Lions at Lunchtime (3 page)

But just then, Annie's shouting stopped.

Jack looked at the river.

She had vanished.

“Annie?” he called.

No answer.

Where was she?

“Annie!” Jack shouted.

She had completely disappeared.

“Oh, man,” said Jack.

Their trip had barely begun, and already disaster had struck!

He forgot about the stuff in his pack. He just ran as fast as he could.

He wove his way between the grazing zebras and giraffes as he raced to the river.

“Help!” called Annie.

Jack looked over the edge of the riverbank.

Annie had fallen into a pool of mud near the water. The thick black mud was up to her chest.

“I slipped,” she said. “It feels like quicksand.”

Jack threw down his pack and got on his knees.

“Be careful,” said Annie. “Don't slip, too.”

Jack pointed to a tangle of old tree roots sticking out of the bank. “Grab those!” he said.

Annie reached for the roots. “Too far,” she said, breathing hard. “I'm sinking.”

She
was
sinking. The mud was up to her neck.

“Hold on!” Jack looked around wildly. He saw a fallen tree branch near the bank.

He raced to it, picked it up, and carried it back to Annie. Only her head and arms stuck out of the mud now.

Jack held out the branch. Annie grabbed it.

“Hold tight,” said Jack. “I'll drag you over to the roots!”

He started pulling on the branch.

“I'm still sinking!” Annie wailed. The mud was up to her chin.

“Come on!” said Jack. “You can do it! I know you can! Try! Try!”

Just then, Jack heard a
splash!
He looked up.

On the other side of the wide river, a wildebeest had jumped into the water. Another jumped … then another. They were headed right toward Jack and Annie.

“Hold on tight!” said Jack. He pulled on the stick again.

Annie moved a tiny bit.

“Hey, Jack, on the moon it felt like I weighed ten pounds,” said Annie. “And in this mud it feels like I weigh a ton.”

“Concentrate, Annie,” said Jack, trying not to slip down the bank.

“I
am
.”

The lead wildebeests were halfway across, swimming toward them. Many more wildebeests were jumping into the water.

“It's now or never!” said Jack. He took a deep breath. He pulled
really
hard.

Just then, a shadow passed over them. Jack looked up.

“Uh-oh,” he said.

A huge vulture circled overhead.

“It thinks you're near the end,” said Jack.

“Oh, get out of here!” Annie shouted at the vulture. “I'm fine!”

In a burst of fury, she let go of the branch. She lunged for the roots. She grabbed them!

“Yes!” cried Jack. “Pull! Pull!”

Slowly, Annie pulled herself out. She was covered with the black mud from head to toe.

Jack helped her onto the bank, getting mud all over himself.

“See!” Annie shook her fist at the vulture. “I'm fine! Now beat it!”

But the giant, ugly bird still circled.

“Come on. Let's get away from him,” said Jack. He pushed his glasses into place.

“Rats,” he said. Now his glasses were muddy.

He tried to clean his hands in the grass.

“Oh, no!” shouted Annie.

Jack turned to her.

“The wildebeests will get stuck in the mudhole!” she cried. She waved her arms at the wildebeests struggling to swim across the river.

“Not here,” she shouted. “Not here!”

But the frantic swimmers kept coming.

“Oh, no! No! No!” shouted Annie.

She raced down the bank, until she reached a sandy, clear spot.

“Here! Here!” she called.

The wildebeests followed her with their wild eyes.

Jack watched in disbelief as the swimmers changed their course. Slowly, all the wildebeests swam to where Annie stood. She waved them in like a traffic policeman.

Jack grabbed his backpack.

“Annie,” he cried, “let's go before we get trampled!”

“Keep it up,” she shouted to the wildebeests as she took off after Jack.

They ran farther up the river, away from the incoming wildebeests. Finally, they stopped to catch their breath. They looked back.

Everything seemed fine. The wildebeests were scrambling safely over the riverbank. Soon they would graze on the grass prepared by the zebras.

“Good work,” Jack said to Annie.

“Thanks,” she said. “Okay, now for our riddle … ”

“No,
first
we've got to get clean,” said Jack. “You look like you're in a mud suit.”

High-pitched laughter rang through the air. It sounded mocking and mean.

Jack and Annie turned around. They saw two spotted brown animals standing in the tall grass.

The creatures had bodies like dogs, but with sloping backs. They laughed again.

“Ha-ha,” said Annie. “You don't look so great yourself.”

“What are they?” said Jack. He took out the book. He tried not to get mud on it as he looked for a picture. When he found it, he read aloud:

“What's ‘predator' mean?” said Annie.

“It means it catches things and eats them,” said Jack.

“Oh,” said Annie. “Yuck.”

The two hyenas laughed again. And they moved closer to Jack and Annie.

Quietly, Jack read more:

“Let's see if they're cowards,” whispered Annie. “Let's try to scare them.”

The hyenas laughed and moved a little closer.

“How?” Jack asked.

“Act like a monster!” said Annie. “Now!”

Jack and Annie made terrible monster faces. They put out their hands and rushed at the hyenas.

“
ARGGGGHH!
” they shouted.

The hyenas yelped and scurried off.

“Scaredy-cats!” Annie shouted after them.

“Come on,” said Jack.

Annie and Jack took off in the other direction. They ran around a bend in the river.

Jack heard the hyena laughter again. It sounded far away.

“Good,” he said, “they're gone.”

“Hey, maybe we can wash over there,” said Annie.

She pointed to the edge of the forest. There was a small pond surrounded by tall grass. Zebras were drinking the water.

“Yeah,” said Jack. “If it's safe enough for them to drink … ”

The zebras ignored them as they walked toward the pond.

When they reached the edge of the water, Jack set his heavy pack down in the dry grass. He glanced around. No lions were in sight. But then he heard something.

On the far side of the pond, something very big was coming out of the trees.

“Be still,” said Jack.

Jack and Annie stood frozen as an elephant stepped out of the shadows. It waded into the pond and dipped its trunk into the water.

“Oh, wow,” said Annie.

Jack breathed a sigh of relief. An elephant wasn't going to chase them and eat them. Still, the elephant was
huge
.

“Let's sneak away,” said Jack.

“But I want to watch,” said Annie.

“Fine,” said Jack. He was tired of Annie getting sidetracked. “I'm going to solve the riddle by myself. I'll meet you back at the tree house.”

He turned to go. A spray of water rained down on him. It came from behind. He shouted with surprise and looked back.

The elephant's trunk was pointed straight at Annie.

“Cool!” she cried. “He's giving me a shower!”

The elephant sprayed her again … then again. The mud slowly rolled off her face, her braids, her T-shirt, her shorts, her legs, and her sneakers