Tigers at Twilight (3 page)

Teddy growled.

“
Wild
dogs, not a shrimp like you,” Jack said to Teddy. “A tiger would eat you in a minute.”

Teddy growled again.

Just then, Kah and Ko began hooting.
Koo-koo-koo!

The peacocks cried
Kok! Kok!

The small deer made short barking sounds and stamped their hooves.

“What’s going on?” said Annie.

“We better put Teddy in my pack,” said Jack, “to keep him safe.”

Jack slipped the dog into his pack. Teddy’s head poked out the top.

“All set?” Jack asked the little dog.

Teddy growled again.

This time, a deep, fierce growl answered back. It seemed to surround them.

Jack’s hair stood on end.

“Yikes!” said Annie.

“A tiger!” said Jack.

Arf! Arf!
Teddy barked.

Kah and Ko screeched at Jack and Annie from their tree.

“They want us to join them!” said Annie. “Come on!” She grabbed a branch and climbed up.

Jack’s hands were shaking as he put his backpack on. He grabbed a branch and pushed off the ground. He pulled himself into the tree.

Another growl shook the forest.

“Oh, man,” said Jack.

Koo-koo-koo!
The langurs climbed higher up the tree.

Jack and Annie followed them, climbing from branch to branch.

The sky above was no longer glowing. The bright orange had faded to a twilight gray.

Jack looked down. He couldn’t see the ground at all.

He listened for another scary roar.

Only the cries of frightened forest creatures filled the air.

“Maybe the tiger’s gone,” said Annie.

Jack glanced at Kah and Ko. The langurs cuddled together. Their dark faces looked worried.

“And maybe
not
,” said Jack.

“How can we get through the forest without running into him?” said Annie.

“That’s a problem,” said Jack. “And it’s getting dark. Soon we won’t be able to see anything.”

Kah and Ko hooted again. They pointed down the tree trunk.

Arf! Arf!
Teddy barked from Jack’s pack.

“Do they see the tiger?” Jack asked, his heart thumping again. He couldn’t see anything but leaves and branches.

Then, far below, he saw the tree trunk
move!

“A snake!” said Annie.

The snake was slithering around the trunk. It had black-and-tan markings. The snake’s body was as thick as the tree trunk!

“A
python
,” breathed Jack.

The python kept curling up the tree trunk.

“Is it poisonous?” asked Annie.

Jack pulled out their book. By the last light of day, he found a picture of a python. He read aloud:

“Whew,” said Annie.

“Not so fast,” said Jack. He read more:

“Oh, yuck!” said Annie.

“This is more than just
yuck
, Annie,” said Jack. “This is life or death,”

Kah and Ko chattered at Jack and Annie.

“Not now,” said Jack. “We have to think.”

The langurs grabbed thick vines. They leaned back. Then they jumped out of the tree!

The langurs swung through the air like trapeze artists. They swung over bushes and tall grass and landed in another tree.

They screeched at Jack and Annie and waved their arms.

“I know what they’re saying,” said Annie. “They want us to copy them!”

Annie grabbed a vine.

Jack looked back at the python. The giant snake was still winding its way up the tree. It had almost reached their branch.

Jack took a deep breath. Then he grabbed a vine, too.

“Lean back, like Kah and Ko did,” said Annie.

Jack and Annie leaned back.

“One, two, three—go!” said Annie.

They swung out of the tree.

Jack felt his stomach drop. Air rushed by. Leaves and branches slapped at him.

Suddenly, the forest shook with a great roar.

Like a flame, a tiger leaped up from the bushes!

His yellow eyes blazed. His teeth shone like daggers. His claws barely missed Jack and Annie!

“AAAHHH!” they yelled.

The tiger crashed back down into the bushes.

Jack and Annie swung into the langurs’ tree.

Jack threw one leg around the trunk. He let go of his vine and held on tightly to a branch.

“Oh, man!” he said. He was in shock.

The langurs patted him, as if to make sure he was okay.

“Wow, that was fun,” said Annie, sitting on a big branch.

