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them. Then I fasten those lines to strong branches and secure them as best I can, making a crude hammock.
    "Get in here with me, Ravi, and let us hope for the best," I say, slipping into the fold of canvas.
    He crawls in beside me and I hold him to me.
    RRRRRROOOOWLLLLLLL.
    The beast is right below us, circling about the base of the tree. Another low roar and the tree shakes and we know the tiger is trying the tree.
    Ravi's arms tighten around me, and mine around him.
    Oh, how I hope my knots are tight and strong and we live through this night!

Chapter 6
     
    As dawn's feeble light comes creeping into the jungle, I peer cautiously over the edge of our hammock and gaze at the trampled grass below. I can see that the trunk of the tree is all scratched, with most of its bark gone up to a height of about ten feet. There are deep gouges in the soft wood, marks of the tiger's claws. I give out with yet another shudder.
Good Lord...
    I feel Ravi wriggling and his head pops up beside mine.
    "I think it's gone," I whisper.
    "That is to be hoped, Missy," says Ravi, looking dubious. "Tigers do come out only at night. Usually."
    I give him a look. "Usually?"
    He shrugs.
    "Well, we can't stay up here forever," I say. "Let us break camp and be on our way."

    I struggle out of the hammock and onto the tree limb. Untying the rope knots is easy, them being the sailor's friend, the bowline, a knot that never fails to untie no matter how much pressure has been put on it. If you can't tie a bowline, whether in calm or in a howling gale, then you ain't a sailor. Getting the knots out of the canvas fabric proved a bit more difficult, but we got it done and our knapsacks repacked and back on our shoulders.
    "All right, let's go," I say, beginning to climb down.
    In a moment, my feet are on the ground. Ravi drops down lightly beside me.
    "To the beach, Ravi, me lad," I say, clapping him on the back. "We survived the night and are not in the tummy of the tiger and—"
    We both freeze at the sound of something big—something very big—rustling in the bushes behind us.
    "Run!" I scream. "To the water! Run!"
    Ravi needs no such encouragement. He is off like a little brown streak and I am not far behind him.
    GRRRRROOOWWWWLLLLLL!
    Oh, God, it's right behind me! Please, Lord, let me make it to the water.
    Make it to the water we do, looking for all the world like a pair of frightened waterfowl, but it doesn't seem like it'll do us a whole lot of good, as I can hear the beast splashing into the surf right behind us.
    "Get farther out!" I yell to Ravi. "Maybe he'll go back if he has to swim!"
    I'm up to my chest now and pulling for the open sea. Ravi is well ahead of me. The tiger will have to swim now or else give it up.
Please, God, make him go away!
    But swim he does and give it up he does not.
    I look back at him and my knees turn to jelly and my insides turn to water. His whiskered orange and black face with its big white muzzle must be two feet across!
    "Nice kitty!" I shout, desperate. "Shoo! Go away!"
    Swimming, he cannot bring his claws to bear, which is good, but his jaws full of teeth will get the job done just as well.
    "Bad kitty! Bad kitty!"
    In spite of my total terror, I manage to pull out my shiv and hold it quivering in front of me. The beast opens his mouth and I can see his pink tongue and huge yellow teeth, his bright and glistening eyes. His paw brushes my leg. In a moment he will have me and I will be lost!
Oh, Lord, he is so big! And he is on me!
    Powered by both fear and desperation, I plunge my puny little shiv into his big black nose.
    GRRROOOOOWWWLLLL?
    Not used to having his prey fight back, the tiger brings up his right paw to swipe at his now bleeding nose, which causes his head to sink beneath the waves for a second. It ain't much in the way of a counterattack, but it is enough for him to taste the salt and maybe think about something else for his dinner. He retreats and swims back to the shore, roaring out his displeasure.