Louis scrambled into the brush, shouting in French. "No! Not Mishima
too!" Running at full speed, he searched frantically for any signs of
the man's whereabouts. He returned to the others dejected, his search
fruitless - no tracks, no trace.

Louis pounded his fists against a nearby tree. "Damn this infernal place!"

Mandragola turned to Shaka in surprise.  "What does he mean, 'too?'
Has this kind of disappearance occurred before?"

Secretly, he suspected that the Zulu may have played a part in
Mishima's fate, but he said nothing, watching them carefully.

Shaka too appeared shocked, and turned to speak to the other Zulu.

"I had a companion with me," he said, "that remained in the reeds when
I appeared before you.  His name is Mishima, and he was a small man
with yellow skin.  He was a friend of your King, and his return shall
be rewarded."

When the Zulu shook their heads and shrugged in dismay, Shaka directed
Pala to begin a larger search. Some of the Zulu frowned and murmured,
and seemed to be almost avoiding Shaka, though they followed Pala to
begin combing the terrain.

Shaka answered Mandragola next.  "This is not the first of the
disappearances among those that Louis and I have traveled with.  Many
of our companions have disappeared without a trace.  Until now I had
thought it was grail slavers, but now I am unsure.  We shall find
Mishima though.

"We must signal Charles and the river party to tell them of our good
fortune in finding this tribe.  In the morning, Louis, you shall take
Mandragola and two warriors to the river and make the appropriate
signal.  Charles and the others will surely agree that the best way is
on land now that we can travel as a force to be reckoned with!"

When dawn came, bright and clear, the tribe ate from their
grails. Louis, Mandragola, and the two warriors lit a fire and began
the smoke signal to the others.

			      *  *  *  *


Josephine looked askance at Shaw, a small furrow between her brow.
Her comment was a little wry as is the half-smile on her lips, "If I
died willingly to save that man, it is better than his unwilling
death." 

Shaw returned Josephine's look with a similar half smile.
"Personally, I would prefer that no one died, except for them of
course."

She leaned towards him a little intently, her gaze meeting his, "I had
a choice."

He turned serious.  "We always have a choice, all I ask is that next
time we try and choose some planing rather than everyone rushing off
on there own. We got lucky this time, what do you think would have
happened if they had guards posted?"

His face relaxed into a smile again.  "Still, all in all I would say
that we all did quite well."

"I'm not sorry I acted the way I did." she said to Charles, in a
sincere voice and her best Latin. "I am sorry I didn't have the time
to inform you of my intentions first, however."

Giving Shaw one last look, she turned her attention to the newcomer,
looking over him with care, but offering no information about herself.

Flashing a serene smile around the boat, her voice filled with humor.
"Well, I guess I've had my swim for the day. What about these people?
Are they familiar to any of you?"

The others shook their heads.  "Dunno these blokes," Sly put
in. "Don't think dey're the same tossers what near strung me up back
'dere. Can't see 'em much from here tho."

"There seems to be no danger here," Charles said to the others, "and
we should put in and eat. Let Shaw and Jeanne disembark last, so they
can cover us with their bows."  Jeanne agreed immediately.

The others in the group readily acceded and soon they were all
ashore, and confronted the people of the region.  Charles addressed
them, saying, "Greetings.  I am Charles of Aachen.  These people are
my friends and traveling mates.  We are journeying to visit the area
around which we found ourselves.  We wish to stop here, replenish our
food, and rest for a while.  We will not disturb you, or bring harm to
you.  May we stay?"

One of the locals, a dark-skinned man, grinned widely, almost
maniacally, and nodded. "Welcome to." he said, and motioned for the
group to put their grails in the grailstone.

Breakfast was pleasant, and included a hearty omelette, baked beans,
bread, fruit, and juice. Each lazarus also found a small hard mirror
in their grail. Sly in particular, ate hungrily, eyeing the food of
the others until Josephine offered him some of hers, which he quickly
devoured. He finished his meal by eagerly chewing the dreamgum in his
grail.

The locals ate but said little; many seemed to be in a dream-like
state or simply uninterested. There were twelve of them, six men and
six women, dressed in the typical fashion.

After the meal, Jeanne set out to make more arrows for the bows, using
short lengths of bamboo, by firing their tips and grinding them into
points. Taking up two smaller bamboo pieces, she lashed them together
with threads from her towel and formed a small cross, which she hung
around her neck from another thread.

Shaw spent a half hour in a quiet conversation with Freud.

"After hearing of the..what would you call them, special dreams that
some of the others have been having," Shaw began, "I have been
experimenting with dream gum, hoping to make my dreams more vivid, you
see?" Freud nodded. "Last night," Shaw continued, "was the third time
I tried this and each time I have had similar dreams. I wonder if you
could help me get a better grasp on them, maybe learn to control
them. I was also thinking that you could perhaps hypnotize me, so that
I could recall all the details, and so they could be shared with the
rest of the group."

Freud nodded. "Hypnotism might bring out more from your dreams and I
could try to divine their meanings. The gum is an unknown - it seems
to be dangerous to some, but to provoke visions in others. Perhaps you
are one of the lucky ones. I certainly hope so."

Shaw decided to discuss the matter with the others when the time
seemed right.

Benjamin wandered into the woods and collected his own bits of
wood. As he returned and took up his knife to begin carving them, he
looked across the river and called to the others. "It's a smoke
signal; Shaka's group is signaling us to join them!"

At the same time, Sly's eyes, which kept returning to the face of the
man who had first greeted them, widened. "F*ck me!" he exclaimed in a
voice only slightly slurring, "You're Jimi Hendrix!"

The black man grinned his grin again and nodded pacificly. "And who
the f*ck are you?"

			      *  *  *  *