<h2><SPAN name="Chapter_Four" id="Chapter_Four"></SPAN><i>Chapter Four</i></h2>
<h2>MY FATHER FINDS THE RIVER</h2>
<p>The jungle began just beyond a narrow strip of beach; thick, dark,
damp, scary jungle. My father hardly knew where to go, so he crawled
under a wahoo bush to think, and ate eight tangerines. The first thing
to do, he decided, was to find the river, because the dragon was tied
somewhere along its bank. Then he thought, "If the river flows into
the ocean, I ought to be able to find it quite easily if I just walk
along the beach far enough." So my father walked until the sun rose
and he was quite far from the Ocean Rocks. It was dangerous to stay
near them because they might be guarded in the daytime. He found a
clump of tall grass and sat down. Then he took off his rubber boots
and ate<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</SPAN></span> three more tangerines. He could have eaten twelve but he
hadn't seen any tangerines on this island and he could not risk
running out of something to eat.</p>
<p>My father slept all that day and only woke up late in the afternoon
when he heard a funny little voice saying, "Queer, queer, what a dear
little dock! I mean, dear, dear, what a queer little rock!" My father
saw a tiny paw rubbing itself on his knapsack. He lay very still and
the mouse, for it <i>was</i> a mouse, hurried away muttering to itself, "I
must smell tumduddy. I mean, I must tell somebody."</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_016.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="326" alt="" /></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>My father waited a few minutes and then started down the beach because
it was almost dark now, and he was afraid the mouse really would tell
somebody. He walked all night and two scary things happened. First, he
just had to sneeze, so he did, and somebody close by said, "Is that
you, Monkey?" My father said, "Yes." Then the voice said, "You must
have something on your back, Monkey," and my father said "Yes,"
because he did. He had his knapsack on his back. "What do you have on
your back, Monkey?" asked the voice.</p>
<p>My father didn't know what to say because what would a monkey have on
its back, and how would it sound telling someone about it if it did
have something? Just then another voice said, "I bet you're taking
your sick grandmother to the doctor's." My father said "Yes" and
hurried on. Quite by accident he found out later that he had been
talking to a pair of tortoises.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</SPAN></span></p>
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<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>The second thing that happened was that he nearly walked right between
two wild boars who were talking in low solemn whispers. When he
first saw the dark shapes he thought they were boulders. Just in time
he heard one of them say, "There are three signs of a recent invasion.
First, fresh tangerine peels were found under the wahoo bush near the
Ocean Rocks. Second, a mouse reported an extraordinary rock some
distance from the Ocean Rocks which upon further investigation simply
wasn't there. However, more fresh tangerine peels were found in the
same spot, which is the third sign of invasion. Since tangerines do
not grow on our island, somebody must have brought them across the
Ocean Rocks from the other island, which may, or may not, have
something to do with the appearance and/or disappearance of the
extraordinary rock reported by the mouse."</p>
<p>After a long silence the other boar said, "You know, I think we're
taking all this too seriously. Those peels probably floated over here
all by themselves, and you know how unreliable mice are. Besides, if
there had<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</SPAN></span> been an invasion, <i>I</i> would have seen it!"</p>
<p>"Perhaps you're right," said the first boar. "Shall we retire?"
Whereupon they both trundled back into the jungle.</p>
<p>Well, that taught my father a lesson, and after that he saved all his
tangerine peels. He walked all night and toward morning came to the
river. Then his troubles really began.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_018.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="250" alt="" /></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</SPAN></span></p>
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<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</SPAN></span></p>
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