Brusco by Bruce Olson chapter one home to the Jungle Bobby and I found Aya boquena a Motorola Chief Indian Chieftain alone in the jungle clearing at the top of the bluff green banana shoots and Yuca Sprouts were already breaking through the ground and there is plenty of space for cattle grazing on the 55 Acres as we talked with Aya boniqua about the progress the Indians were making we heard a motorboat on the river below it was too close to the bank for us to see it but we all heard it pull it usually it takes several minutes for somebody to get up to the clearing but well before we expected it a swarthy-faced man appeared good afternoon he said roughly in Spanish he was out of breath and waited impatiently as I continued to speak with Aya bonigua I saw out of the corner of his eye that it was Humberto April one of the Outlaws was settled the area I knew he had a bad temper and had threatened the mozillones now he was obviously angry when I conclude my conversation with Aya balniqua I said good afternoon Humberto he was he was sweating heavily big drops falling from his hollow cheeked face which was contorted into a shape that made me uneasy I've come to tell you to get off this land he said this is my land I'm a Colombian colonist and I have the right to claim land for my colonization and I claim this land you can get off he spoke to me about Bobby interrupted him and I have something to tell you he spoke calmly slowly calmly both great force This Is Our Land it has always been our land it will always be our land we have seasoned enough land to you six months ago we seated last year at your demand and what have you done you have sold them and now you demand more but we will not give more we'll protect what is ours the argument was short Alberto began to shake his neck muscle stood out like steel cords his face became bright red he took Bobby by the shoulders and shouted these are my lands they are mine anyone else must get off did you let go of Bobby instead of shaking fear crept up my back like ice but Bobby will shroom himself you are wrong these lands do not belong to you they will not belong to you he said quietly shut up Humberto's Grand shut up you dirty Indian shut up spittle came out of the corners of his mouth and made little spots on his red face then he put his forefinger across the thumb of his right hand so it made a cross he held it toward us his eyes bolts and His Hands shook so much he could hardly hold it straight he kissed his fingers for God he said kissing his fingers again and spinning on the ground for the Saints again he spit his head jerking to the side so violently it looked more like a spasm than a conscious movement for the virgin mother a third time he spit and for this cross he spit again that looking straight at us he held his thumb and forefinger to his mouth and kissed them his voice grew guttural I'll kill you then he screamed it I'll swear for this cross I'll kill you he turned on a CEO walk down the bank it washed the back of his neck until he disappeared it was still crimson and the muscles and veins continued to stand out like hordes we would say that until we heard his boat start up then fade into the distance I was trembling Bobby he will he will kill I feel that he means it you are right Brusco and what are we to do about it Bobby and I decided on some safety precautions but Brusco Bobby said there's no real safety in these things only God can help so the three of us bowed her heads and talked to God together as we did my fear was replaced with the by the joy that had seized me when I saw Bobby waiting for me that morning as my plan landed on the rough jungle airstrip that Joy crept into my soul down into my stomach yeah it was not the same Joy it was more profound as though pain and danger and fear had been injected into it making it deeper warmer more sensitive a lot had happened in this VOR since my plane had circled the town of Rio de orgo for a landing beneath the plate I could see the jungle stretching to the Horizon a dense heavy green mat for the riot I caught my first glimpse of a dirty Brown streak like a misplaced string across the Green carpet it was the katatonbo river we flew over at the ferry and I saw the cluster of houses all fairly new that comprise the town it seemed lost in the vast jungle but it is growing I thought it occurred to me that just 10 years before there had been nothing but High trees blocking the Sun and Dead's foliage underneath perhaps a parrot had screeched Demi now in that same place was a town a flush of Joy engulf me not because of this town but because I was coming back from America and soon would be reunited with Bobby my packed brother a strained against the window trying to see ahead of the plane my emotions swelling from my stomach up to my back in the shiver as the old worn out DC3 lost altitude the trees came so close to the plane's belly it seems certain that her Wheels would hit and send us spinning into the jungle but suddenly the foliage broke and we were over clearing a narrow long strip cut out of the jungle we touched down with his thump in a bounce that brings strain to keep the big plane on the small Runway as we taxi to the end of the ship my eyes hunted for the figure standing there for Bobby I couldn't find him but going down the ramp I spotted him a little to one side his short heavy set torso looking powerful and agile even under his loose fitting red shirt and dark pants his face was Browner than those of the other people waiting but even from that ramp I could see his white teeth flashing I was a smile that said you are back again Brusco and it is good he never used my American name Bruce I broke into a run when I got to him I grabbed him and gave him a true Motorola greeting we must have been quite aside a short dark Indian embracing a tall blonde American but that made no difference to us my brother I said my brother bore bashara I called him by his given name as it always did in solemn moments I held my arms late you look fine I said How's your wife and your boy are they well my wife is fine Bobby said she is healthy and happy she's extremely pleased to be the mother of a fine healthy son and then he's all right oh yes he's fat you should see him and he's already moving around the house like a little monkey as we walk back to the point where all the baggage had to be clean Bobby asked how is your business in America I thought of the Shams of face in the endless hotel rooms everyone alike I shook my head I don't know Bobby I guess I got things