Tigers at Twilight - Mary Pope Osborne [4]
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