Return to the Jungle

by Bear Grylls

  Diya clenched her fists in frustration. She knew he was right, but that didn’t change the fact that what they were about to attempt was simply insane.

  Mak gave another gentle bounce on the bridge, this time with a little more confidence. ‘We should go over one at a time.’

  Diya gestured with an open palm. ‘You first.’ She paused. ‘And what about Hathi?’

  Mak’s smile froze in place, but he found himself nodding. ‘She can do it. Her balance is better than both of ours together.’

  Only when he turned away did the smile melt from his face. He shuffled on to the next plank. It whined, but held. The third looked darker, perhaps completely rotten, but it was easy to step over it.

  He gained confidence with each step. The bridge may be old, but it was well built. He hopped over a missing plank and, before he knew it, he was halfway across. He turned and waved at Diya.

  ‘See? No problem!’

  He didn’t want to let her see that his hand was shaking. He hurriedly continued on, the bridge swaying as he gained speed . . .

  After a couple of minutes, he’d made it across without incident and waved both arms over his head.

  ‘It’s going to be OK!’ he shouted back to Diya.

  She took a step, but then hesitated as she peered into the gorge. She shook her head and retreated.

  ‘I can’t do it!’ she shouted.

  Mak wanted to yell words of encouragement, but knew it wouldn’t help. From the way Diya was limping, he also realized she couldn’t do it alone.

  He looked at them both stood there . . . waiting. And in that moment Mak knew that if she couldn’t do it alone, it was doubtful whether Hathi could either.

  Fixing his resolve, Mak headed back across the bridge.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Diya asked in surprise as Mak reached her.

  ‘Allow me.’ He crooked his elbow and she slipped her arm through for support.

  ‘Thank you, Mak,’ said Diya nervously. She peeked down. ‘Are you sure it’s going to take the weight of us both?’

  ‘It’s going to have to, isn’t it?’ said Mak. ‘Because next up is an elephant!’

  He guided her forward. The first few metres were slow, but fine, Diya crushing his arm in terror, her other hand holding the handrail tightly . . .

  Even with an injured foot, Diya made swift progress.

  There’s nothing like the threat of falling to your death to hurry people along, Mak thought.

  They were halfway across the bridge when they heard Hathi mew nervously behind them. The little elephant had been surprisingly quiet since reaching the bridge, but, left alone, Hathi was clearly becoming anxious.

  Mak stopped in the centre of the bridge and ignored Diya’s little whimpers of distress as the bridge quivered. He slowly turned to Hathi.

  ‘Don’t worry, Hathi. I’ll be right back.’

  Mak was about to give the elephant a few more words of comfort when he saw something that made his heart sink.

  Buldeo.

  He was standing at the end of the narrow canyon, no more than five hundred metres behind Hathi. Mak could see they had a sturdy rope with them that they’d obviously used to climb over the landslide.

  The rocks had failed to stall the thugs – and now they were closing in on the children and Hathi . . .

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  ‘RUN!’ Mak yelled, shoving Diya along the bridge so hard that the whole structure swayed violently.

  Diya didn’t need telling twice. Even without Mak to support her, she shuffled along the bridge as fast as she could to the far side, both hands gripping the rail to support the weight of her twisted ankle.

  Every worry about the lethal drop below vanished from Mak’s mind as he sprinted back across the bridge towards Hathi. His only concern now was getting the elephant across before the men caught up with them.

  He hopped from plank to plank with the surefootedness he’d once felt when running high in the treetops. He reached Hathi, who was now anxiously swaying to and fro. They couldn’t see Buldeo from here, but Mak was certain the elephant had picked up the thugs’ scent.

  Mak pushed Hathi so he was facing the bridge.

  ‘You have to cross with me.’ Mak waved his arm, but there was no telling if the elephant understood. He pulled on Hathi’s trunk, leading the way, but the elephant snorted in fear and took several paces backwards.

  ‘No!’ said Mak. ‘We have to do this – and now!’

  He ran round behind Hathi and placed his shoulder against the elephant’s backside – then he shoved. But was only rewarded with a swat across his nose from Hathi’s tail, and a frightened grumble.

