June, 1914.
It was a beautiful summer day, deep in the Himalayas. The young campers lay back in the little boat. Mountains surrounded the lake and the nearby pine forest. It seemed nothing could go wrong – an almost perfect day.
“James! Go get me a scissor. I need to cut this meat. It’s too hard for this useless knife,” Jones said.
“Don’t put garlic in the soup. I hate that stuff,” said James.
“No scissor, Jones!”
“Maybe I forgot to bring it.”
The meat was hard as rock. Daniel tried again to cut it with the knife but made a deep gash in his hand instead.
Blood poured out.
They spent a lot of time bandaging the hand.
“He won’t be able to move it for a couple of months!” Jones said to all of them.
The sun was setting. The sky was getting dark. The campers thought to scavenge for wild berries, nuts and herbs in the forest. Since the meat could not be eaten, they took an axe and a spear, then left to find food.
Once they got into the forest, they found an abundance of onions, garlic and berries. They picked as much as they could fit in their baskets. They left the garlic.
It was then that they heard a raucous growl come from deep in the forest. Everyone was scared out of their wits. James, especially – the sound almost made him jump out of his skin.
Just when everyone decided to leave the forest, they heard another sound – that of something prowling behind. Mickey was the first to be aware of it. While he ran like the wind, it still felt like he was running in slow motion. The others followed him.
Even though they kept running, the roaring figure behind got closer and closer.
Scattering everything out of its path, a magnificent leopard came out of the bush to the rear of the cave. Mickey glanced at it. The thing was the size of a small elephant. Everyone was petrified. Surely they were all about to die.
But just then, Daniel spotted a small cave in the distance.
“Come on guys. Let’s try to get to that cave. We might be safe there,” he yelled.
This was their last hope. Could they grasp it?
