She wanted to cover her face and cry. But this was her expedition and it was her mistake that had put them all in jeopardy.
”Koot? What do you know about the Limpopo?”
He studied the swollen river. “It is navigable at flood stage. That I know. It will be very dangerous if we try to raft it.”
Raft it? “With what?”
Koot just looked at her. “Don’t you English learn to think? Our gondola will float. It is PVC plastic. All we need to do is cut up the balloon to waterproof the floor and we can raft on it.”
Raft a raging river filled with rocks and whole trees and God knew what else? Beats walking … . “Yes, you’re right. That’s a good idea.”
He snorted. “Of course it is, English. I thought of it.”
Margo flushed again, but said nothing. He might be arrogant, but he was right, as usual. Through the effort of gestures and halting explanations, they told Kynan what had to be done. They opened every release valve on the gas bag and deflated it slowly then trod on the ballonets to help deflate them as well. Kynan used his knife to carefully slice open the Filmar wing. Then they unloaded the gondola and covered the rip-stop nylon with a layer of tough, transparent Filmar. Once that was done, they lashed it securely down with the cables which had held the gas bag attached to the gondola. The engines they abandoned by sinking them in the river.
Reloading the raft was tricky as they struggled not to puncture the layer of Filmar. Once the job was done, Kynan and Koot set to work cutting poles and rough paddles from tree branches. “There will be many dangers,” Koot said glumly. “Crocodiles. Hippos. Rapids. We are low on food. We may all die.”