“About that…” Nigel’s voice trailed off.

  Captain Souza walked into the camp. “I don’t mean to rush you, but I need to be on my way. I don’t want to get behind schedule,” he told them.

  “What do you mean?” Dr. Iris asked. “What schedule?”

  The captain waved back toward the river. “I am sorry, I have to get going. Another group is expecting me upriver.”

  “I thought we hired you,” she said. “Why are you going upriver?”

  “You did hire me.” He pointed a thumb in Nigel’s direction. “Or, I should say, Nigel did. To get you here, drop you off, and then pick you up in a few days.”

  “But we can’t stay on shore in these conditions,” Dr. Iris said. “These sleeping shelters are falling apart!”

  “I’m sorry,” the captain said. “The person I’m picking up is going to Manaus for an operation at a hospital. The surgery is already scheduled, and they are counting on me to get them there. If you don’t want to stay here, you can come with me, but I must pick up that passenger.”

  “We can work on the camp and fix it up,” Henry said. “All we need are some tools.”

  “That’s right,” Jessie added. “We can clear away the dead leaves and cut back the vines that are growing over things.”

  Dr. Iris walked around the camp one more time before she said anything. She gave a big sigh. “We can stay only if you have tools we can use and there is mosquito netting for all of us,” she said to Nigel. “We can’t stay here otherwise.”

  “I do have that,” Nigel said. “I got everything on your list.”

  “I have a few extra tools I can leave you,” the captain said.

  Dr. Iris looked back toward the river and then at the camp again. “All right. We can stay.”

  It took the group a long time to unload everything. There were so many supplies, there wasn’t much room for their hammocks in the shelters.

  “It doesn’t look like there is any electricity here to run some of this equipment,” Henry said to Nigel. “I don’t see a generator.”

  Nigel shook his head. “I thought they would have left the generator here, but they took it with them.”

  “Of course they did,” said Dr. Iris. “Generators are valuable pieces of equipment.”

  “But heavy to move,” Nigel argued. “I just thought it would have been easier to leave it here. Not to worry, I packed some extra battery packs.”

  Dr. Iris sighed. Jessie could tell she was frustrated that Nigel wasn’t better prepared. Fortunately, Kwini helped them get everything in order. He showed them how to use vines to tie up the poles that had fallen down and which leaves to use to patch the roofs.

  “How did you learn to do all this?” Jessie asked as they worked.

  “My father is from this region,” Kwini explained. “He was a guide until he retired. I used to go along with him on trips. Now, I do some guide work during the summers when I’m not in college.”

  It grew dark as they were finishing up. Finally, Nigel said, “Isn’t this good enough for tonight? I’m getting hungry.”

  “Me too!” Benny said.

  Kwini, who had been going back and forth between the shelters and a pot simmering over the fire, said, “It’s ready when you are!”

  “There are plates in one of these crates,” Nigel said.

  Kwini picked up a stack of large leaves. “We don’t need plates. I collected some banana leaves earlier. They work just as well, and we don’t have to wash them.”

  “I like that idea,” said Violet.

  Kwini ladled out rice and chicken onto a leaf and handed it to Dr. Iris. Then he served the rest of the group.

  “It smells delicious!” Jessie said.

  Benny took a big bite. “It is delicious!”

  Once everyone had eaten and the shelters were repaired, the children relaxed around the fire. The forest around them was filled with the sounds of insects chirping and frogs croaking.

  “It’s noisy out here,” Benny said.

  “There must be millions of little creatures, all making noise,” Violet added.

  “I’m glad I don’t hear any big creatures, but they are out there too, aren’t they?” Benny asked, glancing around at the darkness surrounding the camp.

  “Yes,” Nigel said. “The mapinguary is out there, and we’re going to find it.”

  “Dr. Cardoso said you believe the creature is related to the giant sloth,” said Jessie. “Is that right?”

  Nigel nodded. “I believe that it may have come from the giant sloth, but it may have changed over time. Who knows what it might be like today?”

