The mystery of Munroe Island by Victor Ghoshe

Munroe Island, 12th March. Whatever has happened over the last three weeks prior to my journey has been noted in my diary, but in a very hap-hazard way. Now as we have reached this island and have some time in hand, I am going to re-organize those notes.

Its needless to say that I am again a part of an expedition. The island, on which I am sitting now, possibly had a name because three hundred years back people from mainland arrived here, but that name never reached the civilized world. So, let us call it Munroe Island for the time being. We are five in the group - my old friend Jeremy Saunders is the one who has actually initiated this expedition. To start the story of this expedition, I need to give an introduction of Bill Callenbauch, who is also a part of this expedition a professional photographer from California; tall, well built and adventure-loving. He is touching forty-five but looks half his age. Saunders knows Callenbauch for quite a long time. Last December, National Geographic magazine sent Callenbauch to the Northwestern Africa to shoot some local festivals. He was visiting different small cities of that region. Something surprising happened at a town called Agadir in Morocco. Agadir is a coastal town and a large number of its population lives on fishing. Callenbauch went to the fishermens locality to talk to them and to take some photographs. While talking to a fisherman, Callenbauch noticed a three-year-old kid playing with a corked bottle. Callenbauch could also see a folded paper in the bottle and got intrigued to ask the fisherman if he could have the bottle to have a closer look. The bottle was sealed and the paper inside was a letter, written in English. The writing style suggested that it was a letter written long time ago. The father of the kid said that the bottle was there in their house since his grandfathers time. The fishermen were Muslims and they write in Arabic, so no one thought of opening the bottle and reading the letter. Callenbauch took the letter out of the bottle and read it, within another few days he finished his work and went back to London, where he visited Saunders and showed him the letter. The letter had just a few lines written with a pencil, which goes like Latitude 33 East Longitude 33 North, 13 December 1622 We have discovered a wonder plant here in this unknown island whose miraculous medicinal values can revolutionise human civilization. I am sending this letter in this bottle against Brandons strict orders. As he asked all of us to not to talk about the plant and not to spread the news. Black-hole Brandon is the ruler of this island now. Thus, if anyone comes to explore this place after reading this letter, he should be prepared to fight with Brandon. Black-hole Brandon is after my life, and I am sure that my death is close. Hector Munroe Saunders went to the Naval office in London and enquired about the ship wrecks occurred during 1621-1622 in the Atlantic Ocean. Generally the naval departments preserve all the documents in the archives even if they are centuries old. There were three shipwrecks in 1622. Dr Hector Munroes name was found in the passenger list of a ship named Conquest. It was destined to the Virgin Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and was coming from Gibraltar. The ship drowned near Bermuda and the reason was never known. The naval

department report says there were no survivors; but now we have enough proof to believe that Hector Munroe survived. At the same time the passenger list of Conquest did not show any Brandons name. Saunders investigated further to learn that in the early years of seventeenth century there was one Greg Brandon the most infamous pirate of that time. Brandon was one eyed in the place of the second eye there was a hole which gave him the name Black hole Brandon. Brandon had killed over a thousand people for his lust for gold. That time Jamaica was one of the main shelters for the English pirates. It could also be possible that Brandon and his gang had attacked Conquest and drowned it. And Munroe had survived possibly because he was a doctor. Those days a doctors demand was very high on a pirate ship. Diseases like Scurvy, pellagra, Berry-Berry were very common in the seas, and they could kill all the sailors in no time. For that reason a doctor, who could treat these ailments and could also do surgery if needed used to be a very important person for a voyage. Hector Munroe was surely a doctor of that competence. But how did he and Brandon reached that unknown island is still a mystery. To sum it up after learning all these facts Saunders decided to visit the unknown island inspite of the fact that centuries had passed since the letter was written. He wrote to me about this. I agreed immediately and joined him in London within seven days. When I arrived London the preparation for the expedition was almost over. Callenbauch had told Saunders that if the expedition finally happens, he would surely be a part of it. And when I talked to him I could make out that he is dreaming of making a lot of money from the TV channels by selling the film rights, which he is planning to shoot during the expedition. The fourth one of our group is a Japanese scientist called Hidechi Suma. One of his innumerable inventions is just there on the beach in front of my eyes. This is a jet driven sea vehicle called Sumacraft, and what a magical thing it is! We realized it pretty well during this one thousand five hundred miles sea journey. Sumacraft had never caused any problem for us and overcame all the hurdles of such a long voyage. Suma came to London for a demonstration of this jet boat and there he met Saunders. Sumacraft is not the only thing he had invented. He is also carrying some of his other inventions, which he thinks will be useful in our expedition. Above all Suma is one of the finest Biochemists of the world. The other thing I should mention about him is that - I have never seen such a well dressed person in my life; you look at him at any hour of the day, you would be forced to believe that he is in his own city Osaka and in a while he would take his briefcase and start for office. Before I introduce the 5th person I should write how he actually got inside the group. Saunders published an advertisement on all the leading newspapers of London calling for eligible people to join the group for the expedition. There were five eligibility criteria: i) Previous experience of sea voyage ii) Experience of being a part of at least two scientific expeditions. iii) A degree in any stream of science iv) Good health

