The Castaway Hotel - 7 - 10. Chapter 10 - A Close Call

The next morning, I wasn’t feeling very well when I woke Jake to go fishing, so I bowed out from joining them. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was worried about Andrew and didn’t sleep well after I discovered him next to me or whether I might actually be coming down with something. Whatever it was, I thought it best to rest up, so it would hopefully pass before it was time for us to move on.

Jake understood and agreed to take the fishermen out alone, but he would let them go out together in one canoe, to give them a chance to gain a little confidence on their own. This meant Jake would be alone in our canoe, but he didn’t seem to feel that would be a problem. Having gained his reassurance, I stayed where I was and cuddled up next to Andrew.

It was about a half hour later when I heard a commotion outside, so I got up and went out to see what was going on. The second I moved through the tent flap, I noticed a canoe floating upside down near the opposite shore and saw someone splashing around in the water next to it. Focusing on the individual in the lake, I soon discovered it was Jake and realized he had somehow managed to capsize his canoe. The other canoe was rapidly moving toward him, as the boys went to his rescue.

They apparently had been fishing quite a ways from him, so it took them a while to get there. Once they did, Jake merely grabbed on to the side of the canoe, but didn’t try to climb in. He was afraid that if he did, he might tip them over too. Therefore, he kept a tight grip on the canoe and urged the boys to paddle toward the shore we were camped on.

Once they got Jake safely to our campsite, they broke away and went back to retrieve our canoe. It was caught in the current caused by the stream draining from the other end, so the canoe was steadily moving away from them. We almost ended up losing it, but our quick thinking boys prevented that from happening. They managed to tow the canoe back to camp, and once they were safely with us again, I decide to find out exactly what had happened.

“Damn, I lost my knife and a pair of sunglasses,” Jake complained, as he came walking toward me.

“Are you all right?” I asked, concerned. “What happened out there?”

“I was fishing and enjoying the morning,” Jake began, “when I noticed a snake in the canoe with me. It was slithering in my direction, so I tried to flip it out with the paddle. However, I only succeeded in flipping it on me instead and then I panicked, since I wasn’t sure if it was poisonous or not. As I tried to get it off me, I accidentally let my body weight shift too far to one side, which rolled the canoe and forced me to take an unexpected swim.”

The boys were struggling to suppress their giggles at this point, but weren’t totally successful in their attempts. You could still hear a few stifled chuckles and some other throaty noises coming from those trying to hold back their laughter, and this didn’t go unnoticed. Hearing this, Jake began to turn red from embarrassment.

I was trying to reassure him it could have happened to any of us, when he suddenly remembered something. He quickly stepped past me and moved toward the two who had saved him.

“Did you get my fishing pole?” he asked. This might have also been his attempt to deflect attention away from what had happened, by asking about his gear. We all focused on Pat and Dustin, but they merely shrugged or shook their head in response.

“Damn, that means I lost that too!” Jake moaned, obviously distraught. In fact, he appeared more upset about this than he had been about losing the other items or being part of this fiasco in the first place.

“Why don’t some of you boys go out and see if you might be able to find it,” I suggested, although I didn’t hold out much hope they would be able to recover it. My primary intent was to get as many of them away from the area as I could, to relieve some of Jake’s discomfort. I felt he’d be more likely to relax and calm down if there wasn’t a crowd around reminding him how embarrassing this had been.

“Sending them back out isn’t going to do any good,” he groaned, looking at me. “Let’s face it. It’s lost and it’s my fault.”

“Maybe they won’t be successful, but it won’t do any harm to try,” I advised him. “Just give them a chance and we’ll see if it turns up.”

“I’m telling you, it won’t work out like you hope,” he offered, discouragingly, “and if we’re lucky, they won’t lose anything else. I screwed up and that’s what it cost for doing something so stupid.”

I continued to try to console him, but he made it obvious he just wanted to be left alone. Respecting his feelings, I moved away, but not completely. I only moved far enough to give him his own space and let him work things out for himself.

When I saw he seemed to be in control of his emotions again and not taking it so badly, I moved off to see if the boys had found anything. A little while later they returned and I could tell by the looks on their faces they hadn’t been successful. With nothing left to do, I decided to fix breakfast and then we’d discuss our next move.

The boys were also feeling badly and were disappointed they had little to offer in the way of fish for breakfast. Hoping to redeem themselves, they decided to go out and try their luck for another half hour. I thought that would be fine, so I told them to go ahead, but I also advised them to be very careful. While they were out trying to be useful, I kept the others busy taking down camp and packing up, while I fixed something to fill their stomachs. Soon, Jake came out to assist me and it appeared he had come to terms with what had happened earlier.

