River Shore
Dready cruised down the river atop the deceased crocodile. He was amazed by the
sheer power of the river as he gained speed. He noticed a group of monkeys swinging through
the trees screaming, pointing, and trying to keep up with him. This made him laugh. He then
began to wonder how far ahead the rest of the people in his group were. He still couldn't see
any of them and had no idea how long this river was, so he decided to take a nap.
When he awoke he had no idea what was going on. The water was very rough and he
was almost knocked off the crocs back. He wrapped his arms around its legs and held on tight.
He was quite scared, but moments later the water became much calmer. Then, he heard the
loud roar of the waterfall. He looked to his right and saw the enormous wall of water. He
figured out that he had apparently floated around the falls on a safer part of the river. He
realized how lucky he was, because if he had gone over the falls he would have surely died.
Then he saw pieces of a canoe. As he looked around he saw more canoes that had been
smashed to pieces. He became very sadden when he saw this and began to wonder if anyone
else had survived. Then he saw some of his tribesmen on their boats in front of him. He called
to them with joy and they all turned and cheered.
It turned out only a couple of boats didn't make it past the waterfall, but the rest of
them were able to maneuver around it. Dready was very happy to have caught up with them.
The other men were happy to see him as well, they were certain he hadn't made it. Then they
saw the croc he was riding on and were dumb founded. As they all cruised down the river together Dready told them the story. They all then
began to talk about the river and all they had seen on the ride so far. They also began to
speculate about what may lie at the rivers end. But, they were closer to finding this out than
any of them had thought.
The water around them quickly started to change from brown to green and from green
to blue. Soon they realized the tree line had stopped and the land was quickly disappearing
behind them. They were in the ocean. They started to paddle as fast as they could back to the
shore, but Dready did not have a paddle. He tried to use his hands, but the current was too
strong. He called for help, but everyone was paddling away from him. He was certain that he
would be swept out deep into the sea. Just then a man appeared through the waves. He was
floating on a thin piece of wood. He gave Dready a puzzled look. Then another appeared and
another. The men started yelling at him in a foreign language. One of the men threw Dready a
rope and began to pull him out of the current. Then all of the men began to help. Exhausted,
Dready just laid there while they towed him to shore.
When Dready finally reached the beach he saw all of friends already standing there.
They were not alone however. They were surrounded by men with spears in hand. They were
yelling at them with anger in a foreign language. The Incas raised their hands to show that they
came in peace. Then the eldest Incan on the trip approached the men. He pulled out a pipe
and packed some merryone into it. He walked over to a small fire on the beach and lit his pipe.
He nodded his head and passed the pipe to the beach tribe's leader. Their leader took a hit,
exhaled, and began to laugh. He told his men to put down their weapons. The Incas
understood what he was saying. Then they all packed their pipes and passed them to the
members of the beach tribe. They explained that the merryone would allow them to
understand each other. The new tribe was amazed.
This meeting ritual became known as "the sharing of the pipe of the peace." The beach
tribe told the Incas that they were known as the Reefers. They spent all of their time on the
beach. They fished the oceans plentiful reefs for food. They also made tools and jewelry from
shells and carved palm trees to make their boats. Their boats however were not canoes like
those of the Incas. They were completely flat and they used them in a strange way. They
would lie down on them and use their hands to paddle. When a wave came they, stand up on
the board and ride it all the way to the beach. The Incas were very impressed and decided that
they would like to try this. They pushed their canoes out into the water and when a wave s
came they would paddle. They failed the first couple of tries, being thrown out of their boats
and into the water, but after a while they too were able to ride the waves up to the beach. The
Incas had a great time learning how to do this and the Reefers had fun watching them. The two tribes had quickly become good friends and they soon began to discuss
business. They had made an alliance. The Reefers were very interested in trading with the
Incas. The Incas then began to discuss their journey and all that they were trying to accomplish.
The Reefers told them of great cities to the north. They told them all about the path they must
take to get there as well. Then, the leader of the Reefers asked a good question. He wondered
how the Incas planned to travel back home after their journey.
Both tribes sat and pondered this question. As they began to discuss it, it became clear
that the only way back would be to cross the river. They now knew that there were calmer
waters in the ocean and that they could simply paddle around the mouth of the river. The
problem though was that they would have no way to carry large amounts of cargo and they
would have to trek through thick jungle on the other side. They would need a bridge and a
cleared path that led back to Inca. Since the Reefers didn't have much to trade with the Incas
for merryone, they agreed to construct the trail.
After they made this deal there was a huge celebration. The Reefer's had trumpet shells
and coconut drums. They made music throughout the night and everyone danced and feasted
on fresh seafood and crocodile meat. Then, later in the night the Reefer tribe presented
Dready with a wave board of his own, covered in croc skin. The Reefers partied all night, but
the Incas decided to go to sleep early. They were exhausted from the days travel and knew that
tomorrow they would be venturing further into the lands unknown.