CHAPTER 8

START OF CONFLICT

The next day Sajan meets all his friends. He tells his friends about the treasure. Some of his friends find the matter of treasure false. Some friends want to live a peaceful life. They does not want to risk their life to bring the treasure. His four friends agree that they will help in bringing the treasure for Sajan. After this, Sajan decided to buy horses to reach the treasury quickly. Whatever money was left with Sajan, he bought 4 horses. On coming home, he also told the whole matter to his family. The family members said that he is not fighting only for himself. He is fighting for many people. So the victory will be yours. God will always be with you.

Preparations had begun to go on a treasure hunt. It was said in the entire village that Sajan and his companions are about to leave the treasury for the lane. Sajan wore high boots to avoid creeping animals. Early in the morning, the four friends stood outside the broken house of Sajan with their horses. Sajan had also brought his horse from the cattle shed. The villagers prayed for their safe return and the five friends were blessed by all. Everyone had taken food and water for way. After that, the five of them left on their own horse.

It was in Sajan’s mind that today I am going for the benefit of so many people. Only my struggle can give them a good life. Therefore, I will return only after winning. I will not give up at any cost. He had decided. Determination is an important step towards success.

The horses were now running at full speed. Those people used to leave for the journey as soon as they woke up in the morning and stopped the journey in the afternoon. In the afternoon they would eat food and sleep for an hour. When the sun started to subside, they would leave for the journey ahead. They were traveling for about 12 hours every day. About a week had passed. They had now reached the south of India.

Arriving at the southern end of India, they sold all their horses. They got some money from selling horses. In exchange for that money, they got a big and strong boat, so that they could travel to the sea. They did not delay. Sajan’s friends had already put food and water in the boat. They still had 1–2 days of food left.

All of them sat in the boat and the boat quickly started to move further. Luck had been supporting Sajan for many days. The sea was calm. In just 2 days, they completed the sea journey and reached the island.

Sajan and his companions reached the island. They put the boat aside. Without delay, they started searching for the same cave in which Sajan’s grandfather hid the treasure.

But the real struggle starts now.

The forest used to start just a short distance from the sea shore. This forest was terrible. There was very little free space between the trees. The screaming sounds of many animals were also heard. A friend of Sajan said- I am scared. Sajan said yes. There is danger here. We have to be careful. Whatever we have to do will have to be done very thoughtfully.

All friends moved inward into the forest. Just a short distance away, a large group of mosquitoes attacked them all. But Sajan was a sensible boy. He was seeing mud nearby. He told all friends to apply the mud on the whole body. Sajan and his friends did the same. Then, the mosquitoes released them.

But to see where they had picked up the mud, a boy carefully looked at the ground. He understood that all of them are in mud and are slowly sinking into the ground. Everyone now knew this.

But all the people immediately lay down at the behest of Sajan. Gradually all the people started moving towards the hard ground. All those people got out of that swamp safely.

For the safety of those people, first of all, they cut some wooden sticks of a timber standing nearby. Those people cut 5 woods and put a sharp knife on one end of each wood.

A friend of Sajan’s said “I am very hungry, so let’s arrange food first”. All friends agreed to this. Those people had come inside the forest so they could not catch fish. But it was good to eat whatever you got in the forest.

A friend noticed that there is a bee hive on a tall tree. Then all together lit a fire under the hive. The fire was only ablaze that the fallen leaves were poured over it. This created a lot of smoke and the bees left their house and ran away. A friend immediately climbed a tree and cut a part of the hive. That hive was very big and we now had enough food. We all ate the same on the first day.

It is very early at night in the forest. So we started cleaning some place to spend the night.

“Sleeping on the ground in the forest is like putting a hand in the face of death” Sajan said.

Therefore, at the behest of Sajan, a bed was made by standing wood above the ground. All the people slept together on the same night.

The next day everyone woke up on time. They went a little further to find the cave. Suddenly a wild bear appeared moving towards them. The bear was dark brown. His body was very big. He was very young and quite scary.

Sajan knew that the bear could not be defeated by fighting. So, he said the most that those people should lie quietly on the ground. Everyone did the same.

When the bear was sniffing nearby, a friend of Sajan got scared. He immediately got up and started running. The bear followed him and killed him immediately.

Everyone was scared to see this. But Sajan explained that “there is a danger in the forest, if anyone does anything stupid then he will be killed”.

But now only one friend wanted to stay with Sajan. The rest of the 2 friends decided to go back. Sajan explained to them that it is more dangerous to be alone in the forest, if all the people stay in groups then they will be more secure. But they did not listen to a single thing.

Then 2 of them started going back towards the coast of the island. But Sajan had vowed that he would never give up.

Then there was a thought in Sajan’s mind. He thought that he had come deep inside the forest. While his grandfather said that there was a cave near the island’s coast. Sajan had made a big mistake by entering inside the forest.

Sajan immediately proceeded towards the coast with one of his friends. Both of them soon reached the coast. His remaining two friends had already reached there. They saw each other alive and were very happy.

Sajan said that the cave is near the coast. We do not have to go inside the forest. Then everyone started finding a cave on the shore. Soon those people succeeded in it.

A friend saw a black cave. He pointed with a hand – “The cave is there”. Everyone was happy. Those people reached near that cave. The cave was almost covered with green vines. A black colored stone was placed at the entrance of the cave, Sajan’s friend was eyeing the same stone.

The four friends opened the door of the cave after much effort. A friend rushed into the cave quickly. He ignored Sajan’s statement, which was to say, “Bring a torch of fire inside”

There were many spider webs inside the cave. Sajan brought with him a small piece of pine wood. Sajan rubbed the piece of wood a little bit, so Sajan lit the torch of fire. All three friends started going inside the cave.

Those people went a little bit that the sound of his friend’s scream came. Everyone quickly ran towards the friend. Sajan’s friend had found the treasure but he was bitten by a black snake. The snake was 5 feet in length. The snake was so poisonous that Sajan’s friend died soon after its bite. Sajan took the snake away with the torch of fire. Sajan said “no wild animal ever comes near the fire, so one should always protect themselves from fire”.

Now only 3 people were left. He opened the treasure box. He had so much gold – silver and diamonds – jewels that all his dreams could be fulfilled. Those people immediately picked up the box and picked it up and placed it in the boat.

All three friends left immediately. They were now rolling back on the boat very fast. He returned to India after about one and a half days.