Chapter 28 - Follow the Leader

Cable’s hands shook as he pondered the poem that he’d just read. “Jimbo, do you know what this means?” he asked.

“Yes, of course I know what it means,” Jimbo replied. “It means that my mysterious friend was a right clever poet. I’ve always enjoyed rhymes, ‘cause I’ve never been particularly good at them myself. That man had a real gift.”

Cable grew impatient. “No, Jimbo. I mean, do you understand what the poem means? It means that we’ve got to go back up that that place atop the cliff, where I was nearly killed!”

“Oh Herc, surely it can’t mean that!” said Jimbo. “It would be a bit of a challenge to go back up that cliff, and anyways, I’m in no hurry to meet those ugly chaps again. Once is enough for today, wouldn’t you say?”

Cable looked back at the paper before speaking. After a brief pause, he spoke again. “But listen to what the poem says, Jimbo. One day you shall save the life of the one who’s just saved yours. That’s what just happened! Way back when we first met, I saved your life. Oh, I didn’t save it by keeping anyone from killing you. But I saved it by interrupting the fight and keeping you from killing my father! If you’d done that, you’d have gone back with Dor-ko’s army. And even if your body was alive, your soul would be dead, which is even worse.”

“Wow, Herc,” replied Jimbo. “That’s pretty deep.”

“Well, that’s what my dad says, anyway. I don’t always understand what he says, but it always seems to end up that he’s right, so I just have to believe it. But back to the poem...the next line is On that day you must make your way to the mound with the fearsome doors. That means that, on the day that you save my life, we’ve got to hustle over to some ‘mound’. Well, the only mound that I know of is that mound of earth on top of the cliff. That’s where the gruesome twosome tried to throw me into the smoke-filled chamber, through the ‘fearsome doors’. Somehow, we’ve got to get back there.”

Jimbo pondered that thought for a moment. At length he said, “I guess you’re right, Herc. We’d better get moving and start looking for a trumpet.” He then started to rummage around the tee-pee to find some weapons.

“Why should we look for a trumpet?” Cable asked.

“Look, you’re the poetry expert,” said Jimbo. “Didn’t you read the last line? Take courage my friend, let the trumpet resound, that the evil ones shall be no more. Well, I may not be the most astute person in the world, but I’m smart enough to know that in order for a trumpet to ‘resound,’ you need to have a trumpet. And so we’d better start looking before we strike off for that mound of yours. As you can see, I don’t exactly have a vast collection of trumpets hanging around me castle.”

Cable shook his head and replied. “No, Jimbo. That’s not what the poem tells us to do. The poem simply says that we need to make our way to the mound. That is the command. As for the trumpet--I can’t really explain it. I think it’s one of those things that we’ll figure out as we go along.”

“That doesn’t make sense, Herc.”

“Here’s another thing I learned from my dad--when you do the things that are clear, the things that are unclear kind of take care of themselves. He’s told me a million times: ‘Don’t let the things that you don’t understand get in the way of the things that you do understand.’ Well, I don’t know how this trumpet is going to resound, seeing as how we don’t have a trumpet, and seeing as how neither of us even knows how to play one. But the command is to start making our way to the mound today. And that is what we’ve got to do.”

Jimbo grabbed his chin with his hands and squinted his eyes, as though trying to squeeze a deep thought out of his brain. He finally nodded and said, “All right, Herc. You’ve convinced me. We’d better be on our way. But here’s the thing--it’s a long way back to the top of that cliff. In fact, I’m not quite sure how to get there. We can start out today, but sunset will likely be here before long, and we’ll have to spend the night in the woods. Oh well, it can’t be helped.”

Jimbo then resumed his retrieval of various weapons from the tee-pee. He handed Cable a bow, a quiver full of arrows, a sword, and a couple of daggers. After grabbing a similar collection of items for himself, he reached up and grabbed a few slabs of dried meat that were dangling on ropes from the roof of the tee-pee. He wrapped them up and tucked them inside a small bag that he slung over his shoulder. Finally, he grabbed an empty waterskin. “We’d better fill this up on the way,” he said. Within 10 minutes, Cable and Jimbo were ready to head out.