  “What do you think about the mapinguary, Kwini?” Henry asked.

  Kwini shrugged. “I don’t know. My father has his own theory though. He thinks his people, the ones who lived here before anyone else, made up the creature for a reason. A hundred years ago, outsiders took over much of this area to get rubber from rubber trees. The people who lived here had to leave or were forced to work for the outsiders. But the outsiders demanded too much work. No one could collect the amount rubber they asked for. The rain forest is a dangerous place. By saying it was even more dangerous, it was a good reason why they couldn’t be expected to stay out working when it started to get dark.”

  Jessie took out her notepad and wrote down what Kwini thought about the creature. She thought it sounded a lot like what their taxi driver had said on the way to the forest.

  “I don’t believe that at all!” Nigel said. “Those creatures are out there. So many people believe in them, they have to be real. And I’m going to be the one to prove it.” He got up. “And I need to film something.”

  He went into the sleeping shelter and came out a few minutes later carrying one of the camera rigs with the vest. He stood by the fire and began filming himself.

  “I’m Nigel Livingstone, and we are here deep in the Amazon jungle, many days away from civilization. We’re on the track of the legendary mapinguary, the beast whose mere mention causes fear in anyone who knows of it.” He switched the camera to face out away from him. “It’s lurking out there, somewhere in the dark.” He dropped his voice to a loud whisper. “It might be watching us now.” Shutting off the camera, he turned to them and grinned. “What did you think?”

  Benny moved closer to Jessie but didn’t say anything.

  “Don’t worry,” she told him. “I don’t think any creature would want to stand out there in the dark and watch us.” She turned to Nigel. “And plus, we aren’t really days away from civilization.”

  “That’s right,” said Henry. “We saw villages yesterday, and it only took us a day to get here.”

  Nigel set down his camera equipment. “It makes a better story if viewers think we are a long way from other people.”

  “Viewers?” Dr. Iris asked.

  “I put some of my videos online. Most of them are me reading stories I wrote, but I thought this would be a great chance to record something really exciting.”

  “You know, Nigel, you said that because many people believe in mapinguaries, they have to be real,” Dr. Iris said. “Surely, as a scientist, you know that is not correct. The number of people who believe something doesn’t make it true. We’ll have to have some real evidence.”

  “We’ll find it,” Nigel insisted. “Tomorrow.” With that, he went off to the sleeping shelter he was sharing with Kwini.

  After a little while, the fire burned down, and the children found their way to their own shelter. As they lay in their hammocks, the noise from the rain forest seemed louder than ever.

  “I don’t know if I can go to sleep,” Benny whispered.

  “Me neither.” Violet shifted around in her hammock. “I’ve been thinking about something. Why do you think the scientists who were using this camp didn’t come back here this year? Did something scare them away?”

  “We can ask Nigel tomorrow,” Henry said. “But I wouldn’t worry. He and Kwini have been in the Amazon many times.”

  “It’s strange that Nigel has been in the Amazon so many times but doesn’t seem prepared,” Jessie said. “He brought a solar-powered coffee maker and lots of things that use electricity without knowing if there would be any. It doesn’t seem like something a good camper would do.”

  “I’m going ask him in the morning,” Violet said. “There’s something strange about all this.”

  AN EXPEDITION

  Jessie awoke to a low growl. It was still dark out, and she was so startled, she sat up to look around. The growling grew louder and louder. Soon everyone was awake.

  “What is it?” Benny said. “Is it a mapinguary?”

  Nigel dashed down from his hammock and held up a recorder. “It might be!” He circled the camp and then went into the forest. “I’ll be back soon,” he called.

  “Don’t get too excited,” Kwini said. He got up and went over to the firepit. He raised his voice to be heard over the noise. “It’s just howler monkeys.”

  “That sounds like growling, not howling,” Henry said. Everyone climbed out of their hammocks and joined Kwini at the fire.