  ‘Please, Hathi! You have to cross!’

  Mak liked to think the elephant could understand him, that they had become friends, but then he had to remind himself that this was a wild animal who didn’t understand language or the idea of friendship. He only understood actions. And, right now, the elephant could only see the drop ahead.

  Mak had to think differently if he was going to win the elephant’s confidence.

  He moved back round and looked Hathi in the eye. He could see the intelligence behind his long lashes – but also the fear. Mak rubbed Hathi’s forehead soothingly while keeping one eye over the elephant’s shoulder, knowing that Buldeo was about to appear at any moment.

  ‘You need to trust me. Follow me like you’d follow your family. I’ll be with you every step.’

  Only now was it dawning on him that while the bridge may support the weight of an elephant, it might not support them both.

  Too late to worry about that now, he thought to himself. He quickly took his shirt off.

  ‘Makur? What are you doing?’ came Diya’s panicked voice from across the canyon.

  There was no time to answer. He stretched his shirt over Hathi’s head to cover his eyes, while still making soothing kissing noises and gently rubbing his trunk.

  Like many animals, the moment the elephant couldn’t see the danger, he relaxed. Mak gently tugged Hathi’s trunk and was relieved when the elephant took a step forward.

  ‘That’s it! Good boy. Come on . . .’

  Mak stepped on to the bridge, and the elephant followed to a cacophony of straining wood and tensing cables. The entire bridge shuddered as it took the strain. Hathi stopped as soon as he sensed the new environment.

  ‘It’s OK. It’s OK . . .’ Mak kept repeating the words over and over.

  It worked. The elephant followed him further along the bridge. If Mak saw he was going to step on rotting wood, he’d suddenly pull Hathi forward, forcing the elephant to extend his stride to avoid the plank.

  They were more than halfway across when Lalu charged round the bend and stopped dead in his tracks. His jaw hung open in astonishment when he saw the elephant crossing the narrow bridge. His breath was knocked from him when Buldeo crashed into him from behind.

  ‘You little thief!’ Buldeo yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Mak.

  The sound of Buldeo’s hateful voice spurred Hathi on. The elephant began to trot – and the bridge began to bounce, not with gentle motions, but with sudden harsh movements that made the cables twang ominously.

  Hathi’s back foot hit a rotting plank and it gave way, startling him. In a panic, Hathi tried to turn round.

  ‘No!’ Mak yanked his trunk sharply. It may have hurt, but it did the trick, stopping Hathi from walking off the edge. ‘This way. Come on!’ He urged the elephant onwards.

  Buldeo, Lalu and Girish reached the bridge, but didn’t dare set foot on it. They began to argue about who should cross in pursuit.

  Mak pressed on, trying to ignore the grating noise coming from the bolts pinning the bridge into the rock next to Diya.

  Diya spotted that one was working itself loose. She stamped on it, hoping her weight would be enough to secure it, and watched in horror as Girish also stepped on to the bridge.

  ‘Hurry, Little Wolf!’

  Mak didn’t have to look back to know
somebody else was on the bridge. The entire structure quivered alarmingly – it clearly couldn’t take the extra weight. He pulled Hathi’s trunk firmly.

  ‘Run!’

  Hathi responded immediately. Mak only had a few strides left before he was back on solid ground. The elephant’s sudden movement had caused the planks under his feet to split – but they just about held as the pair gave one last push to reach the other side.

  Just as they made it on to the rock, the bolt shot out from under Diya’s foot with so much force that she was thrown backwards. With a terrible metallic thwack, the steel cables whipped through the air, accompanied by the crunch of splitting wood as the entire bridge was swept from under Hathi’s stumbling feet. The pair had just made it on to the rock in time.

  The force of the collapse ripped the one remaining hand line clean in two, and the whole structure swung wildly towards the far side where it was still anchored.

  Mak couldn’t tear his gaze from the bridge.

  Buldeo reached out for Girish, who was clinging to the side of the bridge as it slammed into the vertical wall on the other side of the gorge.

