Rad and Jacky had stopped up ahead. They were speaking excitedly.

“What is it?” Marty asked them when he caught up.

Jacky pointed to the jungle. “Can’t you see it?” she said. “That’s a trail right there.”

∆∆∆

They stomped up the stoss side of a dune to investigate, grabbing handfuls of the long grass for purchase. At the top Marty saw that Jacky was right. There was a clearly demarcated footpath leading into the dense growth of jungle.

“I knew we’d find our castaway!” said Rad.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” said Marty. “The path is too established to have been made by a single ranger—or castaway. It was likely made by boar, deer, and other wildlife.”

“That’s a total guess, Marty. I say we follow it. Some shade will be nice for a change.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jacky said.

Marty glanced at his watch and said, “We’ve been walking for an hour, which means we’ve an hour walk back to the boat. That only leaves us with one more hour. Half an hour down the path, half an hour back out.”

“What’s your point?” asked Rad.

“It’s not much time, that’s my point. We’ll get a little way in and then have to turn around. There’s no way we’ll get anywhere near the middle of the island, which was where the smoke appeared to originate.”

“It’s still worth a look,” Jacky said. “And like Rad said, it beats walking in the sun.”

“What I’m saying,” Marty said, “is why don’t we just give up the wild goose chase and turn back now.”

“You can go back, Marty,” Rad said dismissively. “We’ll meet you at the dinghy. Jacky and I are going to check out the jungle.”

With that, they descended the lee side of the dune, disappearing into the thick vegetation.

Exhaling heavily, Marty followed.

∆∆∆

Tropical rainforests are often incorrectly referred to as jungles. The actual ‘jungle’—tangles of overgrown, impassable vegetation—exists only at the margins of the rainforest, where the woodland has been knocked down by natural events (such as hurricanes or typhoons) and replaced with dense, ground-level flora. This was true of the rainforest on Demon Island, and the jungle fringe would have been impassable had it not been for the dirt path Marty, Jacky, and Rad were following.