Beau, looking very uncomfortable, stepped into the dinghy after me and sat down. James handed us torches. Then we saw Octavious arriving with another group. His head was down like a flag of defeat.
"Paul's father is taking it very hard," James said, shaking his head.
"Just start the engine, please," I said. "Please . . ."
"What do you expect to be able to do that all these other people, some of whom fish and hunt in here, couldn't do?"
I stared. "I think I know where he might be," I said softly. "Ruby once told me about a hideaway she and Paul shared. She described it so well, I'm sure I could find it."
James shook his head skeptically but started the engine. "All right, but I'm afraid we're just wasting our time. We should wait for daylight."
We pulled away from the dock and headed into the canal. The swamps could be intimidating at night, even to men who had lived and worked them all their lives. There wasn't enough of a moon to give much illumination, and the Spanish moss seemed to thicken and blacken to form walls and block off other canals. The twisted cyprus branches looked like gnarled old witches, and the water took on an inky thickness, hiding tree roots, dead logs, and, of course, alligators. Our movement and the torches kept the mosquitoes at bay, but Beau looked very uncomfortable and even frightened. He nearly jumped out of the dinghy when an owl swooped alongside.
"Go to the right, James, and then, just as you come around the bend, bear left sharply."
"I can't believe Ruby gave you such explicit directions," he mumbled.
"She loved this spot because she and Paul spent so much time there," I said. "It's like another world. She said," I added quickly.
James followed my directions. Behind us, the torches of other searches dimmed and were lost. A sheet of darkness fell between us and the house. Soon we could no longer hear the voices of men in the search party.
"Slower, James," I said. "There's something I have to look for and it's not easy at night."
"Especially when you've never been here before," James commented. "This is futile. If we just wait until morning--"
"There," I said, pointing. "You see where that cypress tree bends over like an old lady plucking a four-leaf clover?"
"Old lady? Four-leaf clover?" James said.
"That's what Paul told Ruby all the time." Neither James nor Beau could see the smile on my face. "Just turn right sharply under the lower branch."
"We might not fit under that," he warned.
"We will if we bend down," I said. "Slowly."
"Are you sure? We'll just get hung up on a rock or a mound of roots or--"
"I'm sure. Do it. Please."
Reluctantly he turned the dinghy. We dipped our heads and slipped under the branch.
"I'll be darned," James said. "Now where?"
"You see that thick wall of Spanish moss that reaches the water?"
"Yeah."
"Just go through it. It's the secret doorway."
"Secret doorway. Damn. No one would know that."
"That's what I meant by it being another world," I said. "You can cut the engine. We'll float on through and we'll be there."
He did so and I held my breath as the dinghy pierced the moss, which parted like a curtain to permit us to enter the small pond. Once we were completely through, I raised my torch and Beau did the same.
"Just paddle in a circle slowly," I said. The glow of our torches lifted the darkness, uncovering the pond. Snakes or turtles slithered beneath the surface, creating ripples. We saw the bream feeding on the mosquitoes. An alliga tor lifted its head, its teeth gleaming in our light, and then it dove. I heard Beau gulp. Somewhere to the right, a hawk screeched. On the shore of the pond, a half dozen or so nutrias scrambled for cover.
"Wait, what's that?" James said. He stood up and poked into the water with his oar to draw a bottle closer to the dinghy. Then he reached in to pluck it out of the water. It was an empty bottle of rum. "He was here," James said, looking around harder. "Paul!" he screamed.