  Mak and Diya didn’t hang around to see if he could hold on. They saw Lalu slip his rifle off his shoulder. Mak took his shirt from Hathi’s eyes and urged the elephant to run down the curving trail and out of the men’s sight just as a gunshot rang out.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  The hill sloped gently downwards. It was populated with fewer trees, forced apart by massive slabs of smooth rocks that made their progress much easier. Mak, Diya and Hathi moved with a sense of renewed urgency, keen to put as much distance between them and Buldeo as possible.

  They were now heading towards the sun, which was once again near the horizon, heating the rocks in its last rays.

  ‘We’re not going to make it tonight, are we?’ Diya finally asked from her perch on Hathi’s back.

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Mak began, then corrected himself in a lower voice. ‘No. I misjudged it. Tomorrow, yes, but the herd may have reached the farmers already by then. The canyon and bridge lost us a lot of time. But I . . . I totally underestimated this journey. That was a mistake.’ He paused. ‘I mean, if I had known how—’ Just then he heard Diya laugh out loud.

  ‘A mistake? Little Wolf. You’ve led us this far. Through a jungle that professional miners and loggers only managed to survive in with all of their equipment and back-up. And they weren’t being chased or shot at!’ She paused. ‘You’ve been amazing.’

  Praise was an unfamiliar experience for Mak. Even when he’d done something good, or earned good grades in school, all he ever got at home was the occasional pat from his mother or a causal ‘you can do better’ from his father. And as for his sister . . .

  Diya continued. ‘There is one mistake you have made, though.’

  Mak’s brief feel-good bubble was abruptly punctured. He caught Diya looking at him from the corner of her eye.

  ‘You were still working on the assumption that the elephants would continue on their original course. But you didn’t change it when your sister told us they were navigating around the hills. And even I can remember from the map—’

  ‘It’s a longer path!’ they both said in unison.

  Relief flooded through Mak as he watched the smile spread across Diya’s face. He made a few quick mental calculations. ‘The elephants would be travelling around the base of the hills, not over the top. That buys us an extra half day or more!’

  Diya nodded. ‘Which means we can still reach them before the farmers!’

  Mak smiled quietly to himself and then squeezed Diya’s shoulder. It was exactly the news he needed to rejuvenate his spirits.

  ‘You’re right, Diya. We can still do this. Come on, let’s keep moving.’

  He studied the jungle before them. Up ahead, the long sloping flat rocks disappeared into gnarly jungle where the huge trees began again and seemed thicker than ever. Once through that, he could see the path became flatter as it stretched on to Spiny Ridge.

  ‘I say we get to the bottom of this and set up camp near the trees.’

  Diya instinctively glanced behind them. ‘And Buldeo?’

  Mak shrugged. ‘You saw that gorge. They will eventually find another point to cross. But I don’t think they’re going to be a problem tonight.’ Or at least I hope not, he added silently as they pushed on.

  Hathi suddenly gave a little mew and stopped. They stared at the ground ahead and froze.

  Across their path, an enormous snake lay basking in the sun. It was at least twice as long as Mak. Then they suddenly became aware that there were several others scattered around, motionless on the warm rocks. A quick look behind revealed they’d walked past even more without noticing. But none were as big as the monster in front of them.

  Diya patted Hathi’s head reassuringly. ‘Easy, Hathi.’ She turned to Mak. ‘It’s a rock python. Even though they are not poisonous, they are incredibly powerful. They constrict their victims, crushing them to death.’

  ‘Nice,’ mumbled Mak.

  While the python wasn’t big enough to harm Hathi, Mak didn’t fancy getting crushed to death, so they elected to walk around the big beast, respectfully leaving it to bask in the last rays. The other smaller snakes slowly started to slither off as they sensed the approaching vibrations of the trio.

  Mak intentionally started to make more noise to scare off any other snakes that were in their path.

  They soon reached the treeline, and Mak selected a spot next to a shorter tree filled with dark yellow star-shaped fruit that he had never seen before. He gathered as many as he could. Hathi immediately started munching and Mak quickly pushed a few aside for himself and Diya.

  ‘I love carambolas,’ Diya told him. ‘They’re just the best.’

  Mak spent several moments crunching into the carambolas and enjoying the sweet, sticky liquid rolling down his chin.