done that had to be done but I'm awfully glad to be back Bobby chatted about his family he was as happy as I remember him his dark guys were bright I've worried about him after his daughter had died for quite a few weeks he had been Moody uncommunicative now he didn't seem to be able to stop smiling after we got the luggage we decided to eat we went into the town which had been founded directly on the airstrip its narrow gravel streets were crowd with new homes through unpainted sides still smelling like fresh wood their tin roofs still bright among the older Palm leaves house tops there are spindly rickety things however that looked like they couldn't stand long I haven't had any food on the plane and Bobby laughed at the way I stuffed myself with Colombian Delicacies they'll have a full stomach from now on Brusco he said I knew what he meant for Motorola to have a full stomach means more than not not to want more food means contentment satisfaction with life and happiness expressed so well the way I felt Bobby I said you are the leader of your people it is a great responsibility he Shrugged well it's not really me lots of other men are able now to take my position and besides Brusco Jesus Christ walks our Trails he knows our ways and he knows the things we need as long as we don't try to deceive him again he'll be a real leader I nodded Brusco probably said you should see the schools they're crowded most of students have already read through the books we translated and they want more especially more of the New Testament they talk about the things they're learning I said they were discussing a hunt the old people too we have to give we have to get to work and translate more for them or they'll give us no peace I laughed all right we'll get busy on that soon as we can it should go more quickly now that we've got most of the difficult words translated a prospect of more translating made me happy for one thing I learned much from the Bible on doing it I thought of the word for faith in motolone the word that meant to tie into God just as a Motorola tied his hand against the high Rafters of the communion home tied into Jesus we could rest and sleep and see from far above the ground without fear of falling I'm so glad to be back with you Bobby I said I missed you the whole time I was away I guess I'm just tied into the multilone people and we are tied into you Brusco as Bobby Sturgis coffee a smile turned into a frown we've been having more trouble with the land settlers they've sent us several threatening letters the settlers has given enough trouble to form summer prison escapees who lived on the frontier to afford arrest they were interested in taking Motorola land for their own farms and declaring the territory or Refuge what do they want now I asked oh you know Marland more of our land they treat us like animals who do to put to be pushed in whatever direction is convenient for them so you expect real to travel for them or just threats I don't know Brusco it may be real trouble most of the settlers seem to decided with the Outlaws and that means they'll stop at very little they're thinking that if the Outlaws run us off our land they'll end up getting it since the Outlaws never will be able to own land themselves so what are you going to do Bobby it's Chinese crew sad and he looked on well I can tell you this much we're not going to give up more of our land to them we've been we've given it up Time After Time and there's just no end to it this time we'll protect it ourselves babushko he's still looking up at me I hope I pray that I won't come to that I had plenty of time to think about that as we rode the canoe up the river it was a seven hour trip and the big breaks in Stratton motor made it's made so much noise that it was impossible to talk it was incredible unbelievable that the settlers are troubling us again it was so two-faced more than three thousand sellers have been treated by Motorola Health Centers they were happy to us when they needed help their Motorola is given them their drugs and medical supplies free of charge yet when they wanted more alone I land the settlers would do anything to get it I looked back at Bobby who was steering the boat and smile how strange that I had gone to this place I felt the way I did about these people it was godhood brought me I never would have come myself and even if I had wanted to I could never have made it past all the problems past the loneliness past the danger in fact I would never have left my home in Minneapolis if I had not have had as powerful determined presence inside of me as I sat in the canoe I thank God for Bobby for the mochalones and for The Jungle which was on all sides of us even above us like a tent when the river narrowed and we went in under the trees it seemed as dark as night the air was hot and humid stifling bugs Circle us and bit but I was immensely happy this is my home everywhere else I fell out of place we rode for five and a half hours neither of us tried to speak if there was communication you applied some object and remember experiences we had we saw no life on the river a few bright Birds would appear in the forest for trees for a moment then be gone when we stopped the motor to refuel we could hear animals calling but there were no settlements no sign of human life suddenly we realized the river bends that we were close to the communion home of ayaboniqua Bobby Law questioning Lee at me and gestured and direction of the home which was at the top of a bluff do you want to stop he was asking I nodded yes he pulled into the side of the river we tried to canoe to a tree then climbed the bluff quickly just at the top a few feet from the home was a large new sign it announced in bold letters that Beyond was Motorola territory and settling it was illegal I gesture to the Sun the government finally got it up eh yes two weeks ago we asked for Aya boniqua at the home and one of the women told us that he was in the nearby clearing they were building a new home and there will be a school and health center nearby it was there we found ayable Queen up shortly after Humberto April showed up with his threatening words later I thought of those words for this cross I'll kill you they were chilling I see but only a curse or a threat did they or did they say more were they prophetic of something the cross was yet going to do to us it was for the cross I could love the motilones and be loved in return but was it also for the cross I would die was it also for the cross that Bobby would die