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“I should hardly expect someone likeyouto understand,” Dawson sniffed stuffily.

Ellie didn’t bother to respond to the very obvious and deliberate slight. She was too busy putting the rest of the pieces together.

“You think the city at the end of the map isTulan.” She paced away from the gathering before turning back. “But Tulan is a myth! Of course, even myths can be rooted in truth… and the annals neverdosay that Tulan was conquered or collapsed. Only that the founders of the great Mayan city-states received their gifts there. That it was the place where kings were made.”

She raised her eyes to Dawson.

“But if it existed, Tulan would have had to predate the earliest vestiges of Mayan civilization,” she added pointedly. “For it to have survived until the time of the conquest would have made it thousands of years old!”

Her mind reeled. Tulan, the City of Seven Caves—a Mesoamerican Eden populated by a people with the wisdom of eons—thatwas what Dawson believed lay at the end of her map.

If it was true, the implications were more than revolutionary. They were staggering.

“We’ve delayed long enough,” Jacobs declared, interrupting the wild spin of her thoughts. “Dispose of the animal, and let’s get going.”

He stalked away without waiting for a response, obviously confident that he would be obeyed. Dawson glared at Ellie as though her knowledge of Tulan was vaguely reprehensible, and then hurried after him.

The foreman, Bones, shouted an order over the line. The mass of mules and men creaked and complained their way back into motion.

Velegas tugged a spade from the baggage roll on the nearest mule and swung it over his shoulder. He grasped the jaguar by its hind legs and dragged it off behind the ferns.

Adam stepped aside to let the tracker by, and then shifted his gaze to Ellie.

He looked worried.

“Form the line!” Bones called. He repeated the order in Spanish.

“Go on,” Staines snapped as he waved the barrel of his Enfield at Adam.

Adam gave the gun a look—and then lifted the look to Staines. The guard cleared his throat awkwardly and took an instinctive step back.

“You know, like the foreman said,” he added more moderately.

Adam gave Ellie a nod.

“Princess,” he said.

“Mr. Bates,” she replied.

He moved away, with Staines hurrying after him.

Ellie felt an odd flush of heat as she watched him go. Was she fighting off a fever?

The thought was alarming. She certainly couldn’t afford to get ill at the moment.

“Are we going to stand here and look at the blood all day?” Mendez complained from where he and Flowers had come to a stop behind her.

“Come along, Pepa,” Flowers offered more gently, and then guided her back toward her mule.

?

Twenty-Eight

The expedition setup camp on the banks of a small stream. The atmosphere around the various fires was more strained than it had been back at the river. The dead jaguar hadn’t gone unnoticed by the men, and some of them were clearly feeling a little superstitious about the country that they were headed into.

The tree cover had started to thin a bit. Through the gaps in the foliage, Adam could see the peaks of the mountains rising to the south.

All day, he had scanned the baggage loaded onto the mules for some sign of his gear—without any luck. If he’d been able to spot where his rucksack and rifle had landed, he might’ve been able to work on snatching them back.