Aleman did not even blink in answering.
"Would you honestly have believed me, senor? I think not. You would have thought me mui loco en la cabeza. And that would be the natural first reaction of any man to such a claim! That is why I had to let you see for yourself."
Gonsalves grudgingly re-holstered his Browning.
"We cannot talk here. Venga! Let us go to the local cantina and discuss this further over dos cervezas. Your treat!"
Aleman agreed...and he was as good his word.
"There are many legends, around the world, about a Great Flood that destroyed pre-existing civilizations more advanced than our modern ones. These stories range from the Biblical account of Noah's Ark to the Peruvian legends of Viracocha and the Tihuanaco Giants."
"Hmph!" snorted Gonsalves: "Sounds more like a norteamericano baseball team."
"Heh-heh! Not quite, senor. Some of the megalithic sculptures found at Tihuanaco bear uncanny similarities to those on Easter Island (which are locally called 'moai'). That is why I became convinced, many years ago, that both sets of statuary were built by the same race. An antediluvian race with physical and mental abilities so superhuman...that they were deified by our primitive, superstitious ancestors!"
"And one such ability was being able to grow to tremendous size?" Gonsalves asked(only semi-rhetorically).
"Si! In fact, I believe that this ancient race could not only alter their own size and mass. But, that of the people and things around them, as well. The only thing they could not do, however, was survive the Great Flood intact. Not as a unified culture, at least. So, they went to different corners of their devastated world to start over."
"Hence, all that Argentine folklore about giant indios called Patagones? inquired the bounty hunter by way of example.
"Correcto! And, in Marisol Herrera's case, she is one of the last surviving direct descendants of the Easter Island gigantes. They who wielded a power the Polynesians call 'mana' in alternately shrinking and re-enlarging the moai sculpted in their honor."
Gonsalves persisted in shaking his head in his desperate attempt at accepting the reality of what he had experienced thirty minutes earlier.
"So you want me to help you capture this mujer as proof of your fantastico theory. Esta verdad?"
Aleman nodded. Which made the next question somewhat logical.
"How do you propose to do that when she can break even the strongest pair of handcuffs by simply growing taller?"
"It will require more than just the two of us, I agree," replied the archeologist: "But, that is another reason I sought your expertise, Senor Gonsalves. I know this is not your first time in Chile. In fact, I believe you helped the commandante of the military flying school, near Copiapo, obtain a Cierva autogyro from France! Si...o no?"
Two days later, that autogyro was helping to co-ordinate pursuit of Marisol Herrera from the air. With Gonsalves maintaining communcation with them, via walkie-talkie, from the shotgun seat of the same stake truck that had transported him and Aleman up from Valparaiso in the first place!
Meanwhile, in the rear of the truck was a most unusual cargo. Lashed to the wooden paneling on the left hand side of the compartment was a long roll of canvas sail cloth. The Big Top of a small Chilean circus that had gone bankrupt at the height of the Great Depression! And, standing next to that circus tent? A quartet of Dutch refugees who had recently arrived from Java via Australia (with their ultimate destination being Surinam via Argentina).
This was most fortuitous for Aleman. Because, these men were veteran whalers. So, they knew how to operate the harpoon gun that he had somehow obtained from a Chilean whaling vessel!
tbc
Giantess World
Chapter End Notes:
* "Venga" ("Come!")!
"...dos cervezas" ("two beers").
"...dos cervezas" ("two beers").