In the Jungle (2 page)

I wonder where we are now
, thought Andrew Dubble. Andrew, no bigger than a beetle, poked his head above a feather on the bird’s back. A cold wind smacked his face as he peered at the earth far below.

“Wowzers schnauzers!” Andrew shouted. “I see green down there! It’s land! Now maybe this bird will take a break. She’s been flying over the ocean for
ages
!”

Another feather on the bird’s back twitched. A pile of frizzy dark hair popped up and went wild in the wind. It was Andrew’s thirteen-year-old cousin, Judy.

Judy shook her hair away from her face. “Fat chance, Bug-Brain,” she yelled above the wind. “This bird is an
arctic tern
! She’s on her way to Antarctica! Unless Uncle Al gets our messages, we’re penguin chow!”

Uncle Al was Andrew and Judy’s uncle, and he was also a super-smart, super-secret scientist.

meep …
“Unkie Al not call back yet,” came a squeaky voice from Andrew’s shirt pocket. It was Andrew’s little silver mini-robot and best friend, Thudd. “And penguin not eat bugs.”

“Oh, great,” groaned Judy. “So we’ll just turn into bug-sized ice cubes.”

The bird spread her wings wide and glided.

“She’s going lower,” said Andrew.

Now Andrew could see a wide, sandy beach and a forest beyond.

“Looks like a deserted island,” said Andrew.

“Noop! Noop! Noop!” said Thudd. “Australia! Continent!”

“Australia!” said Judy. “Cities!
People!
Someone could find us!”

As the bird glided lower still, Andrew saw driftwood and heaps of seaweed on the beach. But he didn’t see any people.

Now the bird was flying over the forest. It looked like a bumpy blanket of green. Here and there, tall trees poked through. A river zigzagged through the greenness like a silver snake.

The bird swooped down through the tree-tops and into the forest.

At first Andrew could hardly see in the dim light under the leaves. His eyes were used to the brightness of the open sky.

The air was alive with screeches and cries and cackles, chirps and whistles, and a sound like crazy laughter.

The bird dove under huge fan-shaped leaves.

“Look at this place!” Judy said. “Nothing but tangles of trees and vines! It’s a
jungle
!”

meep …
“Rain forest,” said Thudd. “Australian rain forest strange, strange, strange!

“Got plants and animals that not live any other place. Got most poisonous snakes in world! People found eighty-six thousand kindsa insects! Found ten thousand kindsa spiders!

“People always finding new kindsa plants and animals. Maybe Drewd and Oody find new stuff.”

“Neato mosquito!” said Andrew. “Maybe I’ll find a new kind of spider.”

“Eeeuw!” Judy groaned. “Ten thousand kinds of spiders are way too many!”

meep …
“Maybe Oody find new kinda plant,” said Thudd. “Rain forest got lotsa plants. Make lotsa oxygen for earth. Lotsa medicines come from rain-forest plants.”

Judy rolled her eyes. “We don’t need to find
plants
,” she said. “We need to find
people.
”

meep …
“Rain forest not got lotsa people,” said Thudd.

The bird slowed down. She settled herself on a branch midway up a tall tree.

The air felt warm and damp against Andrew’s skin.

Andrew sniffed in the jungle smells— green leaves, sweet flowers, and something musty, like a wet basement.

Andrew looked down to the floor of the rain forest way below. “We must be six stories above the ground,” he said. “But at least we’re on land again.”

“Let’s get off this bird chop-chop,” said Judy, “before she heads for penguin country.”

Andrew climbed down through the feathers on the tern’s back. He reached a long flight feather at the edge of a wing.

“Hmmmm …,” he pondered. “We can jump from this feather to the branch below.”

Just then, the bird swiveled her head.
Andrew saw his reflection in a shiny black eye. “Um, I wonder what arctic terns eat,” he said.

meep …
“Eat little fish. Shrimp. Insects, too,” said Thudd.

“Or insect-sized humans,” said Andrew. He ducked under a flight feather and pulled it down tightly over himself.

A pointy red beak dove into the feathers behind Andrew. Then it plunged into the feathers close to Andrew. The beak grabbed the bottom of one of the feathers. It nibbled along the edges right up to the tip.

meep …
“Bird preen feather,” said Thudd. “Spread oil to keep feather dry. Preening make feather smooth for flying. Get rid of little bugs, too.”

