Kamchatka Wilderness
Soviet Union
1960
Indy reached the lake before Shorty, skittering on its small edge. Shorty bounced up beside him, grinning.
"Looks ok," Indy murmured. "I don't see any dead fish."
Shorty sniffed the air. "I don't smell any earth farts."
Indy knelt and touched the water. "Its not burning my hand... so probably not acidic. I think we're gonna be ok."
The volcano sent an earthquake rumbling through the valley. The half liquified tundra topsoil trembled. Indy and Shorty watched it uneasy.
"Or... not..." Shorty swallowed. "We can drink this water, right?"
"Test it and see."
Shorty scooped a handful and drank. "Yeah. I'll fill the canteens."
"Nope. You're gonna catch fish," Indy instructed.
"With what?" Shorty asked.
Indy took out a gum wrapper from his artifact bag and tied it onto the end of his whip. "And I'll give you a whip lesson. Fly fishing and whip cracking are similar motions. I use my whip as weapon... but someone who's really skilled with a whip... will never make it crack, but they'll be able to swat a fly off a lead oxen's ear with an eight hitch team."
"What does that mean?" Shorty asked.
"Eight hitch team?"
"Yeah."
"A hitch is what they attached animals to in order to pull wagons. Its the beam between the two animals that's attached to the underside of the wagon. A two hitch team is two animals pulling... usually horses, mules or oxen. Four hitch team is four animals. Eight hitch is eight animals. So, from the seat on the wagon, driving along, someone good with a whip can kill a bug off the lead animal's ear without disturbing or hurting the team. Ever seen the logo for Twenty Mule Borax?"
"From Death Valley Days radio show?" Shorty blurted.
"That's right. That was a twenty mule hitch." Indy smiled, throwing his whip out to dance on the water. "I taught Em this way."
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The Seven Swords of Diya: An Indiana Jones Fan Fiction - Part 2
FanfictionPart 2: Indiana Jones and his daughter Emily Ravenwood Jones continue their adventure in the frozen Soviet peninsula of Kamchatka, searching for seven mystical swords. With them is Indy's bodyguard from 1935 India - Short Round, grown up! And his re...
