CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I think I used the red robot the entire time we were on the plane. I know I used it when we were on the camels, and I only put it down when Uncle Scrooge told us that we were at the head of the ancient river.
"Everyone, look around." Uncle Donald said from his camel, "See if you can find it."
Dewey and Louie wanted our camel to go in different directions, but I used the compass in the Guidebook to help them know which direction it was.
"Look over there," I said.
"I don't see anything." Dewey said.
"All I see are a bunch of cliff caves." Louie added.
"Hey," Dewey said, tugging my sleeve, "There's other people here too!"
"Uncle Donald!" Louie said.
The Uncles walked their camels towards us, and Uncle Scrooge went ahead of our camel. Coming up to us on camels were two people, a man and a woman.
I had never seen them before, but they didn't feel nice.
"What are they doing here?" Dewey whispered to me and Louie, "This place is deserted."
"Ahoy there!" The man shouted, "Fancy meeting someone else here!"
"I'm Sally Merryweather, archeologist." The woman announced, "This is my husband, Sammy Merryweather."
"Also an archeologist." The man added.
"And you are-?"
"McDuck." Uncle Scrooge said. "Well, don't let us get in your way. We'll just be going, Lads."
"Just a minute," the woman spoke up. "Would you mind sharing a little water?"
Uncle Donald rode his camel over to hers and passed them both some water.
"Thank you," the woman said, then looked around. "Boy, how old are you?"
She was looking at me. I had to answer quickly.
"Ten years old, Ma'am." I said.
"A little young, aren't they?" The woman asked, looking at Uncle Donald.
"If yer'll all quite settled, we really have ta get going." Uncle Scrooge answered, looking a little impatient.
"You kids behave now," the man said.
"Yes Sir," I answered. Dewey and Louie kept quiet.
With a small wave, the two of them rode slowly around us as Uncle Scrooge led our camels towards the cliffs.
We were all quiet until they were far enough behind us that we couldn't see them anymore.
"That was kinda weird. They never asked us where we were going." Louie said.
"Just ignore them." Uncle Donald said.
"There are some people who come to the middle of nowhere to make discoveries," Uncle Scrooge said, "While others may not always be here for good reason. It's best ta keep quiet about what yer doing in places like this, and stay out of each other's way."
We spent some time riding towards the caves that could be seen from the Head of the river. After meeting that man and woman, I decided not to use my robot toy anymore and kept it hidden in my pack. So I paid attention to all the landmarks this time.
It is always better to keep important things hidden.
"Uncle Donald, can we take a break?" Louie asked.
"Yeah," said Dewey, "All this riding is exhausting."
Uncle Donald nodded, and we all stepped down from the camels.
"It's funny how things look different from different heights." Dewey said.
Yeah, it was funny. The same cliffs looked so different from down here.
Wait.
"How tall were they?" I asked.
"Who?"
"The people who made the Forgotten." I said.
"About as tall as us," Uncle Scrooge said, taking down his pack.
"But, were they always this tall?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Louie asked.
"I mean, did they have animals to make them taller? Is that how they would have seen the cliffs?"
They all looked at each other.
"No, they would have walked on foot or by litter." Uncle Scrooge said, "This land wasnae exactly a desert back then."
Uncle Donald stood up and grabbed a pack from his camel.
"I'm going to keep checking things out on foot," he said, patting the camel, "Uncle Scrooge, you stay here with the kids."
While Louie watered the camels I looked in the Guidebook to find out what a litter was, before helping Dewey set up a tent with Uncle Scrooge.
"Right Lads," Uncle Scrooge said, spreading a large piece of paper on the ground, "I've been keeping track of all the caves we could see Head of the River at camel height. Help me create a map, and we'll add to it any caves that yer Uncle Donald finds. We're right under one of the first cliffs, so we can start checking them out one by one."
The three of us crowded around Uncle Scrooge as he drew a map on the blank piece of paper. Almost by magic, he drew each cliff one by one and then marked the little spots where the caves were.
Wait, that cliff looked like-
"That looks like a Forgotten," I said, pointing to one of the cliffs.
"Aye, it does." Uncle Scrooge said.
"That's a funny shape all right," Louie said.
"But that's a natural cliff, me lad."
It was definitely a real cliff, but why did the cliff look so much like a robot?
"Maybe the angle matters," Dewey said, "Would it look more like a robot from closer to the ground?"
"Huey, get your robot toy." Louie said, "Let's compare it with the cliff!"
I nodded, and obediently walked towards where I had left the pack. I grabbed the red robot from it, and turned to look at the others.
They all had their heads down, looking at the map.
I started to walk back towards them-
Backwards! Who is holding me? Why is my mouth covered?
Uncle Donald wouldn't hold me like this. Who was this?
I struggled and dropped the robot, but it didn't make any noise. I was pulled away from the tent, away from the camels, and through the bushes.
To Be Continued...