The beak preened another feather even closer to Andrew.

“Wowzers schnauzers!” said Andrew. “We’ve got to get out of here!”

Just then, the red beak grabbed the feather he was clinging to and began to preen it. The beak pushed Andrew to the very tip of the feather. He was barely hanging on. That black eye was looking right at him.

She’s hungry and I’m a bug
, thought Andrew. He let go.

“Yaaaargh!”
hollered Andrew, tumbling down and down. He waved his hands, frantically trying to grab a leaf or a vine.

Finally, he snagged something with his right hand.

“Wowzers schnauzers!” cried Andrew. He was clutching a tall blade of grass. The forest floor was inches below.

But he was dangling above something strange. It looked like a red-and-white tub covered with hairs. It was so big that beetle-sized Andrew could have taken a bath in it.

“Holy moly!” said Andrew. “What’s
that
?”

meep …
“Pitcher plant!” said Thudd. “Pitcher plant carnivorous. Eat meat.

“Got special juice at bottom of pitcher. Juice digest bug meat that fall inside plant. Like stomach digest pizza inside Drewd.”

“Jumping gerbils!” said Andrew. “A meat-eating plant, and I’m meat!” He began walking his hands along the blade of grass to get away from the pitcher plant.

Suddenly the blade bent. Andrew dipped lower. One of Andrew’s legs slipped inside the pitcher!

Uh-oh
, thought Andrew. He tried to pull his leg out, but the inside of the pitcher was too smooth and slippery. Andrew was sweating. The screeching, cackling jungle noises made it hard to think.

With his free leg, Andrew gave a mighty push against the outside of the pitcher plant. He got his other leg out!

“Whew!” he sighed, still dangling from
the grass. His ears picked up a new sound nearby.

Ssssssss … keekeekee … keekeekee …

On the ground beside the pitcher plant, two gigantic black beetles were creeping toward each other. They were hissing and clicking. At the front of each beetle’s head was a curved horn as long as the rest of its body.

“Holy moly!” whispered Andrew. “Those guys look as big as trucks!”

meep …
“Rhinoceros beetles!” said Thudd.

Now the beetles’ enormous horns were almost touching. They stopped. They stamped
their clawed feet and wagged their armored heads.

One beetle charged the other. They locked horns under Andrew’s blade of grass. They shook their giant heads from side to side. The bigger beetle flipped the smaller one on its back. The feet of the smaller beetle clawed at the bigger beetle’s head.

meep …
“Male rhinoceros beetles fight to get mate,” said Thudd. “Horn strong, strong, strong! Can cut off head of other rhinoceros beetle!”

“Watch out below!” came a yell from above.

Andrew looked up to see Judy tumbling through the air.

“Ooomph!”
Judy landed on a taller blade of grass right next to Andrew. Her feet smacked the top of Andrew’s head.

“Youch!” he hollered.

His stem bent lower. His feet clunked against the horn of the bigger beetle!

Ssssssssss …
hissed the beetle. It reared up on its back legs. Its front legs clawed the air. The tip of its terrible horn touched Andrew’s nose!

“YAAAAARGH!”
screamed Andrew.

“Andrew!” shouted Judy. “There’s a bright green twig sticking out from the tree trunk behind you. Grab it!”

Andrew swung himself toward the tree. He spotted the twig and wrapped his legs quickly around it.

“Make room for me,” yelled Judy, swinging herself at the twig. She slammed into it and scrambled on behind Andrew.

“Now climb a little way up the tree trunk,” said Judy. “Before we fall into the middle of this stupid beetle battle. Then we’ve got to call Uncle Al again.”

Andrew felt a jolt. “Um, maybe we don’t have to climb up the tree trunk,” said Andrew. “This
twig
is climbing.”

“Cheese Louise!” exclaimed Judy. “It
is
climbing!”

meep …
“Drewd and Oody getting ride on stick insect,” said Thudd. “Rain forest got lotsa insects that look like stick, look like twig. Got insects that look like leaf, too.”

“Weird-a-mundo!” said Judy, jiggling on the back of the skittering bug.

meep …
“Good disguise for prey animal,” said Thudd. “Look like stuff around it. Disguise called camouflage. Hard for predator animal to find prey animal that got camouflage.”