This chapter is the introduction to the wildest ride any ten year old will face -- yes, Lizzie Jane turns ten years old in this chapter.

The wild ride is yet to come, but events in this chapter will shed light on events in the next chapter. Without this knowledge, a lot of people will not understand the exploits of our Lizzie Jane

After performing their housekeeping (or cave keeping) duties each day, Shirley and Christie would sit on the ledge looking for the possible landing of a ship, hoping for some kind of rescue, although they wondered what good that would do since any ship coming ashore would have been caught in the Bermuda Triangle, also.

Sitting on the ledge, they could not only see the shore, but occasionally see Lizzie Jane and her friend, George, like two good friends playing together in the jungle below.

One day Christie spoke up, “Do gorillas walk mostly upright kinda like people? I have only seen pictures and they always seem bent over.”

“Well, if you are thinking about Momma Gorilla and George, remember that they are unusual, like the creatures we saw on the other side of the mountain,” replied Shirley. “I read in a book that gorillas only tend to their own nests, but Momma Gorilla prepared a nice place for us to sleep, too. I don’t think that was a natural thing.”

“Yes, they are very unusual,” said Christie. “Speaking of the other side of the mountain, I never looked back to see, but I believe a dinosaur caught the two men who had kidnapped us.”

“That has been my thoughts, too, but they deserved it — kidnapping three innocent girls to be sold into slavery. I have heard preachers say that a person reaps what they sow,” replied Shirley.

Meanwhile, Lizzie Jane was not only playing with her little gorilla friend, but she was learning quite a bit about jungle life. For one thing, she got better at swinging through the trees and finally graduated from the lower limbs to higher limbs. Vines were not hanging as close as they seem to be in the Tarzan stories, but Lizzie Jane learned to swing from one limb to another, using her arms like a trapeze artist would do in a circus. Of course, she had started that maneuver on trees close to each other and close to the ground. She fell often until she learned the technique and strengthen her arms.

She also learned the quickest way to climb a tree to get out of harm’s way. If something climbed a tree after her, she would just swing to another tree near by. She was fast become a jungle girl and was very proud of herself. She thought such skill would come in handy some day.

She also thought about self-protection. She was safe in these jungles since all the animals knew that she was connected to Momma Gorilla in some way by always being seen with George. “Momma” had showed them who was boss. In fact, Lizzie Jane was beginning to think of all the animals as friends.

But, she had the thought that she might have to go elsewhere in the jungle and she needed to have some kind of weapon for protection. She found some stalks of cane in a swampy area and was able to fashion a certain kind of rock into a spearhead, much the same way that Native Americans made their arrowheads. She was able to secure the spearhead to the cane by cutting a slit in the end of the stalk and securing it with some kind of tough strands of grass. It wasn’t perfect, but she practiced punching it in wads of moss that simulated an animal’s body (according to her way of thinking). She never dreamed of using it on a human and only in case of life or death on anything else.

Another strange experience brought Lizzie Jane and George closer to communication. Attempting to teach George a few words of the human language, she pointed to a tree and said “Tree.” Expecting him to only understand what she was saying, after a few tries, George said “Tee”. Lizzie Jane was amazed! He could talk, if trained.

He smiled, pointed to the tree and made a sound that sounded like a one-syllable sound that a monkey might make. It took a moment, but Lizzie Jane realized that he was teaching her the word, “tree” in gorilla language. By practicing simple words to each other, slowly they began to communicate in both human and gorilla language.

After a few weeks of practice, Lizzie Jane thought, “Wow, this going to blow Shirley and Christie’s mind.”

Slowly, time began to pass. Lizzie Jane started to love the jungle and all the animals, keeping in mind that the animals were wild and, if given a chance, they could turn on her. So, Lizzie Jane continued to keep her guard up.

The weeks grew into months and by a rough count, the girls determined that a year had passed by the length of the days and a “rainy season.” As much as Lizzie Jane loved the jungle, she was homesick, wanting to see Uncle Jed and Aunt Maudie. All she could do to help Aunt Maudie now was to pray and trust God that she had gotten better. All Lizzie Jane’s efforts to find Aunt Maudie to help her had failed.

It wasn’t surprising that Lizzie Jane’s deceased mother appeared to her in a dream. It had been much too long since the last time that had happened, but the news was great.

“Lizzie Jane,” said her mother, “Aunt Maudie is better and going back to Uncle Jed. What I want you to know that time is not passing there like it is passing here, so they will be looking for you to come home soon.”

