Chapter 6

Franco searched his bag for a piece of rope. He was scared. He needed that rope.

“Where did we put the rope?” he cried. “Antonio, look in your bag.”

Antonio pulled rope from his bag. It was 25 feet. He handed it to his brother. Franco tossed one end to his father. Rafael was now up to his waist in mud.

The three kids pulled on the rope. They pulled hard. But they couldn’t free Rafael. The mud was thick. The suction was too strong. But at least he wasn’t sinking any deeper.

Rafael realized that he’d have to free himself. He leaned back. And he used all his strength to lift his legs up.

Finally, Rafael was on top of the mud. He was floating. Inch by inch, the kids pulled their father to safety. Rafael was tired.

“That was a close one!” Antonio said.

“I’ll have to be more careful,” Rafael said. “Now let’s get around this pit.”

Soon, they came to another small opening in the jungle. From there they could see the Amazon.

It was almost 4 o’clock. Everyone was tired. Everyone was hungry. But Rafael wanted to keep going. They’d wasted a lot of time. And he wanted to make it up.

They went on. And they made sure that they could see the river. Two hours passed. Then they found another small space.

“This looks like a good place to spend the night,” Rafael said. “Let’s get some firewood.”

“What are our chances? Can we make it back tomorrow? To the village, I mean,” Franco asked hopefully.

“We lost too much time today,” said Rafael.

Lilia looked scared. “We don’t have very much food,” she said.

“We should be fine. There’s lots to eat in the jungle. We just have to find it.”