  “I know, but that is the sound they make every morning,” Kwini explained. “Each monkey picks a tree where they will spend their day eating leaves. Then they call out to let the other monkeys know the tree is already taken. I guess they don’t like to share.”

  “Really?” Jessie asked. “That’s funny.”

  Kwini smiled. “That’s what I’ve always been told.”

  “Are they dangerous?” Violet asked.

  “No, but they are smart.” Kwini added wood to the fire. “My father told me that at one camp he worked at, the monkeys learned how to unzip backpacks. They would sneak into camp and take candy bars. That’s why we need to keep the food in sturdy containers.”

  Kwini opened a box full of kitchen equipment. Jessie went over to see what was inside.

  “Was there supposed to be a kitchen at the campsite?” she asked. “That’s a lot of cooking supplies.”

  “I don’t think so,” said Kwini. “We don’t need all these things.” He pulled out a round pan with a clasp on the side. When he opened the clasp, the bottom of the pan fell out. “I don’t even know what you’d make in this kind of pan.”

  “It’s for cheesecakes,” Jessie said. “We aren’t going to be making cheesecakes here, are we?”

  Kwini laughed. “No, definitely not. I make good pancakes, but I’ve never tried a cheesecake.”

  “Can I help with breakfast?” she asked. “I’ve made pancakes before.”

  Benny volunteered too.

  Kwini held up a wooden spoon. “You can stir, Benny. Jessie, can you get the pancake mix out of that container?”

  Jessie went over and opened the container’s lid. “Uh-oh.” She held up a bag with a hole at the top and a bit of pancake mix at the bottom. “Something got at one of these bags of pancake mix.”

  Henry looked down at the ground behind her. “There’s a trail of it leading into the forest.”

  Kwini sighed. “Ants. The flour should have been double bagged or put in a metal canister. Ants will chew through bags and carry off what they can. I thought Nigel would have checked that.”

  Together, they followed the trail of flour to the edge of the clearing. “Here’s one of the thieves. Come look.”

  Benny ran over and crouched down to get a good look. “That’s the biggest ant I’ve ever seen!” he said. He held his hand next to it. “It’s as long as my little finger!”

  “Yes, they are big, and they bite too,” Kwini warned. “It’s a very painful bite, so don’t get too close. Now, we need to check the rest of the food supplies after breakfast so we don’t lose any more.”

  Nigel came back in time for breakfast. They finished off all the pancakes quickly. After breakfast, they cleaned up. Violet was putting away the pancake mix when a red feather drifted down from above. It landed right by her foot.

  “This is pretty!” she said. “I wonder what kind of bird it’s from.”

  Nigel shrugged. “A red bird, I’d say.”

  “It’s from a scarlet macaw,” Kwini explained. “I’ve seen a pair of them a few different times. They must nest close to here. That’s probably why the camp is named Camp Macaw.”

  Now that Nigel was back in the camp, Violet asked the question she had been thinking about the night before. “Nigel, why didn’t the scientists come back to Camp Macaw this year? Why did they build these buildings and then leave them? Were they scared of something here?”

  “They were on a bird expedition,” he replied. “And they ran out of money. That’s always the problem with taking expeditions into the Amazon. It takes money, lots of it. If you want someone to fund your trip, you have to have something to show for it. Whatever they found couldn’t convince anyone to give them more money to come back. But that’s not going to happen to me. My videos are going to convince people to send me back here as many times as I need to find the mapinguary.”

  He pulled out a backpack from a pile of supplies. “I have a good feeling about today,” he said. “I’ve got something amazing to show you, but to get there, we’ll have to take the canoes up a side stream. Let’s get organized!”

  They brought supplies down to the riverbank and loaded the two canoes.

  “I can’t believe we get to go in boats made out of logs,” Jessie said as she, Violet, and Henry climbed into a canoe with Kwini.

  “Do you know how they are made?” Henry asked Kwini.

  “Yes, I saw one being made a long time ago,” Kwini said. “Once they cut a tree down, they hollow the log out to make the shape of a boat. The last step is to light fire to the inside. That softens the wood enough that it can be widened for people to sit in.”

