5 A snappy escape

Chapter Five A SNAPPY ESCAPE Ollie and Kiki cautiously made their way over the stepping stones, one by one. Ollie badly wanted to rush across, but he knew it was better to go slowly. A single slip would land him in the water with the crocs. As he moved from stone to stone, holding his arms out for balance, he glanced nervously down at the crocodiles. They

hadn't moved… yet. Meanwhile, the three plantation managers were catching up. They came scrambling along the river bank, ducking under tree branches and yelling angrily. "There they are! Get them!" Kiki made a final leap to the other side. She held out her arm and Ollie caught hold of it as he jumped after her. He landed safely, breathing hard. What a relief to have the firm ground under his feet again!

"They're getting away, you idiots!" yelled the plantation manager. "Don't stand with your mouths open like you were catching flies, go after them!" "Time to give those crocs a wake-up call," Ollie said. "Quick, look for something we can throw in the water." Kiki looked around and sniffed the air. "I smell durian!" she said. "I'd know that stinky fruit anywhere now. Look, there's the tree!" They ran over to the durian tree, which was growing near to the river. Ollie and Kiki

quickly pulled down as many of the spiky, smelly fruits as they could. They tore off the skin and lobbed the stinky flesh at the three adults as they came running up to the water. "Ha! Missed me!" shouted the clipboard man as a glob of durian flesh flew past him. Ollie whispered to Kiki, "They haven't noticed the crocs!" "The plan is working," Kiki grinned. The clipboard man strode on to the first stone, looking confident. Some durian fruit sploshed down beside him.

In the river shallows, the crocodiles began to stir. Yellow, slit-pupilled eyes blinked open. Long tails lashed the water. The man yelped in alarm and jumped back on to the river bank. A croc lunged up at him and snapped its gigantic jaws in the air where he'd been a second before. The sound was like great shears slamming shut. "That's quite a bite!" Kiki said. "The most powerful bite of any animal," Ollie said proudly. "I told you to go after those kids," the boss shouted to the cowering man. "What's wrong with you?" The man pushed past him and ran, yelling over his shoulder as he went. "I'm not going back there. Not for any amount of money!" "Me either!" said the woman with the tablet, and ran after him.

The boss turned back to the river with a curse. And then he noticed the crocodiles… who had also noticed him. Slowly, the grinning crocs waded up the muddy river bank. The plantation boss turned on his heel and ran. Ollie and Kiki watched him flee back into the rainforest and vanish from sight. "Good one, Ollie," Kiki said. "The plan worked perfectly!" She looked down at her sticky, smelly hands. "With just one problem…"