v) Experience to handle weapons The fifth one of our group could only fulfill the first criteria. He is not a scientist, he is a writer, and he had never been part of any expedition neither scientific nor non-scientific. Only in school once he climbed up 1500 ft on the Ben Nevis Mountains of Scotland with a group of friends. As the total height of Ben Nevis is 4500 ft so climbing up 1500 ft of it was truly not a big deal. But then why was he included in the group? The reason is simple David Munroe is a successor of Hector Munroe. The proverb we often use about fourteen generations up in Bengali, if we truly go those fourteengenerations back, we would find Hector Munroe on the top of Davids family chart. David approached Saunders when he saw the advertisement and requested to include him in the expedition. He said that he had heard that Dr. Munroe was contemporary to Shakespeare, from his father and grandfather. At the time when the British Navy was fighting the Spanish Armada, Dr. Munroe was the physician for the British Admiral the Duke of Ephingham. Apart from this when David learnt - that Black hole Brandon was also there in his forefathers story, he became very keen to be a part of this expedition. He had read so many stories about the pirates, even he read so much about Black hole Brandon. If there were any hidden treasure of Brandon and if he can discover that it would be really a dream come true for him. And here I should mention one thing, that David is only twentytwo year old. One single glance at David Munroe and one would know that his hands had never held any weapon. The lost look in his eyes, soft voice, and shoulder touching long golden hair- all of them may vouch for his imagination power but surely not for his physical power. Saunders had finally selected David, because of only one reason the blood that is flowing in Davids vein is truly the blood of the person who wrote the letter in the bottle. There is another member in the group Rocket the huge Great Den of David and of course who is in the best shape amongst all of us. Today in the morning we have arrived here. We had all our doubts when even after traveling 600 miles in two days time we could not see any sign of land. We started thinking whether this part of Atlantic Ocean has any island at all. Today after sunrise when Saunders put on his binoculars and announced that he could see land through the thick fog around, Callenbauch instantly got ready with his movie camera. I was a little surprised because generally long before the land appears, sea gulls come and announce the news in their cracked voices, but here it was so different, not a single sea gull was around. Things are no more surprising now, because even after surveying the whole day over 5 kilometers of area we could not see any living creature other than some insects and crabs, and not only that, we could not find any uncommon plant either. The plants we have seen here are only those, which are normally found in this part of Atlantic. But we have only seen a part of the western side of the island. We have made our camp on the beach itself. This is the Southern side of the island, which has only sand and is a little rocky; vegetation is very less on this part. The island is quite

