The twins led the way back to camp, where Gerhardt displayed his stone axe head. He had managed to chip away at a shiny black rock (which Claire called obsidian) until it had a sharp edge, cutting only four of his fingers in the process.
“And only one of them is at all deep,” he boasted. Bettina’s pinafore was missing its shoulder ruffles, as she had torn them off for use as bandages. Mirabelle made him unwrap his fingers and cleaned out his wounds with a few drops of the boiler chief’s special distilled engine cleaner. Gerhardt jumped up and down clutching his wrist as though twisting his hand off would feel better. He complained that cutting himself had not hurt anywhere near as bad, but they all agreed that they could not risk infection in so remote and wild a place.
Adolphus hurried to fashion a handle for the axe. Claire built the fire, wasting half an hour rubbing sticks together ‘to conserve matches’ before Bettina grew impatient and used one of her strike-anywheres. Claire spent the rest of the evening practicing her technique, finally constructing a bow using a flexible stick and one of her boot laces and achieving sparks at last. (The trick is to have loads of the right kindling – something soft like dry pine needles, dry moss, or the underside of certain tree barks.)
The twins enjoyed a lively discussion as to the fate of the turnip. It lay still in the pinafore, giving rise to speculation that it was only “alive” (or at least mobile) in its home field. Eventually they filled the cheese tin with water and brought it to a boil, hit the turnip with a rock and tipped it in. They cooked it a long time, just in case. It was sustaining, but not at all delicious.
The twins set out their net in the river, but when they woke it was empty. Adolphus returned to the turnip nests to hunt breakfast, which he enjoyed catching far more than he enjoyed eating. They argued in a desultory fashion over whether to stay in the field, which felt safe and had water and a food supply, or to continue downstream into unknown danger and possibly something better to eat. When Adolphus offered to go catch their lunch and dinner turnips, they packed up and got in the boat.
The river spun them through the valley, along the foot of the mountains. They saw more strange birds in all imaginable colors, but mostly variations of green. They heard rustling from the riverside that must have been larger animals.
“Mammals,” Adolphus said, “or possibly enormous turnips.”
They did not stop to investigate, for some mammals are quite dangerous, and enormous turnips are quite unappealing.
The smell of sulfer grew stronger throughout the day, and the swirling violet clouds became thicker with orange swirls. Claire had a bad feeling about this, and watched the riverbank for steam, which would indicate lava flowing into the water.
As she predicted, they were approaching the volcano. Gusts of smoke occasionally wafted across the river, forcing the children to shut their watering eyes tight against it, and bury their faces in their handkerchiefs or pinafore skirts.
What she had not expected was the loud yapping and howling of many small dogs in distress!
By Madame vonHedwig on Saturday, August 14th, 2010
This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which there is stalking.
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The grassy floodplain ended in a steep wooded hill, from which Claire and Adolphus could collect firewood. Now that the river had left the wooded mountains Claire could better study the local topography.
“We’ve been descending from higher in the mountains through the foothills and into this valley,” she told Adolphus. “But we haven’t come straight downhill out of the mountains. We’ve curved around them; the river’s running right alongside the hills. There’s taller mountains downstream of us, I think.” She peered up along the chain of hills as it disappeared into the violet-white swirling sky.
“Well it’s jolly steep going, that’s for sure,” he said. When they each had a big bundle of sticks they picked and slid their way back down to the field.
“Smell that sulpher? I think we’re right, there is a volcano here, and I think we’re closer than ever.”
They came out of the woods far from where they had entered. Adolphus threw down his bundle in disgust, fishing in his waistcoat pocket for the compass he’d removed from the boiler crew’s ship.
“That will only help if you looked at it before we left,” Claire said, hoisting her bundle into a more comfortable position.
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By Madame vonHedwig on Saturday, August 7th, 2010
This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which the children explore a new land.
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The river picked up speed descending through the woodlands into a valley. Occasionally their mushroom cap boat was caught in an eddy and spun round and round, causing Mirabelle and Bettina to whoop with delight, and Annabelle to shut her eyes and cling to the gills.
Gerhardt was watching the banks intently, and made them pull to the side whenever there were many rocks on the bank.
“What are you looking for?” Mirabelle asked.
“Stone to make into an axe, like the cavemen used.”
“That’s a good idea,” Claire said, “but you don’t want that kind. You want flint, or chert, or obsidian. I’ll help. I’ve much more geology than you.”
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which the children have too much and too little imagination to enjoy their meal.
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The next morning the twins found something in their net. They called it a fish, for it wriggled and had fins and lived in water. However, the fins (there were six) were evenly spaced around the back of the thing, making a ringed sort of tail. It had three eyes on either side of its head, and a great rounded lower lip that protruded over its upper lip. It was a rusty orange-pink in color, with a pattern of pale purple spots beginning lightly at its head and intensifying so that it was mostly purple at the tail.
