The Doctor held up his arms to placate the natives, though Bernice suspected that their slight retreat was more likely prompted by the Doctor's waving his umbrella as he did so.
One of the scantily clad men prodded her with his spear.
"Hey! These trousers a new!"
The man jumped back. "You speak our language, stranger."
The Doctor grinned. "Yes, we do."
"I do hope that isn't any sort of heresy," Bernice added quickly.
The native frowned. "I am not... I do not understand. Apologies."
"She means that she hopes it doesn't anger any of your gods." A newcomer: a young, Caucasian woman in a dirty safari outfit not unlike Bernice's. Rather nattier than Bernice's, the professor thought to herself not remotely jealously.
"Ah, thank you. No, you do not." The man, who seemed to be the leader of the natives, gave a small bow and lowered his spear. "I am Xicowl, leader of the tribe of Gumme."
The Doctor attempted to imitate the bow. "I'm the Doctor, and this is my friend and travelling companion, Professor Bernice Summerfield."
"A professor?" the other woman asked. "What's your seat?"
Oversized, thought Benny, biting her tongue. "You probably wouldn't have heard of it," she bluffed.
The extremity of the whip was deflected at the water's surface and flicked into submergence. A crocodile lifted angrily out of the river, the whip clasped around its jaws.
Indy jumped onto its back and crouched down as it tried to shake him off, at the same time carrying him closer to the shore and fending off the other reptiles. "Yee ha!" he shouted, forgetting for a brief moment that he was a qualified - if somewhat rebellious - lecturer and not a southern redneck.
"I first met the Gumme people a few years ago when I was investigating the fauna of this region," Cleo Shea - as she had introduced herself - told us as she led us through a low, dark passage inside the pyramid (which, in case you care, I reckon is hundreds of years old).
"Ah, you're a botanist," the Doctor noted.
"Not exclusively: I do a little bit of everything. Botany, anthropology, archaeology, bit of medicine where necessary. I'm an all-rounder."
"It's the best way to be," the Doctor said. He's really taken to her, which is a shame because she really gets on my tits, and not just a little, mind - we're talking full-on bosom gymnastics.
Not only does she have the audacity to go round with bona fide archaeology credentials, but she seems to have degrees in everything this side of anthropomorphism. She's too good to be true. I hate her.
The Gumme are much more interesting. As far as I can tell - by which I mean this is all conjecture (by which I mean I'm making it up as I go along) - the tribe has been maintaining the pyramid for generations. The structure itself could, at a push, be Inca or Axtec, but I can't help thinking that it's Egyptian. Well, maybe not *actually* Egyptian, but that's what the style and architecture (if you can call it that) most resembles and if the Osiran's are involved...
Did I mention the body? Hang on, I'll come back to that.
Extract ends
"Sorry about that," he told the reptile before heading into the jungle.
He pulled his hastily scrawled map from his pocket and wringed out of it as much water as he could without damaging the paper. Much of the ink had blurred or washed away, but Indy could pretty much work out what was missing and had a reasonable idea where he was.
He pocketed the map and headed deeper into the jungle, using the sun as a compass. As he looked upwards to check the direction he was walking, he saw that the moon was also high in the noon sky.
The passage opened up into a dank cavern, cool even in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. I could tell it was a tomb, archaeological training or not. I'm not making claims to any sixth sense here - I just recognised the shivering across my shoulders that meant Dead Things.
Needless to say, my intuition was spot on. There, at the centre of chamber on a raised dais, was a jewel-encrusted sarcophagus, surrounded by less plush sarcophagi, almost certainly containing the bodies of servants and wives, forced to lay down their lives when whoever got the most expensive body box reached the end of his. I have made a mental note never to marry anyone like that.
"Have you been able to identify the inhabitant?" the Doctor asked.
"Not yet," Miss "I'm so bloody grand" Shea told him. "Some sort of important person."
"Never," I'm afraid I muttered, letting the sarcasm get the better of me as usual.
I don't think any of us were really expecting what happened next.
Extract Ends
He took a few paces forward and cried out as a net rose up from the ground beneath him, lifting him several feet into the air.
He saw a group of uniformed figures emerge from where they had been concealed behind the thick tree trunks.
"Excellent work, private," one of them said in a sharp, German accent.
"Thank you, Captain Zeitflur."
"Get me down from here!" Indy yelled.
"Not so fast, Dr Jones," Zeitflur called up to him. "Yes," he said with a chuckle, "we know very well who you are." He signalled to one of the other military men and the net was lowered.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet, Dr Jones." Zeitflur had blond hair, slicked back in a sinister manner, and his grey eyes were fixed on Indy. "Did you know, Dr Jones, that there are over one thousand points on your body at which I could kill you with the application of just" - he produced a pin from his pocket - "this pin."
"I didn't know that," Indy said, alarmed when two strapping young officers helped him up only to grip his arms behind him and hold him firmly by the shoulders.
"I only know a thousand of them," Zeitflur continued, his thin lips curling into a sadistic grin. "Maybe we can find some more."
"I can't hear anything," Cleo said.
"Shh!" Bernice hissed.
They turned towards the source of the creaking and it stopped. One of the sarcophagi was half open. With no further warning, the lid was thrown completely off and a figure jumped out and ran towards them, dagger raised!
NEXT EPISODE: Run For Your Life!