Jungle Threat

“No, Bess, ” said Nancy. “If Dad decides to buy this place, we must know what’s going on next door. And I plan to find out right now. Let’s walk along the shore and investigate.”

Though Bess was fearful, she followed the others along the fence. It ran onto a peninsula beyond the Webster property. At the riverfront the fence turned left abruptly.

There was no bulkhead along the water and the earth was muddy and slippery. After a few steps Nancy, Bess, and George decided to take off their shoes and carry them. They rolled up their slacks knee-length and started across the swampy ground.

“Watch your step! ” Bess warned. “No telling what we might step on—a lizard, snake or—Oh! ”

She lost her balance but managed after a few gyrations with her arms to right herself. “I knew I shouldn’t have come, ” she complained.

Moments later the girls reached the corner of the steel-mesh fence near the far side of the peninsula. It turned left again. The three trekked alongside through the mass of trees and bushes. They found it helpful to use the steel wire for support.

The girls had not gone far before they realized this was a real jungle. Going barelegged and bare-foot did not seem safe, so the three friends put their shoes back on and rolled down their slacks.

“When will we get to the end of this? ” Bess asked impatiently. Nancy said she judged it could not be much farther to the street.

The next moment the girls stood stock-still. From inside the grounds had come a loud roar.

“That’s a lion! ” George exclaimed. “Maybe this is a zoo.”

Nancy said it was certainly not a public one.

“If it were, ” she surmised, “I’m sure Mrs. Nickerson would have known about it and told us. Besides, we’d have seen signs posted.”

She and George pushed ahead, with Bess at their heels, terror-stricken. She suddenly gave a cry and pointed inside the fence.

A group of large African animals was galloping among the trees toward the girls. Roars, growls, and hisses filled the air. The big beasts, having scented the newcomers, pawed and clamored at the fence to get at them. A huge black leopard eyed the intruders, then began to climb the steel mesh.

Bess screamed and cried, “Look out, George! ” Her cousin stood by the fence, fascinated, as Bess ran.