The Mystery of Monroe Island
Part 2
Suma pointed his finger towards those hillocks. Then he showed us his amazing machine - Telecardioscope. One can hear the heartbeat of any animal from a distance of 10 kilometers (maximum). The machine has a receiver and a knob, one has to turn the receiver and the knob to find out which direction and how far the animal is. The moment, the direction and the distance match, the machine produces the sound of its heartbeat and a coloured light bulb goes ‘beep beep…’ with the rhythm of the beat. If the animal is 10 kilometers away the light glows in dark violet, as the animal comes close, the colours of the bulb changes according to the ‘VIBGYOR’ order and finally becomes Red when the animal is just a kilometer away. When the animal comes within a kilometer range, the machine only produces a louder heartbeat sound and the red light bulb goes uninterruptedly ‘on’.
‘The animal is not changing its place. And I think it’s quite big’ said Suma.
‘How big?’ – I asked
‘Bigger than a human being – as the heartbeat and the size of an animal is inversely proportionate. The heartbeat of a normal sized human being is seventy per minute. And for this animal it is just above fifty.
‘Could it be a tortoise?’ I asked. Huge tortoises are quite common at this part of Atlantic, the other big animals found here are monkeys and deers, but their heartbeat rates are much faster than those of human beings.
‘You might be right Shonku - the way it is lying idle at the same place – it can be a huge tortoise’ – said Suma.
But what is this tortoise doing at the middle of the island - so far from the shore – that’s a big question!
But Saunders didn’t buy the tortoise story at all. He believed that, this was a different animal all together - possibly the only big animal of this island, and for the same reason David should not go alone.
After another few minutes of the light and sound show, Suma switched his machine off. None of us could resist clapping and congratulating Suma for such a great invention. A ‘great dane’ can feel the presence of a creature long before a human being does, but even Rocket must have been feeling very small in front of this machine.
We all were ready to go out to explore, but Bill Callenbauch had some problem. He tried all the medicines he was carrying but they were of no good. Let me come back and give him a ‘miracureall’ - this invention of mine cures any ailment except the common cold in a day’s time. Callenbauch has become desperate now, as he knows that his camera has things to shoot, but he couldn’t get up from bed.
Today also Suma will stay back in the camp; he needs some more time to set up his miniature laboratory.
Three of us set out with Rocket to explore. We know if any animal comes close, Rocket will bark and if it doesn’t, there is nothing to worry.
We are not going towards the hillocks of the central island, as there is very less vegetation. Today we are going to explore the eastern side of the island, we will follow the beach and wherever we find dense vegetation we will enter the forest. We all are armed. Saunders’ is carrying his German Mannlicher rifle, David has Calenbauch’s Barett Automatic, and I am carrying my ‘Anaihilin’ in my vest pocket. When I told Calenbauch about my weapon - that any living creature of this earth would vanish with a little press on its trigger, he told me very clearly that I should not use it if anything appears in front of us.
Because if it vanishes, he wouldn’t be able to capture it in his movie camera.
We decided if someone wants to leave the group to wander alone for some time, then he got to shout frequently to let others know his whereabouts, and he can’t go far from the group. Obviously the rule was for David, because we figured out that his indifferent and lazy nature had disappeared and he seemed to be charged up now. The area through which we are going now has no large rocks or trees so even if one goes a little away from the group he would still be visible.
I have been thinking – Suma’s machine has informed us about only one animal; is there any other animal around? If there are more, are they all beyond ten kilometers? Not possible…
Because I believe this island is much less than 10 kilometers in both length and breadth. Seven days would be sufficient to survey the entire island.
We walked for a mile on the beaches and the landscape changed. Now we had to go inside the island. On our left the first row was of short palm trees and then the forest gradually went thick. There were banana trees, papaya trees, coconut trees and with them there were other known and unknown tall trees. Rock and sand had disappeared from the ground beneath; grass and shrubs took the place.
We three and Rocket entered into the forest.
One thing was very surprising – there were no chirps, no noise of birds. I have never been in a forest - this silent, especially at this part of the earth, where you find hundreds of bird species.
The other sound missing was the sound of reptiles moving through grasses, I felt like we were walking through a cursed forest and the trees are also going to die soon.
