He flew back up the Yuat. They found another tributary in six minutes and followed its twists and turns. After five minutes the tributary became a mountain stream.

“We’re heading back,” the pilot said. He turned to the east again.

Kate looked at her patient. “I’m sorry, Abby.”

Abby nodded but didn’t turn her way. She was still glued to the window, tears dripping off her cheeks.

4

They tried again the next day. Having logged their last position from the day before, the pilot flew straight up the Yuat and to the next tributary. They ventured up two with no success. On the third they flew upriver seventeen miles before Kate spotted a sandbank on the left. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing.

Abby threw off her safety belt and flew across the passenger compartment. “Yes! That’s the bank!”

She adjusted her headset and shouted into it. “That’s it on the left.”

The pilot was already turning the craft and taking it down. He skimmed the surface of the river for two hundred feet before hovering over the bank.

“Can we land?” Kate shouted.

“Not sure. How soft is that sand?”

“It doesn’t leave a deep footprint,” Abby responded.

“Why don’t you check it out, Dr. Sampson? I’ll hover and let you drop down.”

He positioned the copter five feet off the ground. Kate grabbed the safety latch, unlocked it, and pulled the hatch open.

“You can lower yourself down with the rope.”

“That’s okay. I’ll jump.”

“Suit yourself. Just throw the rope over with you. You’ll need it to pull yourself back in.”

Kate tossed one end of a thick rope overboard, then jumped onto the sand below and fell to a knee before returning to her feet. She bent low and circled the helicopter, stamping her boots on the sand as she went.

“It’s pretty firm,” she shouted into her headset. “I don’t think you’ll sink.”

“We’d better hope not.”

Kate looked at the river to her left and the jungle to her right. She walked twenty yards down the bank to make space for the helicopter, keeping an eye on the river. New Guinea has no large jungle predators, but crocodiles are another story. The helicopter descended onto the bank, sinking a couple of inches into the sand before the pilot cut the engine. He turned, looked at Abby, and spoke into his radio. “Are you sure I’ll be safe here?”

Abby didn’t respond. She was already leaning out the hatch. Kate approached the exit, stuck out her hand, and helped her off. “How far a walk from here?”

“Less than an hour. We hike the beach, and then we take a trail in the forest. That leads to the village.”

Kate noticed that the desperate look in Abby’s eyes had turned to fierce determination. She looked her patient up and down. “Are you up for this?”

“Yes.”