Once they exited the tee-pee, Jimbo whistled. Within seconds, a loud crashing sound was heard nearby in the woods. Jimbo’s pet wild boar Doofus soon emerged. The happy creature vaulted into the air and landed on Jimbo, who was knocked from his feet and sent sprawling to the ground. The boar repeatedly rubbed Jimbo with his snout. “Take it easy!” Jim giggled. “I’d hate to scratch your face with me scraggly whiskers!” Jimbo then got to his feet and said, “Look me in the eyes, Doofus!”

Doofus sat on his haunches and looked right at Jimbo.

“Doofus, you need to be our guide. Are you ready?”

Doofus wagged his pitiful little tail. Cable thought he could see the boar nod his head as well. He was impressed.

“All right, then, we’re all set,” said Jimbo. “Take us back to the top of that miserable cliff. Lead the way!”

Doofus snorted once, as though he were thinking. A few seconds later, he laid down and buried his head in the grass, as though trying to hide. Jimbo stepped over next to him and started petting him. “Look, old boy, I’m not crazy about going there either. But orders are orders. That’s what we’ve got to do, and there ain’t nothin’ we can do except do it. So buck up, Doofus. Let’s roll.”

Doofus was unconvinced. He still refused to move. Jimbo squeezed his chin again, then quickly dashed back into the tent. Re-emerging moments later with a small slab of meat, he said, “Hey, boy! Would a bit of grub cheer you up?” Doofus still didn’t move. So Jimbo walked over and held the meat in front of Doofus’ nose. This seemed to revive the boar. He leaped back to his feet and started to grunt eagerly. Jimbo tossed the meat into the air, and Doofus grabbed it like a shark snatching up a sleeping bluefish. Jimbo then pointed and said, “Lead the way, O Fearless One!” Doofus seemed encouraged by the vote of confidence, and he lumbered away into the woods. Jimbo and Cable followed close behind.

Doofus led them back toward the river from which they’d emerged earlier. But instead of turning to the right back toward the cliff, they turned to the left and headed upstream. “Are you sure he knows where he’s going?” asked Cable.

Jimbo was indignant. “How dare you question my personal guide?” he responded. “Of course he knows. I wouldn’t call him ‘Doofus’ if he was a dummy. Didn’t we already talk about that, Herc? Listen--it really wouldn’t make much sense to go back to the cliff. What are you going to do, climb it with your bare hands? I don’t think so! But this river kind of loops back on itself, and it will eventually lead us toward the trail that you were on earlier. Then we can climb up the same way we did before.”

It wouldn’t be too exciting to recount the journey of the threesome through the woods. The traveling was fairly slow. If they had simply walked up the riverbed, they could have made good time. But the river was too deep in most places. And besides, in the back of their mind, they were afraid of being seen by the fearsome creatures that they had encountered atop the cliff. They each had a feeling that they would see them again, but no one was in the mood to hasten the moment when that particular reunion occurred. They figured that if they stayed inside the woods, they had a better chance of staying hidden. But of course, this made the journey upstream go very slowly. The woods were thick, and Jimbo and Cable often had to use their swords to make their way through the underbrush.

Nightfall quickly overtook them, and--unable to see a thing--they had to stop. Jimbo piped up and said, “Well, we might as well sleep. One of us can stand watch while the other two sleep. We’ll take turns every hour. Anyone volunteer to take the first shift?” The question was met with silence. Finally, after about 20 seconds, a grunt was heard in the darkness. “Thanks, Doofus,” said Jimbo. “Just wake Cable up in an hour. G’night, fellas.” And with that, Jimbo hit the ground. It took nearly 30 seconds for loud snores to start echoing through the trees.

Cable reached over, petted Doofus, and said “Wow--he doesn’t waste any time hitting the sack, does he?” Cable could feel Doofus shaking his head. He then asked, “Are you okay if I close my eyes for a few minutes?” Cable could then feel Doofus nodding his head. Reassured that his life was in good hands (or, more precisely, hooves), Cable laid down and closed his eyes. While snoring would normally keep Cable up for hours, this time he hardly noticed it at all. The events of the preceding day had tuckered him out. Within seconds he too was asleep.