While we finished preparing the meal, our fisherman came back in, whooping and hollering. I suspected this meant they had managed to catch a few more fish to add to what they had caught earlier, but I quickly learned I was wrong. Although I could see one of them was carrying a few more fish for breakfast, the other had something else clutched in his hand. As they walked toward Jake, I could see he was holding Jake’s fishing rod triumphantly before him.

Jake didn’t look up immediately and only turned when one of the boys spoke to him. When he did, Jake immediately spotted what they were carrying and beamed with relief.

“How in the world did you find it?” he asked, surprised.

“Well, it started when I decided to fish in the area where you had been earlier,” Pat began. “Seeing it wasn’t too far from shore, the water level was fairly shallow, so I was trolling for fish near the bottom. When my canoe started drifting with the current, I felt it wasn’t a problem, so I just continued fishing. A short time later, I felt my line snag something, but wasn’t sure what it was. I felt it might be a fish, or maybe some garbage other campers had thrown into the lake, but either way I gave my rod a yank and began to reel it in.

“Whatever was on the other end seemed heavier than the fish I’d been catching,” he continued, “so I was anxious to see what I had hooked. As I pulled my line out of the water, I discovered my hook had somehow gone through one of the eyelets on your fishing pole. I don’t know how I was lucky enough to get the hook through one of those small rings that guide the fishing line, but I wasn’t about to argue with my good fortune. I’ve heard people say they’d rather be lucky than good and so will I. After I realized what I had, I just took up the rest of my line and your pole came with it.”

“I don’t care how you did it, but I do want to thank you,” Jake gushed. “That’s the rod and reel my dad gave me when I graduated high school and the reason I was so upset when I thought I’d lost it. I can’t tell you how much it means to me and how grateful I am to have it back.”

The fishermen were beaming after Jake said this. They were pleased they had been able to help Jake recover his cherished possession, but no one more than Pat. He had just hooked the biggest prize of all.

Jake actually had tears streaming down his cheeks, from the relief he felt at having his prized memento recovered. I think we all know how devastating it can be to lose something with so much sentimental value, but it is often even more emotional when you discover you hadn’t really lost it at all. Well, that’s what Jake was experiencing at the moment. He was so happy he began to hug everyone near him and the boys happily hugged him back.

Once this little celebration ended, Jake cleaned the fish and then I cooked them over the campfire. Soon, we were all partaking of a more enjoyable breakfast than it otherwise might have been. When we finished, we grabbed our gear, picked up the canoes and made our way across the portage to the next lake.

This portage was medium length, but it was flatter than most of the others had been recently. We made our way over it quite easily, got back in our canoes and began paddling across this new lake. Along the way, one of the boys saw a couple of moose drinking along the far shoreline and managed to silently draw everyone’s attention to them. They were quite impressive creatures, but I’m glad they weren’t any closer than they were. They looked as if they could be formidable adversaries, if they were angered or provoked, and we certainly didn’t need such a tussle.

We continued on, looking for more signs of wildlife as we went, but mostly we were just enjoying the magnificent scenery. We found it incredible that we seemed to be completely alone in the midst of this beauty, considering how crowded many of the other places we’d visited were. It was no wonder the early pioneers were so eager to explore this pristine wilderness and make the land their own, no matter how great the hardships.

The rest of the day passed quickly, as we moved from one small lake to another, and the only break we took was for lunch. As it grew later in the day and the sun began to make its descent toward the horizon, I decided it might be wise to make camp a little earlier and give the boys some time to skinny-dip and bathe.

As I signaled the others we were going to halt our progress, I also directed them to head in to a spot about halfway down the lake, so we could set up camp. As we got closer to the area, I noticed another canoe pulled out of the water and then spotted a tent, partially hidden by some trees. I was about to signal the boys to keep going, when I saw a guy near the tent waving at us. I waved back, letting him know I’d seen him, but now he was motioning us to come ashore and join him. I didn’t want to be rude, so we paddled a little closer, but once I saw him better, I was cautious about my next move.

“Howdy, fellas,” the man shouted out as we drew closer. He had walked down to the water’s edge to greet us.

“There’s plenty a space for y’all to set your camp up here,” he added.

I looked the guy over more carefully now, and although I hate to make snap decisions about a person, I did not have a good feeling about him. He looked rough and crude, plus I didn’t like the way he was eyeing some of my boys. However, before I had a chance to speak, a second guy came out of the tent. I suppose he did so to see whom his friend was talking to. This guy appeared even more threatening than the first and looked downright mean, so now I was certain we didn’t want to stop here.

“Sorry, we weren’t planning to set up camp yet,” I told him. “It’s just that some of the boys needed to relieve themselves, so we were coming ashore for that purpose. I don’t want to mess up the area near you, so we’ll just move farther down the lake.”

“Don’t be silly,” he countered. “My buddy and I have been pissing and crapping in these here woods for a few weeks now. You can’t do any more harm than we have.”

