Loved Brondong Online

57. Lost in the Forest (6)

Small houses line the river.  They stopped at every house.  Kiki makes a fixed order of four eggs per day per house.  He also made deals on the price of chili, onions, bananas, and so on to take on a planned trip.  Kiki promised to pay for all these supplies at a good price, both in the form of money and gifts.

At the customary elder's house, they only found two girls.  One of them went to the banana garden to call his father, while Kiki and the group sat down to rest in the shade.

Kiki began to play around, prickle and make movements toward the turkey that was walking in the yard.  When the turkey approaches full of curiosity, Kiki will try to spit on the animal's head.

Then Kiki kept quiet and showed a respectful attitude.  Looks like he'll say something, just doesn't know how.

The customary elder appeared again after Kiki toyed around.  The man was pleasing to his attitude.  They met when they first arrived.  Kiki asked a lot of detailed questions about the man.  The man replied with pleasure.  He even pointed out some of the gold boulders he had found himself with even though the largest chunks had already been sold to agents outside the city.

He took hoes, pickaxes, pans, gave them drinks and took them to the quarry.  The man left them to return to work.

On the side of the hill uphill from the riverbank, they saw a tunnel forming in the rock.

“Well, let's start,” invite Kiki.

He rolled up the sleeves of the shirt, got into the tunnel and observed the rocks.  The pickaxe swung it against the stone wall, making some fragments ejected.  Kiki put all the debris into the reinforcement before heading for the river.

Under the water, he tried to squeeze the rock shards as he could to a crisp.  The reinforcement tool swung slowly with a circular motion.  River water splashed with each turn, bringing with it sand and rocks.

Kiki continued the work until the reinforcement tool was almost empty.  Every now and then he stopped, tried to squeeze out the small pieces that were still left, then continued again.

“Look!” kiki said, “emasnya mixed with sand and stone.  I'm trying to separate it.  Gold is heavier than water, sand and stone, so it will be left behind in the reinforcement tool.  Sand and rock are carried away by water.  You just need to make circular and rhythmic movements.”

Kiki finished her work.  At the base of the reinforcement tool actually looks two small gold boulders.  Kiki.

“This is no price,” cetus Kiki.  “Too small.  But we can't give up.  Let's try again.”

Kiki's words were almost inaudible.  People are burning gold fever.

“We got gold! We got gold!” people say it over and over again to themselves.

Someone picked up a pickaxe and started to hit the rock, giving the chunks to Kiki.  He carried the stone fragments into the river and started to pan.  They worked until the afternoon.

After they returned to the village, the embers of the gold rush had already been extinguished.  Kiki stated the amount of gold their findings could be ignored, not even worth.

“In every ton of stone there is hardly any gold.”

After making a tally he decided that the clue was a fake.

“But don't give up just yet.  Just look, we must have found at least five grams,” said someone in the group.

It was raining.  Although only drizzle, but lasts up to several hours.  They've been there for days.  Kiki goes to see how rafts are made, hunts, bargains with residents, tells anyone who is willing to listen.

Lili's legs improved, but her mood was really ugly.  He kept his distance from people.  Because there was nothing to do, he bought Kiki.

The next morning Kiki tried her luck by fishing in the river.  Kiki boasted that in a very short time he must have brought back a big fish.

By noon Lili followed to see if their efforts were paying off.  On the way he saw a large waterfowl perched on a rock, preparing to dive.  Because so busy paying attention to their prey, these birds do not see Lili.

Lili crept back to the weeds while remembering Kiki's explanation of Lili, “All the fowl that ate fish tasted good.

Today Lili wants to surprise everyone by catching this bird.  Quickly I ran to the hut to pick up the rifle while praying that the bird had not yet flown.

When Lili returned, the fowl was still perched on the rock.  He crawled through the weeds, trying to advance as close as possible.  Lili took aim, but couldn't pull the trigger.  This bird is so beautiful.  After all, they had enough food in this village.  It's wrong that Lili killed him.  But, self-esteem as a true human being and the urge to be admired by friends eventually wins.

Woodpecker.  The bird fell into the water without a sound.  The river is quite strong.  As his hunt began to drift away, he noticed that he was still alive and trying to defy the tide.  Lili was shocked, the animal could have vanished brought by water.  It's a pity that Lili killed him, but got nothing.

He also threw himself into the river.  The fowl saw it and Lili could chase after it.  He also stopped struggling, even now allowing himself to be dragged by the current as if preferring to drown in the ferocity of nature rather than die at the hands of humans.

Lili continued to swim the chase in the bottom-moving water and managed to catch one of the wings of the fowl as it approached the river section.

Poultry thrashing violently in his grip while letting out a suffocating shrill, but Lili would not let go of the handle.  Lili returned to the riverbank kicking and using her free hand.

After coming out of the water he threw the quarry to the ground.  The animal was not stopping to shed blood.  Lili ran to get a rifle and then slammed the base into the head of the poultry.  The soft soil reduced the effect of the blow.  The bird was in pain.  He tucked the stone under the poultry's head and again smashed the base of the rifle.  This time the bird stopped moving.

The children of the elders heard gunshots.  They ran to see Lili outside the village to see the bird.  The wife of the traditional elder also came to Lili.  Lili asked him to cultivate this bird for dinner.  However, it was first shown to Kiki.  He showed enough impression on his skills.

That afternoon Kiki returned empty-handed.  Before Lili had a chance to make fun of him, Kiki had already asked.

“What's your story, Ma'am?  What strange bird do you think you shot?  I saw it in the kitchen.  We can't eat it.”

“Why not?” ask Lili to know.

“The bird eats carrion and snakes, it is not worthy of human food.”

“Huek,” said someone who was also there.

“But, Ki,” protest Lili desperate, “the bird eats fish.  I see for myself, he's trying to catch fish.”

“You were wrong,” Kiki flicked her hand so Lili fell silent.  “The bird is not worth eating.”