After another 10 minutes of walk, the forest became a little thinner and we reached a relatively open place. Another few steps and we had to stop with a shock. David was walking in front of us with a difference of a few steps – suddenly he uttered a shrill cry and stopped. We all walked fast to reach near David to find –
A lot of animal bones and skulls were scattered on that open space. We had to try very hard to identify skeletons from the pile of bones, there were skeletons of some deers, some big reptiles – possibly a couple of Iguanas and of many monkeys. The colours of the bones were brownish yellow which interpreted that they were very old.
This is a proof that there were animals on this island, but they are no more, and we do not have any clue to understand why they have disappeared.
David was quite shocked, and kept quite for sometime and then said –
“That Monster! That monster!
It had finished all these animals.”
We realized the animal whose heartbeat was captured in Suma’s machine, has now become a monster in David’s imagination. But it’s not yet time to be sure about the thought that a creature ate all these animals, they could have died naturally also.
But then again why would all these different species of animals would come to one place and die?
We kept on walking and approached towards a teak wood forest, I could also see some ‘Cedar’ trees in the forest from where I was.
Bougainvillea, jasmine and China rose shrubs were everywhere. I have seen mostly all kinds of teak wood trees, but I have never seen the kind of bright blue patches some of these trees have.
We had to go close to find out what were those blue colour patches; it was not a colour patch on the trunk but was the colour of innumerable honey-comb-like small fruits, which have grown on the trunk.
I should also mention the fragrance. An unknown and very nice scent made the air thick around that area. The mesmerizing blue colour and the scent of this plant stunned all of us. The first one to react was David – he shouted in joy and ran towards the tree to touch the blue thing; we all had to shout to stop him from touching it.
As Saunders touched those fruits with rubber gloves on his hand, they fell on the ground very easily; we collected nearly hundred such fruits in a polythene bag and headed back for the camp. Suma should immediately do the chemical analysis of this fruit, as we have not seen this fruit before. My intuition says this is the plant Dr Munroe wrote about. It’s obvious that this is a parasitic plant, and lives on the teak wood tree.
Suma’s miniature laboratory is ready and he has started the chemical analysis process of the blue fruit. We have learnt that, naked hands can touch this fruit – as it is not harmful to skin. I have been to Callenbauch’s tent and showed him one fruit. He took it in his hands, stared at it for some time and then put it on the bedside table with a sigh. I could make out that he was very unhappy, as he couldn’t shoot the special moment of discovering this plant. Before coming back I gave him one miracurall tablet of mine, as we needed him to document everything. The problem with Callenbauch is that, he doesn’t want to take any medicine, which is not made in America, but now as the situation has gone worst; he has agreed to take one.
13th March, 9:00 pm.
Our expedition will surely be successful – and everyday this faith is getting stronger. At this point of time we cannot even guess, how would this expedition end, but the way things are taking turns, it seems that we would be able to return with some great experience.
Today Callenbauch had a little chicken soup in Lunch. His pulse is still quite weak and he looks feeble - the way his looks had changed in last two days – it’s becoming an issue of our concern.
But even in this situation he asked about the animal. Could we see it? Is it still there or came closer to us?
Telecardioscope is switched off now, as Suma is engrossed in the chemical analysis of the fruit, and we can understand that he is doing well, from his frequent happy shouts. Saunders and I were anxiously observing the process of the research, and of course we knew what was happening.
We could actually see that the presence of all the vitamins in this fruit is being discovered one by one. In Munroe’s age the term ‘Vitamin’ was not formed. Science was a kindergarten student then, and research on food was to start yet another two fifty years later.
Suma got up from his chair at 3pm and uttered two words. First he said ‘amazing’, then he pushed the white handkerchief one fourth of an inch inside his blazer pocket and said ‘and mysterious’.
In the mean time Chalenbauch came and stood behind us so silently that we couldn’t even realize – the moment we had an eye contact, he came forward shook hands with me and said, “Great! Your medicine is great – I am entirely cured.”
What are you saying? It’s just been an hour.
‘Well you can see,’ said Bill Calenbauch with a smile.
I never knew my own medicine could work so fast.
‘And take this – this was there on my table.’
What! This is the tablet I gave you.
It didn’t take long time to solve the mystery. Calenbauch has taken the blue fruit instead of my medicine, as he was not in his full senses in high fever. And the fruit cured him so fast. Calenbauch’s cure is not the only visible virtue of the fruit. The shine in Calenbauch’s eyes is also something to mention; which we have never seen before.
