Kobae Part 2

Kobae and I are having a nice walk at the beach. Linny and Lydia are out in one of the trucks somewhere and call to see what is going on. I tell them I'm at the beach with Kobae but he's starting to wander out into deep water and the mud is getting deeper that I can't keep up. They are on the way. Kobae is getting into some pretty deep mud now and heading towards the river bank. He knows he can't swim, he's a tortoise, not a turtle. Between the beach and the river bank there is about a ten foot across area that has two to three feet of mud and a couple feet of water. If Kobae goes aross that we won't be able to get to him and he's headed that way.

Then suddenly Kobae leaps into the water. I'm thinking it's over but he just plows across the river. His head is up the whole time. We're stunned. We can't get across and he can't get up on the embankment. He's got two feet barely on the embankment and the other two in the water. If he loses his grip it's over. He struggles but finally gets up on the embankment.

None of us can get across the waterway to get to him. It's too deep and too muddy, quality mud. Then he turns down river, heading down the embankment towards the stairs beneath the lodge and where you use to get to the beach. I ask Linny and Lydia to keep an eye on him. I get in the side by side and head for the lodge. I run down to the bottom of the stairs but it's thick with weeds. I try and walk towards Kobae but the tamarisk is too thick. I have to crawl on my hands and knees. I get about 30 feet and he turns around and heads back the other way. I crawl for a couple hundred feet fighting the tamarisk. A couple times I partially fall in and just barely get back up on the embankment. One water shoe goes to deep in the mud and I can't get it out. I abandon the other one. It's getting dark. Linny has made it across and is on the embankment on the other side of Kobae and she's pounding the tamarisk down trying to create a trail. Kobae is just hanging on. Twice he slips and almost goes under. I reach down and try to pull him up but I'm trying to pull 200 plus pounds up a slippery steep muddy slope. Each time I think it's the last time I'll see him but he finds a way to get partially up on the bank. I finally catch him and try and direct him where we wants to go. He's coming right at me but I have one leg deep in the mud and can't move. He steps on the other one and breaks my small toe, toenail in pieces. I can hear the echos of my painful scream. Kobae runs right over me and is in front of me again. It's very close to dark. My head lamp is not on my hat anymore, a tamarisk branch has stolen it, my water shoes are gone as is my walkie talkie. If we can get him to go another 30 feet we can get him on a sandbar. He's exhausted and climbs up the embankment a little bit and goes to sleep. There's nothing we can do until morning. Linny crosses where Kobae did and I try but I sink waste deep in mud. Linny wades back out and I have to put my arms around her and she pulls me out. We're both exhausted and so is Kobae. It's dark. Nothing is going to happen tonight. We start walking back toward the boat ramp in the deep mud. I hope he'll be there in the morning.