Chapter 8

Later in the day, Lilia stopped. She pointed up.

“What are those?” she asked.

“Those are palm trees. And those are coconuts!” Franco cried.

“They sure are!” Rafael said.

“They’re high up. How do we get them down?” Antonio asked.

“Let’s shake the tree. That’s the easy way. Some should fall. We need to get the tree moving,” said Rafael. “Come on, everyone. Let’s get together. Now push!”

They pushed the tree. It hardly moved.

“Keep pushing!” Rafael said.

The tree started to move. It moved back and forth. Soon coconuts fell. The Silvas had to move. They didn’t want to get hit.

Six coconuts fell. They peeled a coconut. Underneath was a hard, brown shell.

“Try to break a few coconuts. Use this rock,” Rafael told the boys. “I’ll work on making a hole. We can get the milk from inside.”

An hour later, they were full. They ate coconut. And they drank the milk.

The Silvas moved through the jungle. It thinned out a bit. In some places, they could see far ahead.

They saw several wild pigs. The pigs ran out of the jungle. Everyone stared. The pigs jumped into the river!

Then the river began to bubble. Something was making it bubble. It was under the water! Suddenly, the wild pigs were dragged under. They disappeared. There was blood in the water. Lilia let out a scream. Now they could see hundreds of small fish. They were eating the pigs!

“Piranha!” Rafael cried. “They’ll eat anything that moves.”

The excited piranha were jumping. They jumped out of the water. In less than two minutes there was nothing left of the pigs.

The family heard loud sounds. The sounds were above them. Monkeys and birds were also heading for the river.

Rafael looked worried.

Franco was the first to notice. There were ants. He pointed to several lines of ants. They were across their path.

“What’s going on? There sure are a lot of ants here,” he said.

“Quick!” Rafael yelled. “Get to the river. Go as fast as you can.”

As the three kids followed their father, Antonio said, “Dad, why are we running from a few little ants?”

“Ants are dangerous. In the jungle they are deadly,” Rafael said. “They travel in huge armies. And eat everything in their path.”

They reached the river. The water was bubbling.

“It’s the piranha!” Franco called out. “They’re attacking everything. The water isn’t safe!”

“What are we going to do?” Lilia cried out. “We’re trapped! The piranha will get us in water. The ants will get us on land!”