Chapter Five

by Ruth Stiles Gannett

　　MY FATHER MEETS SOME TIGERS

　　The river was very wide and muddy, and the jungle was very gloomy anddense. The trees grew close to each other, and what room there wasbetween them was taken up by great high ferns with sticky leaves. Myfather hated to leave the beach, but he decided to start along theriver bank where at least the jungle wasn't quite so thick. He atethree tangerines, making sure to keep all the peels this time, and puton his rubber boots.

　　My father tried to follow the river bank but it was very swampy, andas he went farther the swamp became deeper. When it was almost as deepas his boot tops he got stuck in the oozy, mucky mud. My father tuggedand tugged, and nearly pulled his boots right off, but at last hemanaged to wade to a drier place. Here the jungle was so thick that hecould hardly see where the river was. He unpacked his compass andfigured out the direction he should walk in order to stay near theriver. But he didn't know that the river made a very sharp curve awayfrom him just a little way beyond, and so as he walked straight aheadhe was getting farther and farther away from the river.

　　It was very hard to walk in the jungle. The sticky leaves of the fernscaught at my father's hair, and he kept tripping over roots and rottenlogs. Sometimes the trees were clumped so closely together that hecouldn't squeeze between them and had to walk a long way around.

　　He began to hear whispery noises, but he couldn't see any animalsanywhere. The deeper into the jungle he went the surer he was thatsomething was following him, and then he thought he heard whisperynoises on both sides of him as well as behind. He tried to run, buthe tripped over more roots, and the noises only came nearer. Once ortwice he thought he heard something laughing at him.

　　At last he came out into a clearing and ran right into the middle ofit so that he could see anything that might try to attack him. Was hesurprised when he looked and saw fourteen green eyes coming out of thejungle all around the clearing, and when the green eyes turned intoseven tigers! The tigers walked around him in a big circle, lookinghungrier all the time, and then they sat down and began to talk.

　　"I suppose you thought we didn't know you were trespassing in ourjungle!"