Truth be told, Placido de Castro is more likely to be the town that our heroes would come to first by following the Rio Acre, but since my history and geography are already shaky...not going to worry about it at this point!

Kat1021, as if I would kill off my heroes. :p

Haninator, welcome aboard! Surveys as in what's-your-favorite-color type of survey? That could be fun. Glad you're enjoying the story.

Ellen, Marion thinks she needs to meet your mother. *roll eyes* Thanks for the review! :D

Brittaney, glad you appreciated that. Hope you enjoy the next chapter.

Thanks to everyone else reading and reviewing! :)

Mutt, Ox, Marion and Indy are not my characters. The dam is entirely mine, since you will probably not find anything like it on the whole length of the Rio Acre! (Though Mutt seems to think he has a claim on it now...whatever.)

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FAR FROM HOME

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"Ox!" Mutt shouted as they ran along the northern riverbank, "What kind of dam is that?"

"This is hardly the time," Ox panted.

"Does it have a...whaddya call it—a floodgate?"

"It looks to be a bulkhead gate, to be precise."

"Whatever! Come on, I've got a plan. But we need to cross the river."

"Are you sure?" Marion asked. "Don't we want to stay on this side to get to Rio Branco?"

Mutt felt a little guilty to be deviating from Indy's instructions, but he was sure of his plan. "Mom, trust me! Come on, into the water." He kept one arm entwined with hers to steady her as they entered the murky water.

"Oh, this is so disgusting," Marion whined as they sank immediately to their waists and then waded deeper. "We'll have so many diseases by the time we get home..."

Mutt threw a look back over his shoulder. The Indians were running down to the riverbank. "Hurry up, Ox, we need to get out fast!"

Ox was attempting a side stroke which was much hampered by his clothing.

When they gained the opposite bank, Mutt gave his mother a boost out of the water and she turned to help him up. Then they both pulled Ox out behind them.

Indy was in the water now, Mutt noticed before turning toward the dam. That could be good—but if he stayed in too long, it might ruin everything.

"Come on," Mutt yelled, seeing that their would-be captors were not far behind them. He led Ox and Marion up onto the narrow catwalk above the dam. "Help me out, Ox—how do we open it?"

"It works by machinery," Ox replied, going to take hold of a wooden crank handle. "This is a very primitive sort of sluice gate—it has several sections to be raised individually..."

"The press version, Ox! Please!"

"Grab a ruddy handle and crank!"

Mutt did as he was told. Marion went to the third crank and they all turned their handles feverishly.

As he worked, Mutt watched Indy's progress. He was at the southern bank now, trying to find a hold to climb up out of the riverbed.

"Come on, old man," he whispered. "Get out of there."

The nearest Indians had already lost their footing in the sudden torrent of water and were being swept downstream. Those even with Indy were picking which side they were closer to in order to escape being washed away.

"Come on," Mutt said aloud this time. "Come on, come on, come on..."

He could see Indy shaking out his whip. The high wave of water was nearly to him now. The whip snaked out and wrapped around a sturdy shrub a few feet away. Indy dragged his upper body onto the bank as the water tried to pull his legs back in.

Then he was free of the river and the three on the bulkhead breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"He made it," Mutt said quietly. He realized he was shaking.

Marion wrapped her arms firmly around his soaked form. "It worked! You did it, honey!"

"Yeah... I can't believe it..."

"Well done," Ox said heartily. "Let's go collect the old boy, shall we?"

The "old boy" was a bit rattled, but seemed physically intact when they met him.

"Let's get to Rio Branco," Indy said, silencing all inquiries about his well-being. "They've had a setback, but they'll be hot on our trail in no time if they really want us—and it sure seemed like they did."

Mutt knew he was probably going to get yelled at sooner or later, so he drifted away from Ox and Marion to walk by Indy again.

"That was a pretty bull-headed risk you took," Indy commented.

"I know."

"Supposing the Kayapó had decided to cross the river over the dam and cut you off? You'd have been trapped in the water."

That idea hadn't occurred to Mutt. "Oh... well... I figured they'd follow us."

"You're some lucky you figured right."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"I told you to make for the town."

"I know—but you didn't know about the dam—"

"Actually," Indy interrupted, "I suspected there was one. But you're right: I didn't know what kind. And if I had, I would probably have approved your plan."

"So... wait. You're saying it was a good idea?"

"I'm saying it was a brilliant idea. You think on your feet—like a soldier. An ambitious one that gets promotions."

Mutt didn't know what to say. No one had ever commended him like that before. It didn't help his eloquence at all that one of the few memories he had of his stepfather was of Collin calling him "Soldier" sometimes. "Thanks," he managed at last. Then he added, "But yeah, if they had gone over the bridge—I mean, it's really narrow, but I don't see why they wouldn't have tried it."

