Taterskin & The Eco Defenders: Book 2, Chapter 45
Book 2 ("Tell It to Future Generations"), Chapter 45 of 56
CHAPTER 45
In the jungle, the Terena warriors had arrived at one of the largest cattle ranches. Somebody else who was on the same wavelength had beat them there, though. It was Ravelle, tipped off by the animals of the forest as to the existence and whereabouts of the mega ranch.
Not knowing the Terena’s language, nor Portuguese (and the warriors don’t know English), Ravelle used Scarlet the Macaw as his interpreter. The Terena warriors were glad to find out that Ravelle and his group of four-footed and flying friends had the same goal as them: to free the cattle and lead them out of the Basin.
Using his Doolittle (prior to Scarlet’s arrival), Ravelle had already convinced the cattle to go out on a wildcow strike. The cattle wanted to return to the Pantanal, and that coincided with what Ravelle’s group and the Terenas wanted for them, too.
And so the answer to the age-old question, “Who left the barn door open?” turned out to be: Ravelle and the Terena warriors had. And they did it deliberately; it was not an oversight.
With the first part of their mission accomplished, the Terenas bid adieu to Ravelle and the animals, adding that they could be counted on for any help that was needed in the future to keep the Basin free of ranchers, farmers, loggers, and miners.
Driving thousands of beeves through the forest would normally be a daunting challenge, but the Terenas took advantage of the Trans-Amazonian highway, the building of which had begun a few years earlier, in 1972. What would have taken much longer was thereby reduced to a 40-day trek through the jungle. From this point forward, the highway was to be used only as an exit, for those being evicted. Once all of the interlopers were gone, the animal residents would dismantle the road; for the most part, though, merely leaving it alone would allow the forest to cover the highway over soon enough, as if it had never existed.
Soon after the Terenas and livestock had disappeared southward into the forest, the sound of angry buzzing was heard coming from the other direction, north of Ravelle’s location.
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