small and mostly plain; but the central part which is nearly five kilometers away from our camp is quite high and full of rocky hillocks. David is very happy, he is running on the beach with Rocket throughout the day and we also are quite enjoying it. He seems to be a very different person now. Much different than the way we have seen him in London and during the voyage. The one, who has actually created a problem, is Callenbauch. He sneezed at least thirty times continuously from the moment he stepped on the island and that was followed by a high fever, so we could not take him with us. Suma stayed with him in the camp, as he wanted to prepare all his machinery and also to set up a small laboratory, because some basic chemical analysis will be required if we find some new species of plant. Though he is so sick but, still Callenbauch has predicted that in two-three days we are going to pack up from here. According to him there are plenty of islands in Atlantic, which are similar to this one. But then again we could not forget the letter of Dr. Hector Munroe; when the latitude and longitude were correct I am sure that this is the island mentioned in Munroes letter and this is the island where he found the amazing fruit. 13th March, 12 Noon. Callenbauchs prediction has failed. No question can arise about leaving this island in twothree days. Let me explain. Today in the morning we took bath in the sea and finished our breakfast and then as we were getting ready to go out to explore David came and proposed that he wanted to go out alone with Rocket. Yesterday only I could make out that his confidence level was going up. Truly, its very tough for a writer to roam around with a bunch of old scientists. We have come to see things thoroughly, and for that we need time and patience. David said that he wants to visit those hillocks and check whether there is any cave, as he believes that Blackhole Brandons treasure can be found in those caves (if there is any). I will surely come back in half an hour said David. I told him that though there are no big creatures, but poisonous snakes and scorpions can be there, and he should not take this risk. But David was hell bent to go and said he would take Callenbauchs pistol and Rocket would be there with him, so there would be nothing to be worried about. I was thinking how to stop David from this childish venture, and then suddenly heard a loud No, - No No No No ! What happened? Such a strong No on Sumas smiling face was looking quite weird. Suma put down a small machine on the beach and said, There is something big here that The Mystery of Monroe Island Part 2

Suma pointed his finger towards those hillocks. Then he showed us his amazing machine Telecardioscope. One can hear the heartbeat of any animal from a distance of 10 kilometers (maximum). The machine has a receiver and a knob, one has to turn the receiver and the knob to find out which direction and how far the animal is. The moment, the direction and the distance match, the machine produces the sound of its heartbeat and a coloured light bulb goes beep beep with the rhythm of the beat. If the animal is 10 kilometers away the light glows in dark violet, as the animal comes close, the colours of the bulb changes according to the VIBGYOR order and finally becomes Red when the animal is just a kilometer away. When the animal comes within a kilometer range, the machine only produces a louder heartbeat sound and the red light bulb goes uninterruptedly on. The animal is not changing its place. And I think its quite big said Suma. How big? I asked Bigger than a human being as the heartbeat and the size of an animal is inversely proportionate. The heartbeat of a normal sized human being is seventy per minute. And for this animal it is just above fifty. Could it be a tortoise? I asked. Huge tortoises are quite common at this part of Atlantic, the other big animals found here are monkeys and deers, but their heartbeat rates are much faster than those of human beings. You might be right Shonku - the way it is lying idle at the same place it can be a huge tortoise said Suma. But what is this tortoise doing at the middle of the island - so far from the shore thats a big question! But Saunders didnt buy the tortoise story at all. He believed that, this was a different animal all together - possibly the only big animal of this island, and for the same reason David should not go alone. After another few minutes of the light and sound show, Suma switched his machine off. None of us could resist clapping and congratulating Suma for such a great invention. A great dane can feel the presence of a creature long before a human being does, but even Rocket must have been feeling very small in front of this machine. We all were ready to go out to explore, but Bill Callenbauch had some problem. He tried all the medicines he was carrying but they were of no good. Let me come back and give him a miracureall - this invention of mine cures any ailment except the common cold in a days

time. Callenbauch has become desperate now, as he knows that his camera has things to shoot, but he couldnt get up from bed. Today also Suma will stay back in the camp; he needs some more time to set up his miniature laboratory. Three of us set out with Rocket to explore. We know if any animal comes close, Rocket will bark and if it doesnt, there is nothing to worry. We are not going towards the hillocks of the central island, as there is very less vegetation. Today we are going to explore the eastern side of the island, we will follow the beach and wherever we find dense vegetation we will enter the forest. We all are armed. Saunders is carrying his German Mannlicher rifle, David has Calenbauchs Barett Automatic, and I am carrying my Anaihilin in my vest pocket. When I told Calenbauch about my weapon - that any living creature of this earth would vanish with a little press on its trigger, he told me very clearly that I should not use it if anything appears in front of us. Because if it vanishes, he wouldnt be able to capture it in his movie camera. We decided if someone wants to leave the group to wander alone for some time, then he got to shout frequently to let others know his whereabouts, and he cant go far from the group. Obviously the rule was for David, because we figured out that his indifferent and lazy nature had disappeared and he seemed to be charged up now. The area through which we are going now has no large rocks or trees so even if one goes a little away from the group he would still be visible. I have been thinking Sumas machine has informed us about only one animal; is there any other animal around? If there are more, are they all beyond ten kilometers? Not possible Because I believe this island is much less than 10 kilometers in both length and breadth. Seven days would be sufficient to survey the entire island. We walked for a mile on the beaches and the landscape changed. Now we had to go inside the island. On our left the first row was of short palm trees and then the forest gradually went thick. There were banana trees, papaya trees, coconut trees and with them there were other known and unknown tall trees. Rock and sand had disappeared from the ground beneath; grass and shrubs took the place. We three and Rocket entered into the forest. One thing was very surprising there were no chirps, no noise of birds. I have never been in a forest - this silent, especially at this part of the earth, where you find hundreds of bird species. The other sound missing was the sound of reptiles moving through grasses, I felt like we were walking through a cursed forest and the trees are also going to die soon.

