Time: 12:30
They had to reach the waterfall as soon as possible. Because of that, none of them had taken time to rest. They kept walking toward the waterfall. Since there were ten of them, no one was overly afraid. Along the way, Francis kept encouraging the others with words of courage. Around noon, they finally reached near the waterfall. Even though it was midday, the sun wasn't hot at all. So, they didn't sweat much. Yet, the weariness from walking was visible on their faces. Among them were some who were seeing a waterfall for the very first time. They felt joy and amazement upon witnessing it.
"I'm exhausted, friends. I need a little time to rest," Juliet said, panting.
"Juliet is right. Let's rest for a while, isn't it Francis? Only then will we have the energy to do the work," Daniel said, looking at Francis.
The others also agreed with what Daniel said.
"Okay, let's rest here for a short time to recover from the fatigue. But don't take too long. Before evening we must prepare the traps. Because once it gets dark, the danger will be much greater. Before that, no matter what, we must set the trap and wait for that beast."
After saying this, the first one to sit under a tree to rest was Francis. The others placed down the things they had brought and chose their own spots to rest. Two or three went near the trees like Francis, while the rest lay on the rocks near the waterfall. For a while, all of them forgot everything else and rested peacefully.
They remained like that for about half an hour. After resting, they all began the work of preparing the trap.
The group consisting of Peter, Robert, and Charlie were busy cutting a big piece of wood. The first to climb up the tree was Charlie. From the knives they brought, the sharpest and strongest one is what Charlie used to cut the wood. Only the habit of climbing trees was there for Charlie. Before this, Charlie had never cut a tree. Because of that, Charlie was struggling a lot. Seeing this, Robert said,
"Charlie, you get down… I will cut the rest."
Hearing this, Charlie quickly climbed down from the tree. As soon as Charlie got down, Robert climbed up the tree. Since he had good practice in using the knife, each strike of Robert gave deep wounds to the tree. After almost three-fourths of the tree became hollow, Robert stopped cutting the wood. After that, they tied the wooden log tightly with a big rope they brought. The other end of the rope was given to Peter and Charlie, who were standing down. They held it and started pulling with force. But the wooden log didn't have much movement. By now, three-fourth part of the wooden log was already hollow. So if they cut more, sometimes the wooden log might suddenly change direction, fall down, and cause some accident. So Peter and Charlie asked help from the others. The rest stopped their works and came there. All nine of them together held the rope and started pulling with force. Finally, their efforts paid off. The wooden log fell down with a very strong sound.
Because their effort succeeded, all of them jumped in joy with happiness. After that they started doing the remaining things for the trap. Francis was preparing the sharp stick to fix the wolf's body into the tree. Time went quite long. Already it became 4.00 o'clock. Now in their hand they had all the materials to prepare the trap.
What they all did together was the second step of the plan. They tied the wooden piece by pulling with rope. For doing that they struggled a lot. Taking some time they completed all stages of the trap very well. By this time all of them were very tired. Each of them used the water given to them to quench thirst. The bread which was kept only for breakfast, having no other way, all of them ate at this time and half hunger was gone. They are waiting for nightfall to come.
...
On the shore.
Charles Dickens (the professor) noticed a hole in his tent. To find something to fix it, he stepped outside. He was also looking for someone who could help him. That was when he noticed the writer's tent.
"Maybe I should ask Glenferd for help," Charles thought, and he walked toward Glenferd's tent.
"Shall I come inside, Glenferd? If you don't mind, I need a small favor from you." But there was no response from inside. Without waiting further, Charles entered the tent. To his surprise, it was empty.
Quickly stepping outside again, he looked around, but Glenferd was nowhere to be seen. That's when it struck Charles Glenferd was missing. The reason he realized this so quickly was because Glenferd's usual habit was to always be inside the tent, writing something at this hour.
Alarmed, Charles rushed to tell the others on the shore about the matter. In that moment, he completely forgot about the hole in his own tent.When the people on the shore learned that Glenferd was missing, fear began to spread among them. They wondered if that wolf had caught him. If so, their own lives were in danger as well. Their fear doubled. That was when they realized another person from the group was missing too, it was Edward.
The people on the shore wanted to go into the forest to search for them. But their fear, along with the darkness that had already covered the forest, did not allow it. For the moment, the only small relief they found was the guess that maybe both of them had gone to the waterfall. Still, to prevent any approaching danger, they decided to take a precaution. They put out the fire burning on the shore, fearing that the light might attract something toward them.
...
Meanwhile, inside the forest, Glenferd and Edward were walking quickly. Their destination was the waterfall. The time had already passed 6:00 p.m. But the darkness in the forest was not that of ordinary six o'clock. With the faint light of their torch, crunching dried leaves beneath their feet, the two of them kept walking. Suddenly, from a little distance away from where they stood, they heard the howl of a wolf. Immediately they stopped and held their breath.
"Could this be… the howl of that man-wolf?" Glenferd whispered to Edward.
"Never. The sound of that wolf is even sharper and more terrifying than this." The reason Edward said this was because he was very familiar with that sound.
"You must switch off that torchlight immediately. Otherwise, the beast will be able to find us quickly." Hearing this, Glenferd turned off the torch in his hand. With the torch that had given them at least a little light extinguished, the dense forest pushed them into complete darkness.
Their bodies soon began to drip with sweat. The fear inside Glenferd did not allow him to stand there any longer. He suddenly ran forward into the darkness. Because he ran, Edward also followed right behind him.
Since it was all darkness around, while running, Edward stumbled on something and fell down. Hearing the sound of Edward falling, Glenferd stopped his run and turned back to look. Not even a streak of moonlight reached inside that forest.
The trees there were all of such enormous and terrifying size. Their crowns covered the sky, and so darkness spread far into the distance. Because of this, he was not able to see Edward. Having no other way to bring light, Glenferd lit his torch again.
In that light, what he saw was Edward lying on the ground about ten feet away from where he was standing. Glenferd immediately ran toward Edward.
When he reached there, the sight before him was Edward's leg caught in a thorny vine bush. Glenferd placed the torch down and tried to help Edward up. At the same time, the thorny vine tightened even more around Edward's leg.
Edward felt an excruciating pain. Yet in that situation, he could not cry out. The fear that his voice might attract the wolf and bring it toward them kept him silent. And so Edward clenched his teeth and endured his pain. Noticing this, Glenferd first carefully pulled away the thorny bush that had been wrapped around Edward's leg. Even after removing the bush, Edward's legs were pierced with plenty of thorns.
Glenferd made him sit, leaning against a tree, then handed the torch into his hands and told him to shine the light on his leg. Glenferd began removing each thorn very carefully. Because if done carelessly, the wound could worsen and become infected.
Even though Edward was in great pain, he did not show it outwardly. Blood was flowing heavily from the spots where the thorns were pulled out. When drops of his sweat trickled down into the wounds, his whole body shuddered intensely. The pain was such that he could not even show the slightest reaction outwardly.
All the thorns in Edward's leg were finally removed. But they could not rest there. Because at any moment that wolf could come there. So the two of them continued walking. Glenferd supported Edward as they moved, trying as quickly as possible to reach the others.
To be continued....