Composition | A Reception In The Jungle
The day was really hot, and we had walked at least 20 miles on foot. Our path took us through a very dense jungle, so we didn't have much rest or sleep since we entered it two days ago. In the afternoon, we ran out of water, and we couldn't find a stream or spring to quench our thirst. We even finished the last piece of bread in our bags. We were really hungry, thirsty, and very tired.
As the sun was setting, we finally left the jungle behind. In front of us, there was a wide stretch of land with villages scattered here and there. We headed towards the nearest village, hoping to find some food, water, and a place to rest.
When we reached the outskirts of the village, we met a man who lived there. He was short, dark, and in his forties. Our leader tried to ask him if we could buy some food and find a place to stay for the night, but the man surprised us by running away without saying a word. We wondered if we had come to a village where they didn't understand our language, or if they didn't want to welcome strangers. We had many questions in our minds.
But we didn't have to wait long to find out how the villagers would receive us. We saw a large group of people coming towards us. Three young women led the procession, with torches lighting up their way. The women looked just as dark as the man we had met earlier. The crowd following them was noisy, and we didn't know what would happen to us. If we weren't so tired, we would have probably run back into the jungle.
The procession reached us and stopped. The tallest woman spoke to our leader in English. She and the other two women were the daughters of the village chief. At that time, the chief himself was not at home, so his daughters were in charge of the village and its people, who were all members of their tribe. They told us that we could stay the night peacefully if we promised not to cause any trouble. They would provide us with food, water, and a tent to sleep in. However, they would keep a close eye on us to make sure we didn't do anything wrong. Since we were peaceful explorers, we didn't have any problem with this arrangement.
They took us to a spring where we could wash ourselves. Then we had dinner at the chief's house as guests of his daughters. After the meal, they led us to a tent with comfortable straw beds on the floor. As soon as we lay down, we fell fast asleep, without worrying about what our guards had planned for us.