Forest Fire (9 page)

Holding his good arm, Zoe forced Mat to his feet. “You're coming with us!”

With her help, Mat painfully staggered a few paces, then swayed and leant heavily on her shoulder. Ben came and supported Mat's other side.

Kawan gave a low, anxious cry and set off. Then he stopped and turned, and chattered at them urgently.

“He's heading for the plantation and he wants us to follow,” exclaimed Ben, surreptitiously checking the map on his BUG. “He's staying on the ground. He must know we can't climb into the trees.”

They moved as fast as they could, half carrying the injured Mat between them. Roots and vines threatened to trip them with every step. Above their heads, they could see wind was disturbing the tops of the trees. It was blowing towards them as they ran.

“At least the wind's not blowing the fire our way,” said Zoe through gritted teeth.

But as they went, the smell of burning suddenly grew stronger and they tasted acrid smoke on their tongues. Ben and Zoe found themselves taking shallow breaths to keep from choking. They could hear Mat's ragged gasps as he forced himself along. The trees above were filled with alarmed cries and scrabbling noises as animals fled their homes. Kawan urged them on with loud calls.

“Spoke too soon,” gasped Zoe. “The wind's changed direction.”

She suddenly pitched forwards as her foot caught in a thick, twisted buttress root. She landed in the middle of a brightly coloured plant. The fleshy leaves parted, showering her with water and insects.

“Can you feel how hot it is getting?” She gasped as she scrambled to her feet. She turned to look behind her and raised a wobbly finger, pointing at the orange light flickering in the distance. “See the glow!” she said in a horrified whisper. “The fire's coming!”

They plunged on in their desperate flight. Crack! A terrible sound filled the smoky air, followed by another.

“Trees exploding!” yelled Ben. “We've got to move faster.”

The black smoke was making it almost impossible to catch their breath. As the temperature soared, the sweat poured into their eyes, blinding them. Ben wiped his hand across his face. Behind them the flames were licking at the sky.

Kawan stopped as they came to the edge of the plantation. Ahead of them were the regularly spaced oil palms. He turned and chattered anxiously, urging them on.

But Mat pulled back.

“Can't go that way,” he panted weakly. “Oil palms burn really fast!”

“No choice,” croaked Ben, pulling him along a corridor of trees. “No way back.”

Now their ears were filled with spluttering, sizzling sounds as trees and shrubs were engulfed in a relentless wave of flame.

Like vicious wasps, red-hot embers showered down on them. The children flailed at the burning patches, scorching their hands. Kawan was giving frightened little cries as the sparks fell on to his fur.

Zoe's mouth felt full of ash and the heat was hurting her lungs. She glanced at Ben's soot-streaked face. He was in no better shape. And Mat was hardly dragging one foot in front of the other now.

But she knew they couldn't stop. The fire had reached the oil palms. If they'd thought it had been moving fast before, it was nothing to how it gobbled up these trees.

As they pushed their way through the undergrowth, Mat collapsed to the ground. The children knelt down and tried to pull him to his feet, but he felt like a dead weight in their arms. Kawan came to his side, keening softly.

“Got to keep going,” cried Zoe, her voice choking. “We'll be burnt alive!”

“You go on,” Mat croaked.

Then, all of a sudden, the sound of the roaring flames changed. Ben dashed away another spark and found his hand was wet. Not wet with damp, sooty sweat, but clean water. He looked up. All he could see was a swirl of thick, dark smoke. But he felt drops of water pounding on his face.

He grabbed Zoe's arm, giving her a shake. “Got a chance!” he managed to get the words out through his parched lips. “It's raining!”

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN

The next morning was bright and sunny. The smell of yesterday's fire still hung heavy in the air. Bird and monkey cries could be heard in the canopy. Ben and Zoe stood on the walkway, in the middle of Kawan's territory, looking out towards the river.

“Listen to that racket,” grinned Ben. “It's as if nothing happened.”

“It's amazing that this part of the reservation was spared from the flames,” said Zoe. “If that rainstorm hadn't come when it did...” She looked down at her bandaged hands. The burns were painful, but it could have been a lot worse. Her BUG beeped and she read the incoming text.

