At first, there was lots of traffic on the river.
The chief chatted up anyone going downstream; he tried to find out about upcoming dangers, such as rapids and shallows. He offered them all a job as our guide, but was refused. There were reports of a monster destroying villages upriver. Excited, the chief would ask for a description, but no one knew what it looked like. It attacked from the river
Inevitably, he asked them whether they had a seen a pseudoryx, called a "sao la" in their tongue. At the mention of that word, however, most of our fellow travelers shuddered in fear.
"Beware the Sao la! Do not disturb its lair!"
"The Sao la is the protector of the land. All animals are under its protection. It is very bad luck to hunt in the environs of the Sao la!"
The chief tried to explain that all we wanted was a photograph of the bovine. We meant no harm to the pseudoryx nor to the land nor to the people nor to the animals. No matter our protestations, however, the river men continually harangued us with warnings. It was quite discomfiting. We began to fear that the pseudoryx was not the gentle mammal we theorized, but instead was a fierce carnivore.
As we traveled closer to the Vu Quang, the river traffic became scarce. The few people we met were going down river and begged us to turn around.
We kept going.
We were not prepared for the destruction we found.
On
the fifth day of our trip, Marga became excited when she thought she had spotted
two pseudoryxes, but they turned out to be goats.
The next day we saw some water buffalo.
On the eighth day, we passed an ominous pole in the middle of the river.
We passed no one else for the rest of the day. We continued on. As the river narrowed, Marga and I had a hard time keeping up with George and the chief.
Marga looked back at me and screamed. I turned, but saw nothing behind me. When I looked back she was gone.
There were only a few drops of water left on her seat. I panicked. The chief heard the commotion and rescued me. We decided to make camp early in case Marga reappeared. George went exploring and found a nearby village
.
When we saw the dead dog, however, we retreated to the boats.
We
drew straws; George would sleep in the boats while the chief and I camped on
land.
In the morning, George was gone. We looked everywhere, but could not find nary a trace of him.
Hurriedly, we broke camp. Although we wanted to mourn our lost companions, the chief felt it necessary to keep moving.
It was a bloody day. In the early afternoon, we saw a boat coming down the river. We had not encountered anyone in days. And then the monster attacked. One moment, the boat was filled with people; the next moment they were gone.
What dread beast could do such destruction? Could the pseudoryx be responsible for so much carnage?
Continue on to 3. The Monster
Click on the links below to read the story
Introduction - 1. The Arrival - 2. The River - 3. The Monster - 4. The Bridge - 5. The Palace
This story was created by Heather
Cleary for the UCLA class, IS287a.
Photographs are courtesy of Howard
Besser.