After another 10 minutes of walk, the forest became a little thinner and we reached a relatively open place. Another few steps and we had to stop with a shock. David was walking in front of us with a difference of a few steps suddenly he uttered a shrill cry and stopped. We all walked fast to reach near David to find A lot of animal bones and skulls were scattered on that open space. We had to try very hard to identify skeletons from the pile of bones, there were skeletons of some deers, some big reptiles possibly a couple of Iguanas and of many monkeys. The colours of the bones were brownish yellow which interpreted that they were very old. This is a proof that there were animals on this island, but they are no more, and we do not have any clue to understand why they have disappeared. David was quite shocked, and kept quite for sometime and then said That Monster! That monster! It had finished all these animals. We realized the animal whose heartbeat was captured in Sumas machine, has now become a monster in Davids imagination. But its not yet time to be sure about the thought that a creature ate all these animals, they could have died naturally also. But then again why would all these different species of animals would come to one place and die? We kept on walking and approached towards a teak wood forest, I could also see some Cedar trees in the forest from where I was. Bougainvillea, jasmine and China rose shrubs were everywhere. I have seen mostly all kinds of teak wood trees, but I have never seen the kind of bright blue patches some of these trees have. We had to go close to find out what were those blue colour patches; it was not a colour patch on the trunk but was the colour of innumerable honey-comb-like small fruits, which have grown on the trunk. I should also mention the fragrance. An unknown and very nice scent made the air thick around that area. The mesmerizing blue colour and the scent of this plant stunned all of us. The first one to react was David he shouted in joy and ran towards the tree to touch the blue thing; we all had to shout to stop him from touching it. As Saunders touched those fruits with rubber gloves on his hand, they fell on the ground very easily; we collected nearly hundred such fruits in a polythene bag and headed back for the camp. Suma should immediately do the chemical analysis of this fruit, as we have not seen this fruit before. My intuition says this is the plant Dr Munroe wrote about. Its obvious that this is a parasitic plant, and lives on the teak wood tree.

Sumas miniature laboratory is ready and he has started the chemical analysis process of the blue fruit. We have learnt that, naked hands can touch this fruit as it is not harmful to skin. I have been to Callenbauchs tent and showed him one fruit. He took it in his hands, stared at it for some time and then put it on the bedside table with a sigh. I could make out that he was very unhappy, as he couldnt shoot the special moment of discovering this plant. Before coming back I gave him one miracurall tablet of mine, as we needed him to document everything. The problem with Callenbauch is that, he doesnt want to take any medicine, which is not made in America, but now as the situation has gone worst; he has agreed to take one.

13th March, 9:00 pm. Our expedition will surely be successful and everyday this faith is getting stronger. At this point of time we cannot even guess, how would this expedition end, but the way things are taking turns, it seems that we would be able to return with some great experience. Today Callenbauch had a little chicken soup in Lunch. His pulse is still quite weak and he looks feeble - the way his looks had changed in last two days its becoming an issue of our concern. But even in this situation he asked about the animal. Could we see it? Is it still there or came closer to us? Telecardioscope is switched off now, as Suma is engrossed in the chemical analysis of the fruit, and we can understand that he is doing well, from his frequent happy shouts. Saunders and I were anxiously observing the process of the research, and of course we knew what was happening. We could actually see that the presence of all the vitamins in this fruit is being discovered one by one. In Munroes age the term Vitamin was not formed. Science was a kindergarten student then, and research on food was to start yet another two fifty years later. Suma got up from his chair at 3pm and uttered two words. First he said amazing, then he pushed the white handkerchief one fourth of an inch inside his blazer pocket and said and mysterious. In the mean time Chalenbauch came and stood behind us so silently that we couldnt even realize the moment we had an eye contact, he came forward shook hands with me and said, Great! Your medicine is great I am entirely cured.

