the bottom of their boat touched the northern bank of the river. They were now very close to Fort San Juan.

Nelson leaped from the boat into the knee-deep water and waded onto dry land, leading the first group and waiting by the tree line of the jungle as the other boats from both ships landed. The rowboats had to take another trip to collect the other half of the garrison. The beach was only two metres wide, and the colour of the sand was grey from pebbles and degraded rocks. It spread all the way along the tree line down the river. Nelson met Collingwood a few metres up the grey beach. He had to push through sections of jungle trees that had strayed from the wall.

Meanwhile, Collingwood waited while ordered his men around the beach. Collingwood's brown hair was loose down to his shoulders. He wore only a brown long sleeved shirt and black breeches to protect him from the jungle. The front of the shirt exposed part of Collingwood's chest. Nelson had also noticed that Collingwood's beard had flourished since they had left Port Royale. It was still short but it was also thick.

Nelson greeted Collingwood briefly and was straight down to business. 'Are the men ready to march?' He said.

Collingwood watched as the last of the accumulating soldiers left their boats and joined the ranks along the beach. 'It looks like it.'

Nelson turned and faced his ship out in the river. He saluted his coxswain, who responded with the same salute. Now that the soldiers had been offloaded the HMS Badger and the HMS Hinchinbrook would sail back the way they came and circle around to meet the main fleet at the coast of San Juan. Essentially, there was no going back from this point onwards. Once the sails were loose and both ships were on their way, Nelson turned back to Collingwood. 'Lead the way.' He said.

Moving through the jungle was a slow and perilous business. On several occasions, as they forced through the dense leaves, Nelson would feel nauseous and would cough in small spasms. He passed it off as being dehydrated and continued on his way. Nelson recalled his early expedition to the Caicos Islands and the jungles where he had found the first key, where all of this began.

The jungles of Nicaragua were not much different. The men travelled in a straight line, taking turns at leading the group. It was much easier to travel at the back because those who were in front had already cleared a path. The leaders at the front had the tiresome challenge of hacking away with their machetes in order to get through, and so it was decided that the men would rotate in order to arrive at the fort unexhausted. This continued for little over a day. The entire time Collingwood was fixed to his compass to assure that they would not lose their bearings, but every few hours the company would reach a landmark left behind by Collingwood on his first journey here. When the night came they did not stop to rest, but continued by torchlight.

It was in darkness when the jungle truly came to life, and the call of nature was almost overpowering to the men. Never the less they were encouraged to press on. They did so until the dawn of the new day slowly inched its way through the jungle canopy. A few hours later Collingwood leaped with relief when he sighted his final landmark. There was a stream that ran straight through a small clearing in the jungle. Beside the stream was a single tree that had a worn piece of white cloth tied around one of the lower branches. The cloth was covered in tears and moss but it was distinguishable.

'We have made it.' Collingwood remarked. He pointed to the trees ahead of the stream. 'Fort San Juan is directly behind those trees.'

Nelson came up behind Collingwood and placed a hand over his shoulder. 'Then lets not waste any more time.'