  “That’s amazing,” said Jessie. “I’m glad we get to use them.”

  “Most people use more modern boats,” said Kwini. “But Nigel thought these looked more authentic. The problem is, these are so old, they leak.” He pointed to a bucket behind Henry’s seat. “If too much water comes in, we may need to bail it out.”

  Their destination was on a stream off the main river. It was too shallow to use the motors that Nigel and Kwini had used to travel up the river. So the group paddled instead. Trees and vines hung low over the water. They had to duck to avoid getting a branch in the face.

  Henry leaned over the edge of the boat. “It’s amazing how clear the water is here.”

  “The way the plants on the sides of the river reflect in the water makes it hard to tell where the water ends and the forest begins,” Jessie said.

  “Yes, it’s like being in a magic land,” Violet said.

  The trees rustled above them, and then chirping noises filled the air.

  “Tamarin monkeys!” Kwini called out. One small monkey climbed down the tree, so that it could look at them.

  Benny waved. “Hello, Mr. Tamarin.”

  “You may be the first human it’s ever seen, Benny,” said Dr. Iris.

  As they continued on, the chirping stopped and was replaced by a loud yipping noise.

  Nigel reached forward and pulled a camera out from a backpack, making his boat rock. Dr. Iris and Benny grabbed the sides to steady themselves. “One mapinguary might be calling to another!” Nigel said. “We don’t know for sure what kind of noises they make.”

  “But…doesn’t that sound like a toucan?” said Benny.

  “I don’t know,” Nigel said. “There are hundreds of species of birds here. I can’t know them all.”

  “We heard Captain Souza’s toucan,” Violet said from the other boat. “It sounded just like that.”

  “Maybe,” Nigel said. “But if we don’t see it, we can’t know for sure.”

  Jessie looked back over her shoulder and spoke to Henry in a quiet voice. “I thought Nigel was an expert on birds.”

  “Yes, it’s strange he wouldn’t know a toucan call,” Henry said.

  It took almost two hours before Nigel brought the boat toward shore. “We’ll tie it up here,” he said.

  They climbed out and unloaded the packs. “Kwini and I were here yesterday afternoon, and Kwini marked the trail.” Nigel looked around. “I hope you can still find it.”

  “I can.” Kwini got a machete out of the boat and pointed to a plant with a broken stem. “See, there is one of the plants I cut. If you slash them so that the stems do not break in half, it marks the trail,” he explained. “It’s easy to get lost if you aren’t careful, and these plants grow back so fast it doesn’t hurt to cut a few.”

  They hiked up and down several small hills. The ground was slippery with mud and fallen leaves. “I don’t know why I thought Brazil was mostly a flat country,” Henry said as he reached down to give Benny a hand up a slope.

  “I don’t either,” Jessie said, wiping her face. “It’s not easy hiking around here in the heat. But it’s amazing to see all the different plants.”

  It was another hour before Kwini called, “We’re almost there!” They followed him to a cleared area full of tree stumps.

  “I hope this place is worth it,” said Benny.

  As the Aldens entered the clearing, Nigel ran ahead. On the other side, there was a hill. At its base was a large, dark opening, which was almost perfectly round.

  “Wow, is it a cave?” Benny asked.

  “A tunnel,” Nigel called.

  “It looks like the tunnels that machines make,” Henry said when they got close enough to get a good look.

  “Except there were never any machines out here,” Nigel said. “We believe an animal made this. A big animal.”

  “Is it still in there?” Violet asked.

  IN THE DARK

  There was nothing in there yesterday,” Nigel said. “But maybe there is something in there today!”

  Dr. Iris put her hand on the side of the entrance. “I’ve never seen anything like this. But before we arrived, I did some research on giant sloths. There was a mention of the paleoburrows they were thought to have made—ones that look like giant tunnels.”

  “Paleoburrow? Is that like a burrow a normal animal digs?” Jessie asked.