What are you saying? Its just been an hour. Well you can see, said Bill Calenbauch with a smile. I never knew my own medicine could work so fast. And take this this was there on my table. What! This is the tablet I gave you. It didnt take long time to solve the mystery. Calenbauch has taken the blue fruit instead of my medicine, as he was not in his full senses in high fever. And the fruit cured him so fast. Calenbauchs cure is not the only visible virtue of the fruit. The shine in Calenbauchs eyes is also something to mention; which we have never seen before. Saunders told Suma, You do not need to do any more research on this; lets take this fruit as much as possible and lets go back to our country; we will cultivate this plant and surpass all medicine companies in business. Though Saunders said this very lightly but Suma answered back in a very serious voice. He said he has to carry on with the analysis at least for another day. There are elements in this fruit other than the vitamins, which are yet to be identified. But Suma had to leave his work and start the cardiograph machine as Calenbauch was requesting him repeatedly. The machine showed the animal in the same place. But his heartbeat is slower. Said Suma. Though we could understand that from the sound itself, yesterday it was fifty, and today it is below forty. My god! cried Callenbauch is it going to die? Why are you guys wasting so much of time for this fruit, when there is such an animal over there? Saunders replied Bill, please dont be restless as we already got the fruit, now tomorrow onwards we will start surveying the center of the island for the animal. Callenbauch was not happy at all even after this conversation; he went to his tent in a disgusted mood. 14th March. Today we could not go out. It was raining heavily with storm and lightening flashes throughout the day. Callenbauch captured us in his movie camera and recorded our interviews. David told us stories of pirates after we finished our lunch. My God! this boy has got a huge stock of stories. I have a bad news said Suma Whichever element is there other than the vitamins, cant be analyzed and identified in this

small laboratory, that can only be done in big laboratories when we are back. But of course our mission has already been successful and we will surely be back in another couple of days. Suma had strict orders for us to not to consume the fruit until we analyze it thoroughly. If such serious sickness of Callenbauch can be cured by only one fruit and in just one hour, then one can only imagine the power of this fruit. Suma thinks though this fruit seems good but he would not be astonished if it turns out to be harmful to human being. I do not know whether surprisingly high appetite is harmful or not but Callenbauch has eaten three packets of hams in lunch today. 15th March, 7am. Bad news. Callenbauch has set out of the camp without telling us anything. We got the news from David Monroe he and Callenbauch shares one tent, Saunders and me stay in one of the other two and Suma with all his gadgets and machineries stays in the last one. David woke up in the morning and found Callenbauchs empty bed. And along with him all his camera equipments, which were there on the table had vanished. He immediately came out of the tent and shouted repeatedly calling Callenbauch, but there was no reply. At last he thought of taking Rockets help to find Callenbauch and gave Callenbauchs handkerchief to Rocket to smell. But when after smelling the kerchief Rocket started running towards those hillocks of the central region, he then called him back. Suma worked throughout the night and slept in the morning; he was awakened and given the news. He immediately put his Telecardioscope on and showed us that Callenbauch is approaching those hillocks and was three kilometers away from the camp. We will start in another five minutes. Today is a bright day, and we all are going together. Saunders was disgusted and was repeatedly cursing himself why did I include him in this expedition 15th March, 5.30pm. Everything in my mind has gone hay where, after all these shocking events. Now we are on the beach, sitting on the semi-dry sand, roughly two kilometers eastward from the central hillock area of the island. Saunders is taking notes in his diary. He has signed contracts with three leading dailies of London to write about this expedition. And today he has opened his diary for the first time. We could not find Callenbauch, but we found the case of his camera and his tape recorder. And both of them were discovered in very bad condition. Generally he ties up the movie camera with his body by a strap; and if he had been attacked by that unknown creature the camera must have been with him at that point of time. David has borrowed Sumas Mikiki revolver and practicing his aim on a single pebble,

