The light had begun to fade. They were about to make camp when they heard a rustle in the trees. A pair of jaguars burst through the undergrowth and let out a terrifying roar.

The men scattered. They shot arrows at the jaguars, which only seemed to enrage the cats further. One leaped at Zheng and he ran for his life. He barreled through the jungle until his lungs were burning and his clothes had been shredded by the undergrowth, and then he stopped. Once his breathing had quieted he listened for his men, but heard nothing. He was alone and lost and it was nearly dark.

He looked for shelter. After a while he came upon a cluster of caves. A hot, humid wind was passing in and out of them at regular intervals. He thought it was as good a place as any to wait out the night, and ducked inside.

He dug a small pit and made a fire. No sooner had the flames started to rise than the ground convulsed beneath him and a deafening cry echoed up from the depths of the cave.

“Put it out! Put the fire out!” the voice boomed.

Terrified, Zheng kicked dirt onto the flames. As the fire died, the ground beneath him stopped shaking.

“Why do you hurt me?” said the powerful voice. “What did I ever do to you?”

Zheng didn’t know to whom he was speaking, only that he’d better reply. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone!” he said. “I only wanted to cook some food.”

“Well, how would you like it if I dug a hole in your skin and lit a fire?”

Zheng’s gaze fell upon the extinguished fire pit, which he saw was quickly filling with liquid gold.

“Who are you?” the voice demanded.

“My name is Zheng. I hail from the port city of Tianjin.”

There was a long silence, and then a gale of hearty laughter rolled up from the cave. “You’ve come at last!” the voice said. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you, dear boy!”

“I don’t understand,” said Zheng. “Who are you?”

“Why, don’t you recognize your father’s voice?”

“My father!” Zheng cried, turning to look behind him. “Where?”

There was another peal of laughter from the cave. “All around you!” said the voice, and then a lump of earth rose up beside him and wrapped him in a sandy embrace. “How terribly I’ve missed you, Zheng!”

With a shock, Zheng realized that he was not talking to some giant hiding inside the cave, but to the cave itself. “You’re not my father!” he cried, squirming out of its grasp. “My father is a man—a human!”

“I was a human,” said the voice. “I’ve changed quite a bit, as you can see. But I’ll always be your father.”

“You’re trying to trick me. Your name is Cocobolo—you move in the night and liquid gold puddles in your holes. That’s what the legends say.”

“The same things are true of any man who becomes an island.”