“Erika says she'll be coming for us this afternoon,” she told Ben.

“It's a shame we can't stay to help Mat,” he said. “He has such a lot of extra work to do now. He's lost about a quarter of his trees.”

“Did I hear my name?” came a voice.

They turned to see Mat slowly making his way along the rope walkway, Yasmin – and Biza – hovering anxiously behind.

“He must have finished with the police at last,” whispered Zoe.

The police had questioned the children first. Ben and Zoe had pretended to be frightened tourists, but they were able to give a lot of details about Mr Ostrander.

“I've brought the rusks!” Mat said cheerfully.

He steadied himself on the rope handrail. Like Ben and Zoe, he had burns on his hands. “I've had trouble keeping them from this cheeky little ape here!” He pulled the bag out of his pocket and gave one to the baby orang-utan.

“Any sign of our friend?” asked Yasmin.

Ben and Zoe shook their heads.

“Kawan's a hero now,” said Mat. “We've had telephone calls from all over the world, television and radio, all wanting to hear about the amazing rescue and how he led us away from the fire.”

“And the best part is,” added Yasmin, “it has given us a lot of publicity. We've had people getting in contact wanting to know how they can help support the reservation.

A computer firm in Japan want to sponsor my next balloon and we've even had a student from America asking if he can spend his gap year here!”

“But you've lost a lot of trees,” said Zoe.

“It's true,” said Mat. “But within a week, there will be shoots springing up. Dormant seeds that have been waiting for the chance, lying quietly under the cover of the other trees. It will take time, but it will all grow again. We're going ahead with all our guest bookings.”

“And do you think most of the animals are safe?” asked Ben.

Mat nodded. “They're much better than us at sensing danger.”

“And the police have put out a warrant for Pieter's arrest,” Yasmin told them. “Though how they got to know about him so quickly is a mystery.”

Ben and Zoe caught each other's eye.

Somehow Uncle Stephen always got his messages through to the right people.

“And Talib's confessed everything,” said Mat soberly.

He looked searchingly at Ben and Zoe. “When I was hurt,” he said, “I thought you had some special machine and were calling Kawan with it.”

Ben and Zoe glanced at each other. What could they say? Then Zoe grinned. “You must have been delirious,” she said kindly. “You'd been knocked out in that balloon, after all.”

“Of course,” said Mat, to their relief. “How ridiculous!”

The branches in a nearby tree swished and Kawan appeared.

“Here he is!” said Zoe. She tried to make the chirruping noise, but it sounded more like a squawk.

“Let me try!” Ben rolled his tongue and made a very good imitation of Mat's calling sound.

“Impressive!” said Mat. “You only heard it once or twice.”

Kawan jumped down on to the walkway in front of them. He regarded them solemnly. Mat handed the paper bag to Zoe.

“If you would oblige,” he said.

Zoe removed a rusk and held it out. With a low, soothing moan, Kawan reached out a long arm and took it in his fingers. He sniffed it for a moment, and then began to nibble at the edges.

“He's being very polite!” laughed Ben.

Kawan stared at him as he ate. Then he froze, his eyes glued to something over Ben's shoulder. He pulled back his lips and gave a warning screech that made Ben and Zoe jump. A loud chattering began behind them. They turned to see Biza clambering on to Yasmin's shoulder, catching at her hair. He looked terrified.

Ben grinned. “I think Kawan's telling Biza that this is his territory, and he wants him out of it!”

“I think he's saying something to us all,” said Zoe.

“What's that?” asked Mat.

“It's obvious.” Zoe smiled. “He's saying, ‘I'm home'.”

WILD RESCUE

ORANG-UTAN FACTS

ORANG-UTAN SURVIVAL

Orang-utans are only found in the wild on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. In the last ten years it is thought that their numbers have declined by up to 50 per cent.

No. of orang-utans living wild today
fewer than 60,000
No. of orang-utans on Sumatra
about 6,000
No. of orang-utans in the wild in 1900
about 315,000