which he has placed on a huge stone at a distance of fifty yards. And the way his practice is going, it seems that another few days - and he will become a crack shot. Suma is walking on the beach. Forty steps left and - forty steps right with precision. Even after eight hours of exploration, not a single crease is visible on his dress and not even a single hair on his head has moved. The leather bag which is hanging from his shoulder, has an amazing weapon in it, this one is also made by Suma himself and named Sumagun. Sumagun is eighteen inch in height, it has a button instead of a trigger - if been pressed, a needle-headed capsule comes out which contains a deadly poison again made by Suma. If this needle enters any body part of any animal, it dies in three seconds Part 3 I need to write about our discoveries. Firstly we have come to know that there were people who lived on this island other than Munroe and Brandon. We have found some skeletons, glasses, bottles, knives, earrings etc. in a cave - we now have reasons to believe that the pirates - who survived the shipwreck, came here and took shelter in some of those caves we have visited. We have found twenty two cutlasses - the typical swords carried by the pirates in those days. Well ! We have not found any treasure till now, but there are many caves to be explored yet; and god only knows what lies there. We left the cave and walked for ten minutes and then suddenly Rocket started barking, following him we found Callenbauchs Camera case and tape recorder beside a bush. It seemed he wanted to get rid of them and run away. But the question was, why? We requested Suma to switch on the telecardioscope on that very spot. The result was not very hopeful. We turned the receiver towards all directions but couldnt find any signal of life other than that unknown animals. It could only be so that Callenbauch was somewhere within a kilometer. But what is he doing? Is he injured? Hes got a gun; he can just shot once and let us know about his position. The heartbeat of the animal has gone back to fifty and the colour of the light is in between yellow and green; means the creature is just about three kilometers from here. We collected Callenbauchs Camera case and tape recorder and came here - on the beach to take rest and have some coffee. Suma made Callenbauchs damaged tape recorder stand on the sand and switched it on. And when it started playing, Suma smiled silently, possibly because of the only reason that the recorder was a Japanese one. We all stood

around the machine in the late afternoon sunlight and heard Callenbauchs voice. This is Bill Callenbauch. 14th March, 8.10 in the morning. My sole expedition has been successful. Just a few moments back I have seen the animal. It came out of a cave and was just fifty yards away from me, it is larger than human being and possibly walks on four feet - though it was standing on its two feet when I saw it. It couldnt see me as I was behind a tree, but before I could fix the telephoto lens on my camera it went inside the cave. From a distance it didnt appear to be a ferocious animal, and from its walking pace I could make out that either it was unwell or it was very old. I am approaching the cave quietly. The recorded voice ends here. And its time we should return. God only knows what tomorrow has in its is reserve for us. 16th March: 6.30 a.m. Frightening experience Last night around 2.30 am, Rockets loud growl and Davids shout woke me up. When I came out, I saw Rocket roaring frantically facing the north and vigorously pulling the leash in Davids hand to be free. As it was a moonless night and that too a cloudy one, we couldnt make out why was Rocket excited. Saunders went inside the tent to bring the torch and before he came out Rocket pulled David down on the sand and ran away towards the northern hillocks. In the mean time Suma had switched on his telecardioscope, but it showed no result; which meant - even if that animal came close to our camp, it was still within a kilometer's range. Silence prevailed for some time. We couldnt find out anything with the torch; Rocket had disappeared behind the hillocks. We were discussing whether we should also go and search, suddenly a spine-chilling howl of Rocket left all of us spellbound. It was not a loud howl of excitement or anger but a cry of pain. Saunders held the torch high and we saw Rocket coming back. David ran towards him and we followed him. The reason of the howl was clear;

there was a deep wound on Rockets back and blood was dripping out from there. We could also make out one more thing, that it was not only the animal who caused a wound on Rockets body but Rocket also got it injured - as Rockets mouth had its blood all over. We dressed Rockets wound, it was not anything major, he would surely be fine within a day. Suma tested the blood, found on Rockets mouth and announced that the group of the blood is A. A group is normally a human blood group but it is also found in some species of monkeys.

