I landed the helicopter in a clearing in the jungle as close to the GPS location the dying man had given me. I don't know why I believed him, but dead men have no reason to lie. Walking through the jungle, I found a couple stone totems, covered with moss, just like he had told me. Continuing along the barely visible trail, I saw something round and gold colored on the ground. I knelt down to get a closer look and realized that it was a gold Aztec coin. Maybe, just maybe this would be my day. Then I saw something else. About a half inch long thing that looked like a doll's sandal..........
I had heard stories from some of the locals about a tribe of tiny people in this area of the jungle. Of course, no one claimed to have ever seen one, human beings six inches tall. Perhaps the stories were not just folklore and legends but based on actual things. However, I'm not here to discover some unknown civilization........I'm here to steal.
About an hour later, I saw a cave opening concealed behind some palm plants. It was only about two feet high, but again, it matched what the dying man had told me. I stripped off my backpack and grabbing my flashlight, I got down on my belly and shimmied through the opening to find myself quickly inside a large cavern. Shining my light around the room, the room lit up like daylight when the beam hit a pile of gold !!!!! The pile was about three feet high and six feet in diameter. It had to weigh a ton. It was gonna take a few trips if I wanted to take it all. I crawled back through the cave and dumped out my backpack. Crawling back into the room, I filled the backpack with as much gold as I could carry the five mile walk back to my helicopter. One piece, it looked like a medallion or necklace fob, seemed to warm as I held it. Odd, but who cares. It was worth a fortune to my fence back in the states.
By the time I walked back to my helicopter, I was exhausted. The weight of the gold in my backpack combined with the heat and humidity of the jungle totally drained me. I dumped the contents of my backpack into a box, took a long drink of water, then settled back for night. It was too late to fly out today. Tomorrow, I'll get another load from the cavern, then fly back to where my airplane was parked for the first trip back to the states.
I woke up with a start. A noise woke me up, a sound like the clinking of coins. Thinking some animal had climbed into my helicopter/bedroom, I grabbed my flashlight and turned in onto the box of gold. I was stunned to see what I saw.......a girl dressed in traditional Aztec garb, but only about five inches tall. She was searching for something in my stash of stolen gold. The strange medallion I had looked at earlier was lying on the deck of the helicopter. I reached down and picked it up and said, "Are you looking for this?" She didn't understand me of course but the look in her eyes when she saw it belied her intentions. I put it down and leaned towards the box of loot. She picked up a coin and threw it at me, as if she thought it would keep me away. I reached out and wrapped my hand around her, picking her up as she kicked her feet and struck at my fingers with her tiny fists.
Settling back onto my makeshift bed, I opened my hand slowly to allow her to sit on my palm. She didn't scream or yell, just sat there, terrified. I just smiled to myself as I thought, "Not only am I going to be filthy rich from all this gold, I have a souvenir to keep and remind me of this adventure."
