How Teddy Roosevelt Slew the Last Mighty T-Rex (10 page)

Theodore surmised from the stern look on Colonel Rondon’s face that the Englishman had to do more than a bit of explaining before he got even close to being back in Rondon’s good graces.

 
“Several years ago,” Martin began, “I was assigned to Commander Fawcett’s expedition by Her Majesty the Queen to map the Rio Verde River which runs to the southwest of here along the Bolivian border. I was pleased with this assignment and proud to be a part of a mission led by a man of Fawcett’s stature, which appeared to be a good fit owing to my background as both a field anthropologist and a military officer. Julio de Lima, then just a lad of seventeen years, was a porter on this particular expedition.”

Roosevelt and Colonel Rondon exchanged quick glances.

“Our journey began without incident. The hunting and fishing was excellent and we made good progress moving upriver, but things began to unravel very shortly after we were forced to abandon the canoes because of rapids, and we continued along the riverbank and up the valley on foot.

“The slog through the forest soon became desperate. The jungle was choked with thick thorny bamboo and the game disappeared. Even more disturbing was the fact that no fish could be found in this section of the river. Our supplies soon run dry but we pressed onward for ten days until Fawcett finally found the stream’s source and he mapped it for record.

“Percy Fawcett immediately tried to calculate our quickest way of returning to civilization while still retaining the opportunity of securing food for the expedition’s members.

“Several of the local Indian porters pointed out the Ricardo Franco Hills which ranged high to our left and to the east. None of the locals had actually been through the high, flat-topped and forested ranges, but Fawcett made the decision to attempt their crossing, nonetheless. The Franco Hills were surrounded by deep gorges and canyons which functioned like a medieval castle’s moat. Needless to say, our attempt to traverse the mysterious plateau came to an abrupt halt just a day or two later.

“Before we left the area, Commander Fawcett sent me and Julio out into the forest to hunt for food. The high jungle was thick and tangled, but we came to an area that appeared to have been cleared some years before. This was the first sign of human habitation we had seen in weeks. The area was choked with palms, and hearty vegetation broke through the stone placements pushing the well-intentioned human development asunder through the passing of time. At its center lay a small stone dwelling several meters in length and a two meters in height that remained mostly intact. The doorway lay open where the wood had presumably disintegrated, and only its ornate and rusted hinges remained, most of which were scattered upon the stone floor.

“Before entering and inspecting the building, young Julio pointed out a modest gravesite covered with moss and bamboo and decorated with a Christian cross. The headstone read in Spanish:
Alonso Hurtado de Rojas laid to rest before God and the Holy Mother in the year of our Lord 1576
. The caption appeared to be hurriedly and crudely scribed.

“Inside the cramped building and amid the shadows, we found a smooth stone altar overrun with plants and small burrowing rodents. We also noticed the remains of what appeared to be benches facing the altar arranged in the style of a Christian church.

“Julio and I hurriedly searched the abandoned church as we were extremely hungry and eager to resume the hunt, but it was only by my prompting and my intellectual curiosity that I convinced Julio to continue assisting me with my task, and our efforts were finally rewarded when we found a strong-box, enclosed yet unlocked.

“I opened the box slowly under Julio’s curious eye, thereupon finding a battered tome covered in ornate Spanish script. I reached down and opened the book’s cover with the gentlest of touch, but to no avail, the leather binding fractured and splintered between my fingers and I simply brushed its remains away. The box was too heavy to move efficiently, and yet the light from the doorway was adequate to read the text, I supposed, so I began to read the Spanish text and commit its contents to memory.

“What I read was absolutely astonishing. From the very first time I digested the words I felt that it could possibly alter the course of human history and even our view of the ancient world before the proliferation of mankind.”

Rondon said, “Those are lofty statements, Mr. Martin, and all of this from a conquistador’s diary?”

“Let him finish,” Roosevelt urged diplomatically.

“Indeed,” Martin replied to Rondon. “My feelings on this are resolute, and I have sacrificed five years searching for any fragment of confirmation. In fact, this diary has changed my life forever.”

Roosevelt waved his hand. “Go on…”

“As I turned and read each page, the parchment fell to dust and scrap. I held no hope of recovering any part of the document.
 
Frankly, the young Julio was visibly disappointed that the box contained no gold or gems, and yet to me this vessel housed the greatest treasure imaginable.

“Before closing the box, I noticed a glint of copper beneath the shredded remains of the book. I reached in and retrieved the flattened metal slab. It fit snuggly in the palm of my hand and bore the etching of a fierce beast of a type I have never seen, but now I could view with some understanding and in some context after reading the dairy.

“Pressed for time, we returned to the expedition bearing only as evidence the copper artifact from the old church. Colonel Fawcett was now obsessed with returning his men safely to civilization, so I delayed discussing the incident for many days. Finally, after twenty days without food, Colonel Fawcett miraculously shot a deer and the expedition ate and became rejuvenated.

“It was at this time that I discussed with Fawcett the content of the Spanish book and I showed him the copper slab.

“But much to my shock and dismay, Percy Fawcett was not totally convinced with my discovery. He argued that the early Spanish explorers were brutal tyrants and often presented horrific tales to the natives for the explicit purpose of keeping them frightened and thusly subjected. The copper artifact was simply a figment of the artist’s fertile imagination, he contended.”

“Well...?” Roosevelt interrupted. “Don’t keep us in suspense. Out with it! Tell us what was in the book.”

“The diary detailed the travels of a Spanish conquistador named Alonso Rojas. Rojas was tasked with creating the mission overlooking the Franco Hills and also to explore the vast Amazonian Highlands down and into the deep jungles, searching for possible areas rich in gold ore for the Spanish crown.