Saunders told Suma, ‘You do not need to do any more research on this; let’s take this fruit as much as possible and lets go back to our country; we will cultivate this plant and surpass all medicine companies in business.
Though Saunders said this very lightly but Suma answered back in a very serious voice. He said he has to carry on with the analysis at least for another day. There are elements in this fruit other than the vitamins, which are yet to be identified.
But Suma had to leave his work and start the cardiograph machine as Calenbauch was requesting him repeatedly. The machine showed the animal in the same place.
‘But his heartbeat is slower.’ Said Suma.
Though we could understand that from the sound itself, yesterday it was fifty, and today it is below forty.
‘My god!’ cried Callenbauch – ‘is it going to die? Why are you guys wasting so much of time for this fruit, when there is such an animal over there?’
Saunders replied – ‘Bill, please don’t be restless as we already got the fruit, now tomorrow onwards we will start surveying the center of the island for the animal.
Callenbauch was not happy at all even after this conversation; he went to his tent –in a disgusted mood.
14th March.
Today we could not go out. It was raining heavily with storm and lightening flashes throughout the day. Callenbauch captured us in his movie camera and recorded our interviews.
David told us stories of pirates after we finished our lunch. My God! this boy has got a huge stock of stories.
‘I have a bad news’– said Suma
‘Whichever element is there other than the vitamins, can’t be analyzed and identified in this small laboratory, that can only be done in big laboratories when we are back. But of course our mission has already been successful – and we will surely be back in another couple of days. Suma had strict orders for us to not to consume the fruit until we analyze it thoroughly.
If such serious sickness of Callenbauch can be cured by only one fruit and in just one hour, then one can only imagine the power of this fruit. Suma thinks though this fruit seems good but he would not be astonished if it turns out to be harmful to human being.
I do not know whether surprisingly high appetite is harmful or not but Callenbauch has eaten three packets of hams in lunch today.
15th March, 7am.
Bad news.
Callenbauch has set out of the camp without telling us anything. We got the news from David Monroe – he and Callenbauch shares one tent, Saunders and me stay in one of the other two and Suma with all his gadgets and machineries stays in the last one.
David woke up in the morning and found Callenbauch’s empty bed. And along with him all his camera equipments, which were there on the table had vanished. He immediately came out of the tent and shouted repeatedly calling Callenbauch, but there was no reply. At last he thought of taking Rocket’s help to find Callenbauch and gave Callenbauch’s handkerchief to Rocket to smell. But when after smelling the kerchief Rocket started running towards those hillocks of the central region, he then called him back.
Suma worked throughout the night and slept in the morning; he was awakened and given the news. He immediately put his Telecardioscope on and showed us that Callenbauch is approaching those hillocks and was three kilometers away from the camp.
We will start in another five minutes. Today is a bright day, and we all are going together. Saunders was disgusted and was repeatedly cursing himself – ‘why did I include him in this expedition’
15th March, 5.30pm.
Everything in my mind has gone hay where, after all these shocking events.
Now we are on the beach, sitting on the semi-dry sand, roughly two kilometers eastward from the central hillock area of the island. Saunders is taking notes in his diary. He has signed contracts with three leading dailies of London to write about this expedition. And today he has opened his diary for the first time.
We could not find Callenbauch, but we found the case of his camera and his tape recorder. And both of them were discovered in very bad condition. Generally he ties up the movie camera with his body by a strap; and if he had been attacked by that unknown creature – the camera must have been with him at that point of time.
David has borrowed Suma’s ‘Mikiki’ revolver and practicing his aim on a single pebble, which he has placed on a huge stone at a distance of fifty yards. And the way his practice is going, it seems that another few days - and he will become a ‘crack shot’.
Suma is walking on the beach. Forty steps left and - forty steps right – with precision. Even after eight hours of exploration, not a single crease is visible on his dress and not even a single hair on his head has moved.
The leather bag which is hanging from his shoulder, has an amazing weapon in it, this one is also made by Suma himself and named ‘Sumagun’.
Sumagun is eighteen inch in height, it has a button instead of a trigger - if been pressed, a needle-headed capsule comes out which contains a deadly poison again made by Suma. If this needle enters any body part of any animal, it dies in three seconds.
Please look for the previous part of this story in the Nov. issue of Megher Khata
And look for the last part in Megher Khata's next issue
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