Forest of the Pygmies by Isabel Allende Read Free Book Online Page A

terrible illnesses thwarted civilization. Missionaries determined to spread Christianity at any price were the only ones who persevered in their aim to put down roots in that infernal region.
    “You can count fewer than one inhabitant per square mile, and the population is concentrated around the rivers; all the rest is uninhabited,” Brother Fernando explained. “No one goes into the swamps. The natives are convinced that spirits live there, and that there are still dinosaurs.”
    “Fascinating!” said Alexander.
    The missionary’s description sounded like the mythological Africa he had visualized when his grandmother announced the trip. He had been disillusioned when they reached Nairobi and he found himself in a modern city with tall buildings and bustling traffic. The nearest thing to a warrior he had seen had been in the tribe of nomads who brought the sick child to Mushaha’s camp. Even the safari elephants had seemed too tame to him. When he mentioned that to Nadia, she shrugged her shoulders, unable to understand why he felt cheated with his first impression of Africa. She hadn’t expected anything in particular. Alexander concluded that if Africa had been populated by extraterrestrials, Nadia would have accepted them as an everyday occurrence, because she never pictured anything in advance. Maybe now, at the place marked on Brother Fernando’s map, he would find the magic land he had imagined.
    Other than the passenger’s thirst, exhaustion, and airsickness, the flight was uneventful. After several hours Angie began to descend through thin clouds. She pointed to the endless green land below, where they could identify the sinuous line of a single river. They saw absolutely no sign of human life, but they were too high to see villages, even if there were any.
    “This is it, I’m sure of it!” Brother Fernando yelled.
    “Just as I warned you, there’s no place to land!” Angie yelled back.
    “Take the plane down, miss, and God will provide,” the missionary assured her.
    “Well, he better, because we need to refuel!”
    The Super Hawk began to descend in sweeping circles. As they got closer to earth, the passengers could see that the river was much wider than they’d thought. Angie explained that they would find villages farther south, but Brother Fernando insisted that they had to head northwest, toward the region where hiscompanions had built the mission. Angie circled a couple of times, still descending.
    “We’re burning up what little gasoline we have left! I’m heading south,” she decided finally.
    “There, Angie!” Kate pointed suddenly.
    Along one side of the river, as if by enchantment, appeared the clear fringe of a shore.
    “That strip is narrow and very short, Angie,” Kate warned.
    “I only need a little over a couple of hundred yards, but I don’t think we have that much,” Angie replied.
    She circled again to take measure of the open area and check the best angle for her approach.
    “It won’t be the first time I’ve landed in less than two hundred yards. Hang on, guys, we’re in for a ride!” she announced with another of her typical war cries.
    Until that moment Angie had been totally relaxed in her piloting, with a can of beer between her knees and a cigarette between her fingers. Now her attitude changed. She stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray fastened to the floor with adhesive tape, settled her corpulence in her seat, gripped the wheel with both hands, and got ready to set her course without ever interrupting the steady stream of curses and Comanche yells and appeals to the good luck that according to her had never failed her—after all, why did she wear a fetish around her neck? Kate chorused Angie, yelling till she was hoarse, because she couldn’t think of any other way to calm her nerves. Nadia closed her eyes and thought of her father. Alexander opened his eyes wide, invoking his friend, the lama Tensing, whose prodigious mental powers would have been