Lifesaver [Engl.]

35. Lost

Jake didn't think twice. He grabbed Rango and pulled him to safety behind an old barrel next to the farmer's house before Madog could fire another shot. The leader had long since returned from hunting behind the peccary. When he saw the three from a distance, he had fired a shot immediately and had hit Beans in the process. Now he and his people ran towards the farm house while Jake feverishly searched for a way to escape. Because around the farmer's house was no place to hide.
Rango squirmed in Jake's grip. "Let me go! Let me go! I have to go to Beans! I have to see her!"
Jake slapped him on the face. "Pull yourself together! Or do you want to lie on the floor, too?!"
The rattlesnake heard hurried footsteps in the distance. Jake quickly snaked around the house looking for a place to hide, with Rango in a stranglehold, who fought hard.
Jake slowed down. Old boards were leaning against the wall of the house. With difficulty, he crawled up onto the broken roof.
"Where are they?!" he heard Madog roar. "Find her! You look there. The rest goes on the roof."
Jake looked around quickly. There was no place to hide on the roof. Except ... the chimney. As fast as he could, Jake dashed to the chimney and crawled inside. In doing so, he formed his body so that he couldn't slide down the chimney all the way. He stopped about three feet deep, which wasn't so easy with a desperate chameleon who was still moaning. Jake covered Rango's mouth in annoyance. "Pssssst!"
Footsteps on the roof could be heard above them. Jake held his breath as two heads stared down into the chimney above them.
"Pretty dark down there," the first mongoose said. "Do you see anything?"
His companion shook his head. "Nah. I'll drop a matchstick."
Jake's heart beat faster when the second mongoose struck a match.
PENG
"Come to me now!" Madog called from afar.
The two mongooses at the chimney entrance ran to their leader immediately. The second mongoose dropped the match and it landed directly on Jake's body. Jake gave a choked scream and blew out the matchstick.
"Idiots," he scolded softly.
"Don't tell me about it!" He heard the voice of John's brother, who came up to them in the chimney.
Meanwhile, the turtle had returned to the old farm house and was having a heated discussion with Madog. "You can look for them another time. Now I finally want to finish my brother's will. I've wasted enough time because of the sheriff and the stupid snake!"
"I only called my people back under protest," Madog replied angrily. "Although I still think that we should concentrate on them first before they put us back on track."
"But I don't want to waste time for searching," Frank interrupted him. "They'll show up again. As soon as we attack the town, they'll definitely try to prevent us. But what can they do against us? If they should ever appear again, we'll blow them up with dynamite. Just like this cursed town."
Madog growled angrily. "Fine. But I personally take care of the snake. Up until now, no snake creature has ever escaped from my captivity alive. I swear I'll peel his skin off with my own hands."
"Now don't stand around so stupidly!" Frank said with annoyance. "We have to act immediately. Pack the dynamite and then we'll get out of here."
Madog said nothing, but marched outside with brisk steps.
"Put the dynamite on the cart," he called to his people. "Then we'll ride to town."
"Boss?" one of the mongooses asked. "What shall we do with her?"
The mongoose pointed to Beans, who was still lying motionless on the ground.
Madog shrugged. "Away with it. Best there where all the corpses go."
He nodded toward the old well that was right next to the old farmer's house. "And now hurry up! I want to get all this crap over with."
While the other mongooses were loading the dynamite from the barn onto an old cart, two of them picked up Beans's body and dragged her to the well, threw her in, and ran back to the others.
When the last stick of dynamite had finally been loaded, Madog blew to march off.
"Forward! We still have to blow up a town today."

Jake, who was still stuck in the chimney with Rango, didn't know how much time had passed. Half an hour or more? He did not know.
"What a dirty job," he muttered softly.
"Jake, let go of me!" Rango yelled.
"Pssssst!", Jake hissed annoyed. "Shut up! Or do you want us to be discovered?"
But Rango could not be reassured. The thought that Beans was dead brought him to the edge of despair.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Rango replied hysterically. "I want to Beans!"
Rango managed with all his might to wriggle out of Jake's body. But he shouldn't have done that. Because of the steps and movements, which he made on Jake's body, and Jake was a little ticklish, Jake lost the tension in his body and both fell down into the fireplace. In a dusty cloud they landed in the old charred wood. Coughing, they crawled out of the fireplace. Both were smeared all over with old soot.
But Rango didn't bother to clean up. Dirty as he was, he ran out of the farmer's house. But Beans was no longer to be seen. Where was she? Panicked, Rango ran back and forth, hoping to find her somewhere. He ran around the house several times, always calling out her name. "Beans! Beans! Beans!"
Jake watched disapprovingly as Rango ran back and forth like a madman. Finally, the chameleon sank to the ground and began to sob.
Shaking his head, Jake wiped the soot off his face and body. After a while he left the old house and crawled up to the completely confused chameleon.
"If you keep putting on a show like this it will never work," he said reproachfully.
Rango looked up. "You can talk. She wasn't your girlfriend. For me she was much more than that... was ..."
Again he crouched on the floor as if his stomach ache.
Jake snorted. "Why do you always speak in the past tense? Only if I find the dead body, somebody is dead for me."
"And where is she then?" With shaky hands, Rango wiped the tears from his face, some of them had washed off the soot under the eyes.
"Snakes are no dogs, but we are one of the best trackers in the world."
With that, Jake turned away and licked his tongue in concentration across the floor. Rango had stopped crying, but he still didn't move. He felt miserable. He couldn't forget the blood on Beans's head. He could imagine anyone, but not what happened to her. Rango slowly stood up when he saw Jake crawling over to the old well.
"This is where the trail ends," Jake said, his voice sounding a little pitiful.
Rango's eyes widened. "You mean ... she probably won't be in there..."
Jake nodded. Rango shook his head in disbelief. His Beans in a well? Probably even dead? How could they do this to her? The mongooses didn't even respect dead people.
Rango ran quickly past Jake to the well and stared down, where it went deep down. It was dark in the well. The floor could not be seen. Not even water.
"BEANS! BEANS! "Rango's call echoed in the well shaft. "Oh no! What have I done?! Why you? Why you? You deserved it least of all! Why am I not fed up with you down there? Why?"
Rango turned to Jake. But the snake looked completely in another direction.
"Jake?"
"Have you ever wondered what the rope means?"
Rango followed Jake's gaze and only now noticed that there was an old, broken winch hanging over the well, and from there an old rope was leading into the well.
"Maybe," Jake mumbled softly. "Just maybe she was in luck."
Reluctantly, Rango looked down the well shaft again. But as hard as he tried, he couldn't see anything below. "All right," he mumbled softly. "I'll climb down."
With these words he grabbed the old winch rope and clung to it.
Jake watched him with a skeptical look. Rango was not heavy, but could the old rope hold up? But he didn't say anything, knowing that he couldn't stop Rango from climbing down the rope anyway. So he let Rango climb down on it without saying anything.
Rango felt a shiver as he climbed down the rope bit by bit. It was getting darker and darker around him. He didn't dare to look down. The blackness in this well scared him. Suddenly his feet hit a hard object.
Hesitantly, his gaze wandered downwards. The rope ran out and under him hung the water bucket. Rango narrowed his eyes to see something. But it was just too dark down here.
With trembling knees, he stepped into the bucket of water. The bucket swayed a little. As soon as Rango was on the bottom of the bucket, he felt the ground. He felt old mud and sand that had built up there over the years. He winced. He felt cloth under his hand.