"Thank God you made it!" she said, throwing her arms around me. "I was so worried about you."
"Our little trick worked," I nodded, tilting the underside of one foot up toward her. "Although it looks like it's going to take a little longer than we hoped for the soles of my feet to get properly toughened up."
Teuila looked at my scarred soles and shook her head.
"What happened to your shoes?"
"I thought it would be safer to climb the tree without them. But it didn't take long for your father to find where I'd hidden them. I guess I'll be walking around barefoot like a real Anutian sooner than we thought."
Teuila chuckled as she squeezed my hand.
"It's probably better this way anyhow," she smiled. "Those treads would be visible a mile away."
"Why did you come up the other way?" I said, pointing to the direction of the jungle where she'd emerged.
"I wanted to throw my father off the trail," she said, pointing to the imprint of my boots on the muddy embankment. "But it won't take long for them to find us. We have to get out of here as soon as possible."
I noticed that the leaf wrapped around Te's index finger was dripping blood down her hand.
"What happened?" I said. "You're hurt!"
"It's just a flesh wound," she said. "It looks worse than it is. We'll be able to patch up our wounds when we get to safety."
Suddenly we heard the shouting of men's voices approaching our position. I looked at Teuila with terrified eyes.
"What should we do?" I said. "In which direction should we head?"
"There's no time for that," Te' said. "We have to hide. There's too many of them. They'll catch us too quickly."
"Where?" I said, looking around the clearing. "In the brush?"
Te' glanced around the glade, then peered into a still section of the pool furthest from the waterfall.
"How long can you hold your breath?" she said.
I looked at the surface of the pond for a moment, then back towards her.
"Not long in my present state," I said, feeling my chest heaving up and down. "Between my elevated state of adrenaline and my fear of being caught, I can hardly catch my breath as it is."
"What if we fashioned some kind of breathing tube?" she said, peering at some bulrushes at the far end of the pond. "Do you think you could remain still under the water while our tribesmen search the area?"
"I suppose so. What did you have in mind?"
"Those reeds on the other side of the pond are hollow. Follow me, but try to step as much as possible on the rocks instead of the dirt. We don't want them to be able to trace where we're hiding."
Teuila took my hand and led me to a flattened section of the embankment where we tiptoed over the scattered rocks on the edge of the shore. Then she slipped into the water and pushed herself away from the shore.
"Be careful when you step into the pond," she said. "We don't want to make too much noise or stir up the mud around the bank where they could see where we entered the water. Quickly now—I can hear them getting closer."
I lowered myself into the water then I pushed myself gently away from the shore. Teuila led me to the other side of the pond, then she pulled a pocketknife out of a pouch on her tunic and cut two four-foot lengths of reed. She tested each tube by puffing through them, then handed one to me. I could hear the sounds of the men's voices rising in volume and the rustling of the brush very close by.
"Put this in your mouth then duck under the water about three feet. Don't go any lower than that or you'll choke if the other end dips beneath the surface. Then follow me toward the waterfall. The rippling current will help camouflage us in the depths."
I looked at Teuila with frightened eyes, then placed the tube in my mouth and submerged under the water. After a brief moment of panic, I realized it wasn't so different from using a snorkel. I was scared using one of those at first too, but once I learned that I could breathe comfortably underwater, it didn't take long for me to relax. After I dropped a few feet, I opened my eyes and saw Te' submerge beside me. Then she took my hand and pulled me toward the churning undercurrent next to the waterfall.
When we reached the base of the cataract, I glanced up through the foaming water and noticed a group of half-naked tribesmen walking around the base of the swimming hole, pointing toward footprints in the ground. I looked toward Teuila fearfully, and she pumped her palm up and down, motioning for me to remain calm. Her dress was billowing underneath her, spreading out to her sides, and I worried the white sheen of the fabric would be noticeable from above. But she placed her hands between her legs in a Marilyn Monroe manner and pressed the gown downwards as her long black hair floated upwards.
I shook my head, smiling at the improbability of the situation. Only Teuila could make almost suffocating under water while a bunch of savages circled around us menacingly look sexy.