The Naked Jungle Page #4

...or rot away.

The jungle's corrosive.

It swallows up everything.

Even men, sometimes.

You've been reading...Joanna?

I found it in your library. Poetry.

I don't read much myself.

I bought all those books by weight.

Eight hundred pounds of books

is what I ordered.

Whoever selected them for you

has very good taste.

It was you, wasn't it?

Why lie about it?

Are you afraid I might think

you weak for reading poetry?

Perhaps.

As Fontaine says somewhere

in there, "Each man is three men:

"What he thinks he is, what others

think he is and what he really is."

- And which Leiningen is this?

- The last.

The real Leiningen.

Uncertain...

...complex, a little pompous, even...

Even laughable, sometimes.

- I've never laughed at you.

- I know...

...and I've appreciated it,

in my fashion.

I've written a letter...

...to my brother in New Orleans.

When you get there, give it to him.

He'll make all the necessary

arrangements.

I'm leaving right away, apparently.

Tomorrow. The commissioner

and I are going upcountry.

You'll go with us and then across

to the big river.

You can catch a boat there

in two or three days,

instead of waiting until next month.

I...

I hadn't realized that you were

in such a hurry to see the last of me.

Oh, it's not that. The hurry, I mean.

It's not wanting to get rid of you,

it's just...

I don't like what's happening to me.

I think you're sorry about tonight.

I tried to embarrass you.

I'm not like that usually.

I don't like to hurt things.

I...

I was hurt...

...but I'm over it now.

But when you get back home,

you'll realize it was better

to end it before it began.

You'll be happier with your own kind.

Perhaps I will.

Someday you'll find

what you're looking for.

I hope you will too.

Yes.

Well...

I wanted to say these things.

We won't have time to talk

on the way.

Then this is goodbye.

I'm sorry it started the way it did.

I don't know what went wrong.

I guess I'd never be able

to get it out of my head

that you loved someone before me.

I don't know how to be second.

I can only be first.

That's very important, I know.

Christopher...

You don't dislike me anymore?

I never did.

- I'll be back in four or five days.

- Sooner would be better.

- There was drum talk last night.

- I heard it.

Something coming, drums say.

- Did they say what?

- No, just something coming.

Very big trouble, drums say.

- More better you come back quick.

- I'll be back as soon as I can.

Are you ready, madam?

There are 14 varieties of river bug

where we're going.

We're used to them,

but they'll find that dress

you're wearing very convenient.

I'll manage to survive somehow.

Let's go, men!

She's having a bad time.

- But not a single complaint.

- Stubborn.

Yes, a terrible fault. Fortunately,

we do not suffer from it.

- Madam, are you still up?

- Yes. What is it?

I went through your luggage

and found these things.

Wear them tomorrow.

This is for the bugs.

The natives make it. It doesn't smell

very good, but it works.

What do I do with it?

Just rub it in. The effects last

two or three days.

Would you mind?

Thank you.

Something woke me up.

We as well.

It took us a while

to realize what it was.

The silence.

I have never heard it before,

- this silence.

- There's one way of waking up

any life in there.

Quiet! Nobody speak!

Nothing there.

There's something there, all right.

But it's not afraid of guns.

What time is it?

Almost 4.

It's nearly light.

- In the morning, we'll find out.

- We're not waiting for morning.

Get ready to move out,

away from the river.

We'll go cross-country

to the Baramura.

Men, let's go to the

Baramura village. Hurry up!

Go on to the village.

Deserted.

Not a soul around.

This village has been here

for over 200 years.

How can it be?

No sign of a struggle of any kind.

They weren't forced out.

They ran.

There's a canoe coming!

There's no one inside!

There's a canoe coming!

Get back.

Madam.

It's Gruber.

Looks like they caught him

while he was drunk.

We're going upriver.

Get in the canoe.

Quickly!

I don't know much about you.

I'll have to take your word.

Do you have courage?

- Yes.

- I mean a lot of courage.

- I'm not afraid.

- She's not going with us.

We can't leave her here alone.

- They'll stay with her.

- For about five minutes,

till we disappear around

the first bend in the river.

We have to take her with us.

What about the boat

I'm supposed to meet?

There won't be any boat.

Not now.

Where we're going,

there won't be anything left alive.

Hurry up, men!

- Something strange!

- Quiet!

Is there any high ground near here?

Yes, that way.

We have to get up above

this green stuff.

Ashore.

Stay here. Understand?

What is it?

Marabunta.

Soldier ants.

Billions and billions of them

on the march.

For generations,

they stay in their anthills.

Then for no reason they start to move,

gathering up others as they go.

Until they become

a flood of destruction.

How do you stop them?

You don't.

You just get out of their way.

They're moving southeast.

Toward my place.

They'll be there in a week.

They must put out an

advance guard of some sort.

Look.

I'll be waiting for them.

Leiningen come!

Leiningen come!

Zala, madam come!

Men, get the carriage ready.

- Take care of the men in the boat.

- Yes.

Come, men, let's go.

Marabunta.

You'll want to keep going downriver.

I have to get to the telegraph.

I'll give you some fresh paddlers.

- What about you?

- I told you, I'm staying.

This isn't something you can fight.

You'll wind up like Gruber did.

If there's a way of stopping the ants,

I'll stop them.

If you don't care about yourself,

think of your people here.

I am thinking of them.

Fifteen years ago, they were savages.

I took them out of the jungle.

If I leave now, they'll go back

and that'll be the end of civilization

along the Rio Negro.

I'm staying and so are they.

If you can hold them.

And I don't think you can.

Marabunta!

Foreman, hold those men.

Yes. Stop! Do not move!

Come back here!

I'm running out of time.

If you don't mind, I'll make this fast.

Madam, I'm sorry

for everything that's happened.

If you're trying to say goodbye,

don't bother.

Why not?

- I'm staying here.

- No, you're not.

Get in that boat.

No.

Your Indians, you want

to keep them here.

You need them to help you fight

and they're starting to leave already.

If I leave and they see me go,

what about them?

Will any of them stay if I go?

You're quite a woman.

You're right.

What?

You've both gone mad.

Leiningen, you're up against a monster

20 miles long and 2 miles wide,

40 square miles of agonizing death.

You can't stop it.

I can stop something no bigger

than my thumb.

They're organized. They're a trained

army. They're not individuals.

They have generals and they think.

That's the worst part of these ants,

they actually think.

So do I.

And I think you'd better be leaving.

You saw what happened

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