The African Safari Discovery - Jeff Brown [5]
Stanley had always wanted to go on a safari, and he couldn’t imagine one better than this. The sun was golden. They saw two leopards fighting. They spied a baboon eating insects. They stumbled upon a herd of wildebeests sunning themselves.
And then an elephant walked right in front of them!
“Stanley?” Arthur said in a soft voice.
“Yeah?” said Stanley out of the corner of his mouth. The elephant’s feet were the size of pizzas.
“Maybe while we’re here, I can get that elephant to flatten me, too.”
Stanley strained not to giggle.
“Well, if you boys are both going to be flat,” Mr. Lambchop whispered, putting his hand on Stanley’s shoulder, “then I suppose I’ll have to try it, too.”
As the elephant raised its trunk to let out a trumpetlike roar, Stanley could not have felt happier.
Chapter 5
Down the River
The Lambchops followed the sun westward across the savannah, as Captain Tony had instructed. Soon, more and more trees sprung up around them, and they came to a river. They walked along the muddy bank.
The sun was high in the sky. Drops of sweat ran from Stanley’s forehead down his body.
“Are we there yet?” Arthur asked for what seemed like the millionth time.
“No, Arthur,” Mr. Lambchop said in a weary voice.
They kept walking. Their shoes made sucking sounds as they stepped in and out of the mud.
Suddenly, there was a low growling, and Stanley froze in fear.
Arthur looked at his stomach. “I’m hungry,” he whined.
“Look at that,” said Mr. Lambchop, pointing down the bank.
It was a canoe pulled up on the shore.
The Lambchops found a paddle inside. Mr. Lambchop scanned the area.
“Stanley, exactly how far downriver did Captain Tony say to go?” Mr. Lambchop asked.
“A few hours,” replied Stanley.
“On foot? Or by boat?”
Stanley realized he didn’t know.
“My feet hurt,” grumbled Arthur. “And I have mud in my socks.”
“Whose canoe do you think this is?” Stanley asked his father.
Mr. Lambchop shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps the owners went hunting.”
Meanwhile, Arthur climbed into the canoe. “Ahhhh,” he said, putting his feet up on a seat.
“Arthur Lambchop,” Mr. Lambchop said sternly, “are you stealing someone else’s canoe?”
“No.” Arthur rolled his eyes. “I’m sitting in someone else’s canoe.”
“Would it be stealing if we borrowed it and brought it right back?” Stanley suggested.
Mr. Lambchop looked at Stanley. “Yes, it would,” he said.
There was a rustling in the brush nearby. Onto the bank stepped a very tall man with enormous holes in his earlobes. His body was draped in red cloth, and in his hand was a staff taller than Stanley. He stopped short when he saw the Lambchops.
“Arthur!” Mr. Lambchop whispered out of the side of his mouth.
Arthur nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the tribesman.
Behind the man, a woman also swathed in red appeared. She held a baby wrapped in patterned cloth close to her body.
The man squinted at the Lambchops. Then he turned and fixed his gaze on Stanley. He came closer. Stanley flinched as the man leaned close and peered behind Stanley’s head.
He looked Stanley right in the eye. “What happened to you?” the man asked.
“I was flattened by my own bulletin board,” Stanley answered.
“You speak English!” sputtered Mr. Lambchop.
“And French, too,” the man said. “I am of the Masai tribe, but I am also a graduate of the Sorbonne in Paris. This land is our home. And you, young man,” he continued, turning to Arthur, “what do you think you are doing in our canoe?”
“Don’t be so hard on him,” the woman said. “He is just a boy. They are clearly lost.”
The baby squealed with delight at the sight of Stanley.
Mr. Lambchop rummaged through his pocket and came up with the newspaper clipping. “We’re trying to get to the spot marked by the X.”
The man and woman studied the article.
“Many believe that the first people lived in Africa,” said the man, “and then walked onto the other continents long, long ago when all the parts of the world were close together and had not yet drifted apart. Today,