“On one such mission into what is now called Mato Grosso near the source of the Juruena River, Rojas encountered and subjugated a native group whose chieftain warned the Spanish that they were about to tread upon the domain of what they referred to as The Dark Beast. The chief explained that meeting a pack of these ferocious creatures meant a quick death and that just a single animal could battle many men armed with spears or swords.

“Rojas ignored the native’s warnings and ventured into the forest with twenty of his best men. The ensuing attack he described was both brutal and decisive. He lost eighteen of his men to just five of the beasts in the flash of an eye, he wrote. Rojas and one of his companions escaped while the monsters ripped the rest of his men to shreds and consumed their bloodied corpses with powerful gnashing jaws. Rojas wrote of hearing horrible crunching sounds of human bone mixed with metallic armor that would haunt him to ‘the end of his days’ and well into the afterlife.

“The imposing conquistador was so shaken by the ordeal that he prayed to God nearly every hour upon returning to Bolivia, and never again did he step foot back into what we now call Brazil. He dedicated his remaining life to higher powers and completed this mission overlooking the border and repented his conquistador past. The people native to this region eventually moved onward and Rojas was left with his one remaining loyal soldier. He wrote of spending his days in prayer and staring out and over the high and desolate hills wondering what other deep mysteries God hath bequeathed mankind to test their mettle upon this earth.”

“And yet,” Roosevelt said. “We have just passed through the area of the Juruena River, and I don’t recall seeing any large beasts, nor did we hear of any tales of such living horrors from the natives.”

“I have my theories,” Martin replied confidently. “More than three hundred years have passed since Rojas’ encounter with the Dark Beasts and the encroachment of humankind has surely been constant and unrelenting.”

“That could be a possible explanation,” George Cherrie said. “The domain of large predators can often be restricted by pressuring their resources. Yet, more often than otherwise they are simply hunted to extinction.”

“I don’t contend that the Dark Beasts are extinct, Mr. Cherrie.”

“Exactly… You believe the Dark Beasts and the
Arawuua
described in Wide Belt lore are one in the same, do you not?”

“Precisely.”

“And do you still possess the copper etching of the creature?”

Lieutenant Martin smiled broadly and then hollered, “Julio!”

Julio sauntered up to the fire. Martin rattled off a few words in Portuguese and Julio replied, “
Sim
.” Julio reached into his pocket and removed a three-by-three inch copper slab and handed it to Cherrie.

Cherrie looked down at the etching for a brief second before erupting in laughter. He jabbed his finger toward Martin. “You, sir, are a complete and total madman.” Cherrie composed himself long enough to hand the copper slab to a puzzled Roosevelt.

Roosevelt looked the etching over. He recognized the creature almost immediately. “This is Osborn’s Tyrannosaur,” Teddy Roosevelt said bluntly. “I believe he referred to it as ‘lizard king’ or
Tyrannosaurus Rex
. This creature became extinct tens of millions of years ago.”

“With all due respect,” Martin said. “I feel the evidence points otherwise—”

“You,” Cherrie said, “have been the victim of a very elaborate practical joke.”

“—the accounts put forth by the Spanish conquistadors, the oral histories of the local natives in this area—?”

Cherrie shook his head. “Listen Mr. Martin, there are countless ways to discount your hypothesis, but foremost is the fact that creatures of this size must maintain a breeding population numbering in the hundreds—if not thousands. I simply don’t think that’s possible in present day Brazil.”

“Their numbers have dwindled dramatically over the past fifty years, perhaps to four or five dozens. And their domain has been reduced to under a thousand square kilometers.”

“Then why do we not find any remains of these creatures?” Roosevelt asked. “They should be rather easy to recover.”

“The Amazonian rainforest,” Martin replied earnestly, “consumes all carcasses quickly and efficiently. Even bones decay rapidly in the sweltering jungle. Fossilized remains, however, are an altogether different issue.”

Roosevelt nodded. He had to hand it to the Englishman on that last point. He did present a valid argument.

Colonel Rondon appeared to have his fill of the conversation, and with a dismissive wave of his hand, he abruptly rose and began directing his camaradas to dismantle camp. “Daylight is burning quickly,” he said loudly and with great emphasis. “We have little time for such foolishness.”

George Cherrie sat with his arms crossed and staring at the fire. “Granted there are unclassified living creatures on this earth, and there may be large and unknown predators such as those described by the local natives.” Cherrie shook his head. “But living dinosaurs…? The very concept is absurd.”

Lieutenant Martin turned to Roosevelt. “President Roosevelt, can you not recognize the greatest scientific discovery in the history of mankind? As a naturalist, is your legendary curiosity not fully aroused?”

“Yes, Mr. Martin, I am certainly interested in any new species. But the expedition’s stated goals are paramount at this juncture. Getting these men through and out of this jungle alive most assuredly takes precedence over collecting and logging specimens, no matter how intriguing they may be. Do you understand?”

Martin’s eyes widened. “I cannot believe what I’m hearing! The great, noble, and open-minded Theodore Roosevelt refuses to investigate the most interesting mystery ever presented to him? He would simply pass right through the final domain of an animal left over from our prehistoric past?”

Roosevelt raised his finger. “Do not be insulting. We have sat here and listened to your tale in earnest. The expedition will not detour from its mission and we shall not entertain any further arguments to the contrary. And secondly, you have been deceitful when you applied to join this expedition—holding back information such as your relationship with Julio de Lima. I find this behavior disrespectful and extremely disturbing.”