  Hathi’s trunk draped over his shoulder, searching for his portion. Mak shoved it aside. ‘Stop it,’ he chuckled. Hathi clearly wasn’t listening, and the trunk crept in as Mak bit into another fruit. Again, Mak batted it away. ‘I swear you’re more pig than elephant.’

  Diya giggled and threw the remains of her carambola to Hathi.

  ‘You’re teaching him bad habits,’ Mak warned as the trunk came over his shoulder again. He casually swept it aside with the loudest ‘tut’ he could manage.

  Then he saw the horrified look on Diya’s face. His head snapped round to see what he had really knocked off his shoulder. It was a long green snake with a triangular head that was now hissing at him from the ground. The shape of the head immediately warned him it was more than likely poisonous. But luckily it quickly slithered into the undergrowth.

  ‘Wow!’ they said in unison, and then burst out laughing.

  As night began to fall, Mak suggested they sleep in the tree. There was little cover on the rocky hill, too much in the dense jungle, and he was mindful that there were many, many snakes about, attracted to the warm rocks. The trees would offer some protection, although he chose to ignore Diya’s warning that snakes could easily climb trees.

  He helped Diya climb up, and Hathi settled down at the base of the tree.

  Night fell, and from their vantage point they could see the open sky light up in a spectacular spread of stars. The moon had waned into the shape of a toenail clipping. Dozens of shooting stars burst overhead, and the jungle played its nightly harmony of frogs and insects.

  Mak felt it was like heaven. Despite the utter terror they’d experienced during the day, he couldn’t think of anywhere else he’d rather be at this moment.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Mak’s eyes shot open. What had woken him this time?

  His vivid dreams were still fresh in his mind – dreams that Buldeo was creeping up on them. Mak strained to listen. Diya was fast asleep in the crook of a branch next to him, lying in same awkward position in which she’d fallen asleep.

  Then he heard the noi
se he supposed had woken him. It was Hathi murmuring somewhere on the ground below them.

  ‘Go to sleep, Hathi,’ Mak said. ‘You’ll need all your energy for tomorrow.’ The elephant wasn’t listening, and now made low, hoarse yelping sounds, as if coughing. ‘You’d better not be hungry,’ Mak warned him as he rolled over and peered down.

  It was almost too dark to make anything out. But he could just see Hathi directly under him. Then he thought he saw something he couldn’t have ever imagined. There, wrapped round the terrified elephant, was the biggest rock python Mak had ever seen.

  He tried to scream at Diya, but no words came out. Just a dry scratching in his throat as he gulped for air, staring down at the snake.

  If he’d thought the python basking in the sun was large, it was a baby compared to this giant. It looked almost as long as a bus and not far off a metre wide.

  Hathi had tried to struggle, but the silent monster’s coils had increased their grip round the elephant’s chest and neck. Hathi was pushed on to his side, his sounds of distress choked from him.

  ‘Hathi!’ Mak yelled so loud that Diya bolted wide awake just in time to see Mak stand up, ready to jump.

  Finally Mak had found his voice: ‘Hathi’s in trouble! Big trouble, Diya!’

  And, with that, Mak dived from the tree. He was acting on instinct, not logic, hoping, praying, that the bulk of the snake would break his fall.

  Mak landed hard on the reptile, causing its great head to snap round to face him. A tongue the size of Mak’s forearm shot out as the beast sensed the new threat.

  He felt the powerful muscles ripple and swell beneath the smooth skin. Reaching into his pocket, Mak quickly pulled out his penknife. He glanced down as he fumbled to open the blade in the dark – and when he looked up, the snake was facing him with jaws opened.

  Mak froze as he peered inside the snake’s mouth. It was the size of a sewage pipe, and smelt just as bad. Its grip on Hathi loosened just a little – and its body slithered under Mak as the head coiled back, preparing to attack him.

  Mak leaped off the snake, hit the ground and rolled to his feet in one smooth motion. But he found himself standing with his back in the folds of a huge tree root with nowhere to move. The snake lunged for Mak, and the world seemed to move in slow motion. Mak watched as the snake’s jaws dislodged and hyper-extended to a size that could easily swallow a football.