There was no doubt that the animal was some kind of a big monkey, because half an hour back we visited the spot - it was just fifty yards away from the camp and had seen its footprints on the sand. The footprints followed closed palm prints; the foot was slightly bigger than a human foot and had five fingers. Today we need to be prepared to fight this wild beast. The island, which has a nectar-like fruit, also has a ferocious monkey, which has surprised and frightened all of us.

17th March 9 p.m. We are leaving this island tomorrow morning. I cant truly describe the state of my mind, because now words like happy, sad, surprised all became mediocre for description. Actually I have observed this pattern that none of my expedition had ever been totally a success or a failure; as in many cases there had been astonishing gains, and in many cases there were irrevocable losses. One thing can be said about this expedition that the stock of my experience, knowledge and astonishment have grown many folded. The place where we got Callenbauchs camera case and the tape recorder yesterday today we reached that spot and Suma switched on his telecardioscope. The machine signaled for only one animals heartbeat. The rate of it was 50 per minute; the colour of the light was Orange which meant the creature was within a diameter of 2.4 kilometers from there. But it was moving and Suma had to turn the receiver constantly to capture the signal. We already knew from Callenbauchs description that the animal could not run fast, so even if it coming towards us we still have half an hour in our hand to survey the area. None of us still believes that Callenbauch has died. It is possible that he is seriously injured and is lying somewhere within a kilometer and that was the reason for which his heartbeats were not been reflected in the telecardioscope. But all our hopes were shattered when Jeremy Saunders discovered the dead body of Callenbauch, behind a bush of poinsettia flower (Euphorbia pulcherrima, indigenous to Mexico and Central America, sometimes found on islands at this part as well). But Callenbauch's entire body was not there; the major portion of the lower part was missing, and it was easy to guess that the beast had eaten the missing part of the body. Callenbauchs movie camera was still strapped around his waist - the lens was broken into pieces and the frame was absolutely damaged. Suddenly our Japanese friend uttered, We might have some interesting film there - and did something which shocked all of us. He moved forward and started un-strapping the camera from the dead body. the rest of us moved on as we could not bare the horrible and sad sight. We knew that we had to burry Callenbauchs body, but it was not the time, we had to move on then. Another few minutes walk and we all could see a huge, dark entrance of a cave next to a hillock. Did Callenbauch mention this cave?

We walked on. From our camp it seemed that this side was only rocky, but now we could see that there are trees also. After all these explorations since last couple of days - now we are sure of one thing that our miracle fruits are only available in one specific area of the island and nowhere else. When we were close to the cave, David walked faster than the rest of us and silently walked into the cave like a spy film hero. He still could not resist the temptation of visiting a new cave before the others. Over these last few days he visited all the big and small caves, which came in our way. He had been inside all of them with a torch and surveyed thoroughly. We all knew that he was doing all this because of his dream of discovering a treasure. Had he ever dreamt that his dream would come true someday? Yo! Ho! Ho! Davids shout was genuinely a pirates war cry... For a moment we were compelled to think that possibly he was not Munroes but Brandons descendent. Has he got something? Yes! The Pirates cry had a good enough reason. We all were familiar with the look of a pirates chest. Exactly similar looking - a very old and very big wooden chest was lying on the floor in one corner of the cave. We could not make out from outside, that this cave was so big; at least a hundred people could stay in this one. It was very clear that this was the main cave among the others, which Brandon and his men used. David was staring at the chest in such a way as if he was in a trance. He wanted to go forward and open the chest but it seemed that he could not move. At last Saunders went forward and opened the chest and David fainted with a shrill cry. Suma attended him immidiately and brought him back in sense within a few seconds by just three little knocks on his forehead with his ring finger. We should all agree that there were genuine reasons for David to faint. His childhood dream has been fulfilled today; the chest was full of seventeenth century Spanish gold coins; Black-hole Brandons treasure - which he had gathered through his whole lifetime. In the meantime another discovery had caused quite an excitement among all of us. This was also a wooden chest, but much smaller in size. The copper plated letters were still visible on its top Dr. H. Monroe