“Fun? Are you nuts?” said Jack.

“The
swinging
was fun,” said Annie. “The tiger was scary.”

Just then, the tree began to shake. Branches snapped below.

“Oh, no!” said Jack.

“Can tigers climb trees?” asked Annie.

“Probably,” said Jack. He hugged the trunk and squeezed his eyes shut.

From below came loud sounds of chewing, smacking, and crunching.

Teddy growled.

Jack groaned.

“Now the tiger’s
eating
the tree,” he said.

Annie burst into laughter.

Kah and Ko whooped as if they were laughing, too.

Arf! Arf!
barked Teddy.

“What?” said Jack, opening his eyes.

“Look!” Annie pointed at the twilight.

A thick gray tube was waving in the air.

“Another snake?” said Jack, horrified.

“No! An elephant trunk!” said Annie.

The trunk wiggled near Jack and Annie, as if it were sniffing them. Then it picked leaves from the tree and disappeared.

“Let’s go see!” said Annie.

With Teddy still in his backpack, Jack followed Annie down to a lower branch.

They peered out at the twilight forest.

In the gray gloom, they saw a herd of elephants.

One stood beneath their tree, eating leaves. Others munched grass.

“Hey, I’ve got a really cool idea,” said Annie.

“Uh-oh,” said Jack. “What is it?”

“I know how to escape the tiger,” said Annie. “Our book said tigers don’t attack elephants, right?”

“Yeah,” said Jack.

“So we should travel through the forest on the back of an elephant,” said Annie.

Jack nodded slowly.

“That
is
a cool idea,” he said. “But—”

“No buts. I’ll get on first,” said Annie.

She climbed down the tree until she was close to the elephant’s back. She carefully lowered herself off a branch. When her feet rested on the elephant’s back, she let go of the branch. Then she slowly sat down.

The elephant let out a low rumbling sound and shifted her weight.

“Don’t worry, it’s just me,” Annie said softly. She patted the huge creature’s back. “Thanks, Saba.”

“Saba?” said Jack.

“That’s her name,” said Annie. “She just told me.”

“Yeah, right,” said Jack.

Arf! Arf!
barked Teddy.

“Come on, Jack,” said Annie. “It’s not scary.”

Jack sighed and slowly climbed down the tree. When he was above Saba, he lowered himself off the branch.

He put both feet on the elephant. Then he carefully sat down in front of Annie.

Saba rumbled again.

“Tell her not to worry,” said Annie. “Pat her head.”

“Don’t worry, Saba,” Jack said. He patted the elephant’s head. Her skin was rough and wrinkled.

The elephant curled her trunk back and rested it on Jack’s head.

“Hi,” he said in a small voice.

Saba flapped her ears.

Kah and Ko swung to the ground in front of Saba. They chattered at her. She waved her trunk at them. The langurs began bounding through the forest.

Saba followed.

The rest of the herd followed in line. Saba walked with a calm, rolling motion. Jack felt as if he were riding over ocean waves.

A full moon was rising above the trees.

“Where are we going?” Jack asked.

“Just relax,” said Annie. “Kah and Ko know where to go.”

Arf! Arf!
Teddy barked from Jack’s backpack.

“You relax, too,” Jack said to the little dog.

Fireflies blinked. The moon lit a path between the trees as the elephants marched on.

From a distance came a low growl.

Is that the tiger?
Jack wondered.

The elephants paid no attention. They kept walking through the warm woods. They marched slowly under hanging vines and through misty clearings.

Kah and Ko bounded ahead of them, two moon shadows leading the way.

“We’re going far from the tree house,” said Jack.

“Don’t worry,” Annie said.

Suddenly, a long roar split the night.

A chill went down Jack’s spine.

The roar came again. It turned into a yowling. The yowling turned into steady moaning. It sounded as if the whole forest were moaning.

“That’s a really sad sound,” said Annie sleepily.

“Yeah,” said Jack.

But the elephants all marched on.

Jack rocked in sleepy rhythm with Saba’s walk. He could hear Teddy snoring in his backpack.