Ch7-Something Very Weird

CHAPTER SEVEN Something Very Weird Her trunk high in the air, Morning Breeze kept sniffing the hot wind. "We'll get her away from here!" Jack said to Annie. "Then you and I can walk back to the tree house!" "Great!" said Annie. "Go!" Jack yelled again at the elephant. "Go home! Go home!" He looked over his shoulder.

He was afraid the Great Mogul might change his mind and send his guards after them. Morning Breeze let out a long, deep rumble and flapped her ears, as if she'd finally heard a distant call or caught a special scent. Her rumbling cries grew louder and louder—rrrrrrRRRRRR! She lumbered away from the drawbridge of the Red Fort. Jack was sure the elephant would start down the street filled with horses and oxcarts. But Morning Breeze headed up the other street, the one that went through the bazaar. "No, no! Go the other way!" cried Jack. The elephant began to run. Her flat oval feet thumped against the road as she headed toward the tents and stalls of the bazaar. The street was crowded with merchants and shoppers—bearded men in colorful coats and women in outfits that completely hid their faces and bodies. "Watch out, everyone!" Annie cried. As the elephant ran between the busy stalls, everyone scrambled out of her way. "Sorry! Sorry!" yelled Jack. "Rogue elephant!" a banana seller shouted.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Jack kept shouting. Morning Breeze knocked over wooden poles that supported white tents. The tents collapsed onto burlap bags filled with figs, rice, and peas. She knocked over baskets of lemons, oranges, and pineapples. Angry merchants yelled and shook their fists. "She's from the wild! She can't help it!" Annie cried. "Sorry! Sorry!" Jack said. Morning Breeze pulled down hanging silk shawls and carpets with her trunk. The silk merchant shouted with rage. He and the other sellers grabbed sticks and charged at the elephant. Jack and Annie scrunched down in their small straw carriage. "Hurry! Go! Go!" Jack called to Morning Breeze. With the merchants all chasing after her, Morning Breeze bolted from the bazaar. She started down a narrow pebbled road that soon became a dirt path. She left the bearded merchants shouting angrily in the dust.

Morning Breeze kept running down the path, passing farms with small mud huts. Sheep and goats bleated and scuttled out of her way. Chickens clucked and scattered. Her bells jangling wildly, the elephant clomped past women and girls tending outdoor cooking fires. She lumbered past men and boys unloading hay from wooden carts. "Hi! Hi! Excuse us!" Annie yelled, waving. Jack tried to smile as he clung to the sides of the swaying carriage. No one smiled or waved back. Everyone stared in shock as the elephant thundered by.

Morning Breeze ran to the end of the dirt path. But she didn't stop there. She kept running, cutting her own path through a sun-scorched field. Jack felt as if they were riding a big gray ship on waves of tall yellow grass. "This is fun!" said Annie. Not really, thought Jack. Where in the world were they going? A million insects hummed and buzzed. Butterflies and dragonflies darted about. The elephant burst from the sea of grass and charged into a scrubby forest. As she plowed through shrubs and trees, birds cawed and flapped out of the brush. "Okay, slow down, Morning Breeze!" yelled Jack. "You're back in the wild, so you can let us off now! We need to—" Before he could finish, the elephant lifted her trunk and let out a loud shriek. She reared up on her hind legs. Jack and Annie tumbled out of the carriage. They slid down the elephant's back and fell onto the ground. Morning Breeze shrieked again and tore away through the forest.

Jack and Annie lay in the dirt. They heard the elephant trampling plants and crashing through bushes. They heard her bells jangling. Then the sounds faded away. "Are you okay?" Annie asked. "Yep," said Jack. "But that wasn't very polite of her." Annie laughed. "Well, you asked her to let us off," she said. "Yeah, but not dump us off," said Jack. He waved away flies and slapped at mosquitoes. He felt sweaty and thirsty and exhausted. "I wonder how long it will take us to get back to the tree house?" "I don't know—let's just start retracing our steps," said Annie. Jack and Annie stood up and brushed the dirt off their coats. "Hey, where's your bag?" asked Annie. "My bag?" said Jack. Where was it? He whirled around. He saw it lying in the grass. "There!" he said. He hurried to his bag and picked it up. It was open. "Oh, no!" He reached in and pulled out their research book, the blue bottle,