When we opened this box, among some very old clothing and some medical equipment we found a very valuable thing Dr. Hector Munroes Diary. The diary started from the next day of Dr Moroe's landing on this island. This Diary is a great documentation. It even gives

details about how Munroe came here, etc. And we were happy that our guess was quite right. The ship conquest was attacked by the pirates and drowned. Brandon rescued Munroe and got him on his ship. Then they started for Jamaica. On the way the ship faced a storm and lost the way. Some sort of unknown epidemic was also spreading among the sailors and after a week from the conquest attack, the ship came close to this island and drowned. 33 people other than Brandon and Munroe could somehow save their lives. A sailor named Ragland who was very sick discovered this blue fruit, and got cured within an hour. After this incident that fruit cured all the sick sailors like magic. Munroe gave a name to this fruit Ambrozia (which means The Nectar). One question came in Munroes mind. Whether the birds and animals of this island also eat this fruit? He wroteIf not any other animal but monkeys eat this which I could understand from their health and swiftness. And not only that they are not vegetarians, they are carnivorous. I have seen them catching chameleons and frogs and eat. Munroe is clearer in his next sentence. He ate the fruit without any sickness and wrote I have tested The Nectar today. This fruit has an amazing appetite enhancing power. Today we have relished deer meat in the morning. Though there are so much of fruits and vegetables in this island but they cannot satisfy our appetite any more. Should this amazing fruit be confined to this island only, and no one else on this earth would ever know about it? In the later pages there is a hint that Brandon was trying to kill Munroe as there was no need of a doctor. Munroe was absconding to save his life, but he knew that he could not save himself from Brandon. On the other side, food was becoming scarce in the island. The pirates have finished all the deers and started hunting birds and monkeys. No one was ready to eat fruits and vegetables any more. The last thing Munroe wrote was very shocking and we all could see Munroe in a different light from this. He wrote: I do not know whether I did the right thing by sending the letter in the bottle. Now I have doubts whether I can call this fruit The Nectar at all. I can see with my own eyes that within last three months these people have become beasts from human beings. And I also am going to be the same? This eternal cure from all diseases, this indomitable appetite these things cant be good for mankind! We had finished Munroes diary and were sitting quietly and sadly in the cave and suddenly the thought came in my mind that its time we should again check with the telecardioscope. Immediately we put it on but no result was shown, possibly the animal had already came within a Kilometers range.

Exactly at this point of time my nostril captured a new smell in the cave, which was not there earlier. We were sitting on some rocks at the entrance of the cave to read the diary in the tilted daylight. But the smell was coming from inside, and that was getting stronger every moment. There must be another entrance of this cave from the backside and the animal must have entered through that entrance. He must be coming towards us very softly because till then we could not hear any sound. There was a little sound of a displaced stone. The next moment there was a spine-chilling howl and a stone came out of the darkness and hit Saunders on his head. Saunders immediately fell on the ground. The next thing was amazing David picked up Saunders gun from the ground and fired twice in the darkness. Now we saw the animal for the first time in the fading twilight and heard its heart-piercing cry. It was on its two legs and coming towards us... before even I could reach out to my anihilin, a whistle like sound came out from Sumas gun and a poisonous capsule-pin hit the beast on its chest. It fell on the floor of the cave within a second, facing the ceiling. For the first time I saw Suma to be excited. He shouted and said, Now just imagine the amazing power of the fruit Shonku, I figured it out, and thats why I asked you to not to eat it. Whoever eats this fruit for once, only starvation and accident can take his life and nothing else. This animal alone had eaten up all other animals on this island and finally was dying of starvation, but when he got Callenbouch as food, he was revived. Now his appetite has been satiated for good! Suma then twisted his left wrist towards the animals face and pressed a button on his wrist watch and a very powerful beam of light came out of the watch and fell on the face of the animal. Gentlemen, the creature which you are looking at now, said Suma its age is more than four hundred years. Black-hole Brandon! David almost shook the cave with his cry. Saunders had recovered. Four of us were staring at the dead creature. This tall and huge animal could no more be identified as a human being, only the deep hole in the place of his right eye which seemed much deeper in the laser beam of Sumas torch was announcing its original identity. David Munroes bullet had injured him and Sumas poison capsule had stopped his heartbeat.

Now my weapon wiped off this bloodthirsty pirate - a human being who was contemporary to Shakespeare, from the face of the earth for good. For the previous 2 parts of this story please click at the Blog archive - 2011(Nov, Dec), on the rightside of the main template