Mirabelle held it in the net while Annabelle hit its head with the side of the pick. She worked quickly so that no one (including her) could get attached to the creature and forget it was supposed to be food. When it stopped wriggling they examined it and made quick notes and sketches in Mirabelle’s observation book before borrowing a pocketknife from Gerhardt. (For all the tools and assorted objects in their pinafore pockets, they did not happen to have a knife, comb, or handkerchief.)
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which the much tried and exhausted children make camp in the unexplored wilderness.
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Having no idea of the time of day, but a great deal of anxiety at the thought of being caught out after dark in this strange and dangerous land, the children decided to make camp on the small sandy beach. It wasn’t much bigger than the overturned mushroom boat, but they ventured into the woods and found sturdy fallen branches and propped up the riverside edge of the boat, making it into a lean-to shelter. Then they returned to the woods for firewood and soon had a cheery blaze between them and the water. Feeling thus secured from threats by land or sea, the twins shared out the last of the gouda.
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» They called and hallooed much louder, to drown out the whispering vines and their own panic. They were answered at last by a splash upstream. Adolphus had thrown a branch in the water. They retreated upriver to parlay.
“How can we answer you back with all that shouting?” Adolphus demanded.
“Never mind that!” Mirabelle interrupted. “It’s all those nasty vines over here unless we push back into the woods.”
“Bettina found the boat!” Annabelle said. “We need to find a way to get you all over here.”
The vines waved in the air as though seeking the source of all the noise. Gerhardt eyed them with distaste, running his finger along the string of his ammunitionless crossbow.
“Or you could cut through the woods and we could float down to meet you.”
They discussed this option at length. Finally Claire refused to do anything that might separate them further.
“Aaagh!” Gerhardt shouted and pointed to the river. “It’s swimming across!”
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» 
In which the children are separated in a strange and unknown place.
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They walked for hours. Annabelle made Bettina and Gerhardt hold her hands, glaring suspiciously at the underbrush for signs of attack. On the opposite bank Claire was anxious.
“What shall we do when it gets dark?”
“We need to all be together,” Mirabelle said. The river was wider here, but they could not see through the water.
“I’d like to know when it will get dark,” Adolphus said, staring up again. “I can’t see the sun! The whole sky is the same; there’s no bright point.”
“It must be behind the trees,” Claire said. “Oh! I wish we hadn’t lost all the rope!”
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» Gerhardt fished in his pocket for his knife but the vines grabbed his hand. He managed to get two fingers on the knife and fling it towards his other hand. Luckily he was not bad with his left hand and managed to open the blade and start sawing away at the vines. Tendrils slapped his face and grabbed his hand but he slashed back. It pulled his feet into the mud. He kicked and shouted and slashed with his pocketknife.
Behind him the water exploded. A wave hit the bank, uncovering little Bettina’s buried face. She coughed and spluttered. Something sailed over Gerhardt’s head and landed on the bank with a thud. It was Annabelle! She jumped up and stomped on vines, shouting Italian curses.
Then there was an earthquake. At least that’s what Gerhardt thought when he found his eyeballs shaking. It was a roar, a deafening roar. Enormous brown hands plunged deep into the mud and tore out vines and children alike. Gerhardt flew onto dry ground and Bettina landed beside him.
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which the children at last ascend to the surface of the earth, only to find themselves in more danger!
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The river did not quicken to throw them over a cliff. The cave broadened and the river slowed. The twins plied their oars for speed. Gerhardt, carving a name for their vessel into its hull, looked down and realized he had spelled “Mycelium” wrong.
“Hey,” he said, “there’s light.”
Ahead across the broad, flat water was a slit of blinding light, so welcome that the children stared into it until they had to close their eyes against it, and then saw the bright red impression of it against their closed eyelids.
They cheered and rowed toward it.
The cave mouth was low and they all had to lie down in the mushroom cap to pass through. With the yeti lying in there as well there was not enough room, so Claire and Adolphus jumped into the cold water and clung to the back of the boat, kicking to propel them back into the light.
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which we discover what Claire found.
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“This narrow cave will open into an enormous cavern,” Claire said. “I don’t know how big, I couldn’t see very far because I only have one of Mother’s algae lamps.”
“So that’s where that went,” Adolphus muttered.
“Shhh! Go on, Claire,” Mirabelle said.
“But there was light there! I think there were cracks in the cave ceiling, or vertical tunnels, because there were patches of light beaming down. That’s where these mushrooms are growing. This is one of the biggest. I chopped it down at the base, then made the pole and oars out of the stem.”
“That was clever and brave of you!” Annabelle said.
“It is nice to have a boat that doesn’t leak,” Gerhardt added.
“But next time, please tell us,” Annabelle said. “We were worried.”
Adolphus opened his mouth to speak. There was the muffled thump of a sharp kick to the shins, so all he said was “Ow!”
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