Cofre -- Rio Arriba (standard:adventure, 1002 words)
Author: GXD	Added: Apr 07 2009	Views/Reads: 4279/2530	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The Colombian river Cofre was home to some of the world's most poisonous snakes, guarding their gold. Come upstream with me and have a look for yourself.

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During the past days, each upstream test showed evidence of one metal or
another.  The natural concentrate here at the pool proved that vast 
reserves must lie untouched beneath the mantle of volcanic gneiss that 
makes up the spine of this mountain range.  Sloshing a few steps into 
the pool, I hunkered down and swished the magnet around in the water, 
drew up the wire and flung it out into the middle again.  The line came 
taut as I leaned my weight into it, then yielded a little at a time.  
Hand over hand, the wire crawled up the steep side of the pool, with my 
little magnet at the end.  It felt as if a snake had become enravelled 
with the magnet and its wire.  Finally, a hoary clump emerged -- a 
clump as dense as platinum, osmium, iridium, plutonium.  I had bagged a 
100-pound metal fish with a 15-pound line and no bait on the hook! 

Here in the Colombian wilderness, right under the prying eyes of Spanish
pirates sent by selfish Monarchs to be conquerors -- here was the gold 
they sought.  Here in my dripping hand, here flashing out from dark 
clumps of iron crystals were nuggets of the gold they hungered for -- 
dreamed of -- died pursuing.  Yet this gold was merely residue.  The 
real values lie in the heavy, dark-yellow chunks which held enough 
Uranium to buy New Jersey. 

And downstream, downstream along the Rio Cofre the banks and waters were
crawling with snakes.  Could they have planted this enormous horde of 
treasure?  Did they sow dragon's teeth as a lure for intelligent 
mammals, in efforts to attract a new food supply?  Were the snakes 
downstream along the Rio Cofre plotting, in their subtle way, to 
dominate this planet once again? 

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