A Pride of Lions by Isobel Chace Read Free Book Online

tempted to go that way on my way back to my tent. The baobab tree stood a little apart from the other trees that surrounded the camp. It was the largest tree and the strangest. They say that the Devil, or so the legend goes, turned this magnificent tree upside down, burying its branches deep in the earth and condemning its roots to be permanently exposed to the air. It certainly looked like that. At best the baobab tree has few leaves, and then only in the wet season, but it does have the prettiest flowers that hang from its stumpy, dead-looking branches. As a tree, it is so easily recognised that it is not surprising that there should be so many stories about it. The ‘upside down’ tree, as my parents were wont to call it, had been a part of my childhood. It seemed fitting now that it should be a baobab tree that guarded the path to Hugo’s house.
    I hesitated by the tree, a little embarrassed by my own thoughts. I really couldn’t imagine why I should be so interested in Hugo’s home. I reminded myself that I didn’t even like him much—but I was curious, very curious about the house that he had built here where only the animals were at home. I even went a few steps along the path, but I came to an abrupt stop when I saw in the distance a half-grown elephant coming over the brow of the hill towards me.
    I took to my heels and ran. And the elephant came trumpeting down the path after me, waving her trunk in the air ahead of her, apparently rather hurt by my attitude. I took refuge in my tent, though what good I thought the frail canvas would be if the elephant came after me, I really don’t know. I tried, with trembling fingers, to do up the zip, but it stuck fast half-way up. I was still struggling with it, in mounting desperation, when I felt the exploratory tip of the elephant’s trunk breathing gently against my skin.
    “Give her some sugar and she’ll go away!” someone said from outside the tent.
    “I haven’t got any sugar!” I gasped back.
    The voice laughed, “I’ve got an orange. She adores oranges!”
    The elephant’s trunk disappeared, to my great relief. I undid the zip a little and peered out. The elephant was busy munching up the orange she had been given, while she searched for a second one with her trunk, hopefully looking in Johnny’s pockets. The surprising thing, however, was that Johnny didn’t appear to be in the least afraid of her, despite the fact that her shoulder was rather higher than his head.
    “Is she tame?” I asked curiously.
    “More or less,” Johnny said. “Hugo brought her up when her mother was killed by poachers. She was only a year old then. She’s free to come and go as she likes now, but she comes in most nights and allows herself to be shut into the boma Hugo had built for her. She finds enough food there to keep her going through the night, without having to do any work herself. Lazy old lady, aren’t you, Karibu!”
    I thought ‘Welcome’ to be rather a good name for an elephant, but then I was feeling braver now. I unzipped the entrance to my tent completely and came outside to have a closer look at her. Immediately she saw me, Karibu began rumbling with joy, keeping her eye on my every movement. Her trunk waved over my head and nuzzled me gently towards her. I patted her on the shoulder, marvelling at her thick skin. She didn’t seem to mind what I did to her, she rumbled on, giving every sign of intense pleasure.
    “I think she likes you,” Johnny said, smiling. “But be careful of her. She’s still a wild animal.”
    I had every intention of being careful!
    “Thank you for coming to my rescue,” I said with true gratitude.
    “Think nothing of it!” Johnny answered. “Were you on your way up to the site?”
    I glanced at my watch. “I suppose so,” I agreed without much enthusiasm.
    “I’ll walk up there with you,” Johnny offered.
    We set off up a path that led up from the other side of the baobab tree, with Karibu trotting along