"Well, the Kayapó are a bit suspicious of us—of outsiders. They probably wouldn't have trusted it."

They crossed the dam back to the northern side of the river and retrieved the swords and jaguar-hide pack from the place they had dropped them before entering the water. Then they continued quickly toward the city.

It was full dark by the time they reached it.

"City lights never looked so good," Indy said.

"I'll say," Mutt agreed.

It didn't take Indy long to find someone who spoke Spanish (rather than the official language, Portuguese), and from this helpful man they got directions to the Santa Juliana Hospital.

All four travelers had some need for medical attention. When the Brazilian doctor treated the scratches on his leg and the cut on his face, Mutt was glad that his mother was far down another hallway, and couldn't hear him yell. He couldn't imagine the pain Indy was experiencing from the lesions on his leg.

They stayed overnight at the hospital. Sleeping in a real bed felt luxurious after so many nights in the jungle. And yet, Mutt felt a little disappointed. Life in Chicago would certainly seem dull after this.

.

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Much of the next morning was spent trying to find transportation. Indy still had a little money that had survived the ordeal of jungle, waterfall, etc., but it wouldn't get them far, and certainly not in style.

"This is the best we're likely to find," Indy said after talking in Spanish with a truck driver. "This man is driving to Puerto Maldonado. From there we can get to Cuzco some way, and then Nazca."

"And then home!" Marion finished.

"One step at a time," Indy said. "But we'll get there."

"I suppose we'll be riding on some crazy cargo—goats or something."

"Nope; fruit."

"Oh, well all right, then."

Mutt nibbled a piece of dried peccary meat. He wondered whether his mother was planning to head right back to Chicago when they returned to the States. He also wondered if Indy intended to return to Connecticut. If Indy and Marion had any plans to continue their relationship, someone would have to bring up the topic of destinations pretty soon.

"How long 'til we leave?" Mutt asked.

Indy consulted his watch. "About half an hour."

"Time for Hercules to perform his next task?"

"I think so; he is a hero, after all. What are we up to? The bull was last, right?"

"Yeah." Mutt settled on the ground in the shade of a small shop.

"All right. Then we're on number eight, I believe, which is the mares of Diomedes. They were wild, fire-breathing, man-eating horses that Hercules was supposed to steal from their master, who happened to be a giant."

"Good. Maybe we'll see some action this time."

"There are a couple of versions of this story," Indy said, looking pointedly at Ox, "so I'm just going to tell you the one I prefer."

"OK."

"Hercules found the mares easily enough and cut them loose. But they were wild and wouldn't just let him lead them away. The giant was coming to stop him, so Hercules chased the mares out onto a peninsula and dug a trench to keep them from escaping."

"So he turned the peninsula into an island?"

"That's right. While the horses were trapped there, Hercules fought Diomedes. He won, naturally. Then he had to think of a way to calm the horses down so he could take them back to Eurystheus. Care to take a guess at what he did?"

Mutt thought hard, but nothing jumped out at him. He wasn't very familiar with horses. "I don't know."

"He fed Diomedes to them."

"Oh. Cool."

"That's what you call thematic irony."

"Thanks. That's good to know."

"Mutt," Marion chided.

"It's all right," said Indy. "I wasn't thrilled to learn about it from my father either. But when you have a professor of medieval literature for a father, you pick these things up."

It suddenly struck Mutt that through Indy, he had another "side" to his family. "Is your father still alive?" he asked. Surely it was impossible—Indy was so old himself, and the one time he had mentioned his father, it had sounded like the old guy had passed on—but it was worth a shot.

Indy shook his head. "No; I wish he could have met you. That would have been... something."

"Oh. Sorry. What about... brothers and sisters?"

"I would have a sister. But she died."

"Sorry again."

"It's OK."

Mutt cleared his throat. "So. Um, what happened to the horses?"

"They stayed tame and wandered around Argos. Eurystheus dedicated them to Hera."

"You mean they didn't try to eat anyone anymore? That's boring." Mutt glanced at the others and noticed that Ox was staring out toward the jungle. "What's eating you, Ox?"

Ox frowned. "Nothing yet," he said mysteriously. "It just perplexes me: what ever did those Kayapó want with us anyway? They're quite far from home."

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I'm not sure if the Santa Juliana Hospital would be the closest one for them to find, or whether it was built in the 1950's, or even what sort of hospital it is (the only info I could find was in Spanish or Portuguese, and I am not fluent in either, alas). But I was pretty proud of myself for finding a real hospital in Rio Branco, so cut me some slack. :p