“What was that?” Candace demanded when she could find her voice.

“Probably a duiker,” Kevin said. “They’re a small breed of antelope.”

“Antelope or elephant,” Candace said. “It scared me.”

“It scared me, too,” Kevin said. “Maybe we should go back and return in the daytime.”

“We’ve come all this way, for crissake,” Melanie said. “We’re there. I can hear the water.”

For a moment no one moved. Sure enough, they could hear water lapping against the shore.

“What happened to all the night creatures?” Candace asked.

“Good question,” Kevin said. “The antelope must have scared them as well.”

“Turn the light off,” Melanie said.

As soon as Kevin did, they all could see the shimmering surface of the water through the vegetation. It looked like liquid silver.

Melanie led the way as the chorus of night creatures recommenced. The path opened up into another clearing at the edge of the river. In the middle of the clearing was a dark object almost the size of the garage back where they’d left the car. Kevin walked up to it. It wasn’t hard to figure out what it was: it was the bridge.

“It’s a telescoping mechanism,” Kevin said. “That’s why Alphonse said that it could grow.”

About thirty feet across the water was Isla Francesca. In the fading light, its dense vegetation appeared midnight-blue. Directly across from the telescoping bridge was a concrete structure that served as the support for the bridge when it was extended. Beyond that was an expansive clearing that extended to the east.

“Try extending the bridge,” Melanie suggested.

Kevin switched on the flashlight. He found the control panel. There were two buttons: one red, the other green. He pushed the red one. When nothing happened, he pushed the green. When there still wasn’t a reaction, he noticed a keyhole with the slot aligned with OFF.

“You need a key,” he called.

Melanie and Candace had walked over to the water’s edge.

“There’s a bit of current,” Melanie said. Leaves and other debris floated by slowly.

Candace looked up. The top branches of some of the trees that lined either bank almost touched. “Why do the creatures stay on the island?” she asked.

“Apes and monkeys don’t go in the water, particularly deep water,” Melanie explained. “That’s why zoos only need a moat for their primate exhibits.”

“What about crossing in the trees?” Candace asked.

Kevin joined the women at the riverbank. “The bonobos are relatively heavy fellows,” he explained, “particularly ours. Most of them are already over a hundred pounds, and the branches up there aren’t nearly strong enough to support their weight. Back before we put the first animals on the island, there were a couple of questionable places so those trees were cut down. But colobus monkeys still go back and forth.”

“What are all those square objects in the field?” Melanie asked.

Kevin shined the flashlight. Its beam wasn’t strong enough to make much difference at that distance. He turned it off and squinted in the half light. “They look like transport cages from the animal center,” he said.