“That may be true, but there’s only two of you and adding this much more might leave an aroma you wouldn’t want,” I countered, hoping this would be enough to convince them. “Besides, the additional smell might also attract other creatures to this area, and that might not be good for you either.”

“Hell, y’all don’t worry about no damn critters,” he boasted. “We’ll take care of anything that gets too close to us.” I knew before he got the words out of his mouth that it was probably true, but I didn’t like the look, sound or feel of this pair.

“Just the same, we’ll give you a break,” I told him. “There’s plenty of open space out here, so we don’t have to do our business so close to other campers.” I thought that would end the conversation, but he took a step out into the water, as if he were about to latch on to one of the canoes and drag it ashore. Instinctively, we pushed our canoes farther away and began to move on.

“Well, why don’t yuh just set up your camp here then,” he suggested, when he realized we were about to leave. “Butch and I would love the company. We haven’t seen anyone in quite a spell.”

I was determined there was no way we were going to do this, but felt I had to find a graceful way out. I was afraid if they feared we were suspicious of them, they might try to force us to stay, possibly by grabbing one of the boys. I may have been letting my imagination run wild, but there was something about this duo that made me uneasy, so I wanted to put as much distance between them and us as we could.

“That’s a very generous offer,” I replied, hoping to placate them, “but we’re already behind schedule, due to that storm a few days ago. We have to make up some time, so we don’t get back late. If it weren’t for that, we’d have taken you up on your generous offer. Thanks anyway, but we have to get moving. This was only going to be a rest stop for us, but we can do that at the far end of the lake instead.”

“Hell, man, by the time y’all get much farther, the sun will be down and you’ll have to set up camp in the dark,” he reasoned, trying to get me to change my mind. “Come on and just pitch your stuff here for the night.”

“Thanks anyway, but we really need to keep moving,” I reiterated, as I signaled the boys to push on. “We desperately need to make up some time, but thanks anyway.”

The boys needed no more encouragement and started following me down the lake. As we paddled along, I glanced back every now and then, as if I were making sure everyone was keeping up, but it was mainly to see what those guys were up to. Whenever I looked back, I could see one of them still standing along the lake watching us, so I waved once, to keep him thinking we were friendly and not a threat. However, my primary goal was to make sure we weren’t being followed.

As we continued on, I kept hearing the song “Dueling Banjoes’ playing in my head. It was the theme from the movie ‘Deliverance’ and reminded me that bad people can hang out in all kinds of places. Since I suspected that pair might be quite similar to the villains in the film, I wanted to get as far away from them as quickly as I could.

When we were a few hundred yards away from the end of the lake, Jake paddled his canoe up beside mine. He had been pulling up the rear, to make sure no one got separated from the rest of us, but as he drew closer, he began to speak.

“Damn, what was with those guys?” he wanted to know. “They were more than a little scary looking and acting.” He appeared to be as freaked out as I had been and this assured me my suspicions weren’t unfounded.

“I’m not sure, but I just didn’t feel comfortable being near them,” I admitted. “I thought it best if we keep moving, so we could put some distance between us.”

“Oh, I agree totally,” Jake confirmed, while nodding his head. “Looking at them made my skin crawl. I think there may be some inbreeding problems there.” I knew he was trying to make a joke and play the situation down, but it wasn’t working.

“Yes, there was just something about them that unnerved me and sent shivers up my spine, so I wasn’t about to stop and have the boys anywhere near them,” I added. “Let’s get over this next portage and then we’ll make our way at least halfway down the next lake before we set up camp for the night.”

“We’re going to have to hurry then or it will be dark before we get there,” Jake replied, while looking at the sky. “The sun’s going to start fading fast and once it gets behind those trees, we won’t be able to see much at all.”

“I know, so let’s pick up our pace,” I suggested.

We quickly let the boys know we had to paddle harder, as we made our way toward the end of the lake. They responded eagerly, so we reached shore in short order. I looked back again, to ensure we weren’t being followed, and then we navigated the portage as quickly as we could. Even though you can only go so fast lugging all that gear over rough terrain, I think we did it in record time. Before I could no longer see the lake we had just left, I checked it once again and discovered no signs that anyone was behind us.

As we came out on the other side, it was already getting hard to see, so I debated about making camp where we were. However, it didn’t take me long to determine it would be best to put even more distance between my family and the two guys that had spooked me so badly, and felt it best to move on. Besides, if they were coming after us, this would be one of the first places they’d look.

With that in mind, I urged everyone to hop back in the canoes and we began our journey down the lake. We kept going until I spotted what looked like it might be a suitable campsite, although it is often hard to tell until you actually get there. After signaling the others to follow me, I guided them toward the spot I had picked out. It wasn’t long before we were pulling the canoes safely inland and unloading our gear.