The dream was so strange. Here, Lizzie Jane had aged another year. In fact, the girls had estimated her birthday and had a celebration. Now she was ten years old. What did her mom mean when she mentioned time was not passing the same in both worlds? If she could go back now, would she be nine years old — or ten?

The girls had some more clothing. Lizzie Jane, accompanied by George, had visited the yacht one more time and she gathered the last of the clothes she could find. Each girl had at least one dress and two pairs of shorts. Lizzie Jane was fortunate to have found some pants to fit her, as well as a couple of shorts and a skirt and blouse. All the girls would have sufficient underclothes, too.

She also found a hunting knife along with some kitchen utensils and some cups and more plates. A couple of frying pans with one cover would allow something to be cooked, if they had anything, and there were birds and fish in plentiful supply on the island.

To her joy, there was also an archery set, complete with a bow and a good supply of arrows. Lizzie Jane hid that, along with her homemade spear and hunting knife, in her secret hiding place and made a conscious reminder to herself to practice often. She intended to become an expert at self-protection if it ever became necessary.

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One night, before bedding down, Shirley walked on the ledge for a last look at the beach before retiring. To her surprise, she saw activity on the beach. A huge bonfire was blazing and was lighting up much of the nighttime sky. She quickly reported the incident to Christie and Lizzie Jane.

“Well, looks like we have some people who must have washed ashore, “ Christie said when seeing the spectacle,” What should we do?”

“I think we should wait until daylight and maybe see what is down there. It may not be what it seems and we don’t need to go running down there in the darkness of night. If nothing else, it could get us shot with a gun happy person,” replied Shirley.

Needless to say, it was a restless night for the girls because of the expectation of seeing friendly faces. They were extremely excited.

By the light of the mid-morning sun, the girls met together on the ledge in an attempt to view the situation on the beach again. As near as could be determined, there were about four persons, but the sex of each individual could not be recognized from that distance.

Shirley was the first to speak. “Waddda y’all think? Ready to go down and welcome our visitors?”

“Ready and willing,” agreed Christie.

“Okay, let’s go --- No, wait a minute!” exclaimed Shirley as she suddenly saw some disturbing events. ”Look at those men coming out of the jungle! They are twice as big as the others.”

“They must be the savages that were written about in the diary we found on the yacht!” Christie exclaimed.

The girls viewed quite a battle from their vantage point -- and the newcomers lost. When it appeared that the last person was dead, the savages carried them off into the jungle.

“Why would they be carrying them into the jungle after they killed them?” asked Lizzie Jane.

“I don’t know,” replied Shirley, “unless — unless they are cannibals.”

That statement caused a chill to run up and down the girls’ spine.

“They probably killed them because they were fighting back. I guess they would have taken them prisoner, otherwise,” replied Christie.

“Dead or alive, I guess the end result would be the same, except a live person could be saved for later,” Shirley sadly answered. “That is — if they are cannibals. They may save the live persons for slaves.”

“What we guessed last time was probably correct. The savages look for bonfires. They know that someone had landed,” said Christie.

Lizzie Jane spoke up, “And we did not have a fire in the open for that reason. That is why we were not attacked.”

“Yes,” said Christie, “They did not know we were there. The only fire we had was in the little cave.”

“That causes me to think that they probably live on the other side of the mountain. Remember the glow that lit up the sky last night? That may have been visible on the other side,” suggested Shirley. “Also it could be the reason why we have not seen them on this side. Although they are twice as large as the average person, they may come through the narrow valley as we did. I think these mountains are hard to climb.”

Lizzie Jane was visibly shaken over something she just realized: “Giants!” she exclaimed.

“Anyway, regardless of where they live, we need to be very careful — especially you, Lizzie Jane — playing with George in the jungle”, advised Shirley.

Lizzie Jane thought to herself, “It is a good thing that I have learned how to escape attacks in the jungle.” The other two girls did not know what Lizzie Jane had learned and she wasn’t one to brag on herself.

George started pulling at Lizzie Jane. He thought that she ought to go into the jungle every day and Lizzie Jane did not mind. Usually, she enjoyed it because she was learning something new each time she went. There were a few days she did not feel like going and, of course, the rainy days kept her inside, too. George would pout a little, but find something else to amuse himself with, so everything turned out okay.

This day, however, the girls were extra cautious, going out whenever they though necessary. The water gourds were empty, so Christie started toward the spring for water about a quarter mile away. It had been considered safe because the wild animals must have considered that part of the jungle to be off limits, due to be so close to Momma Gorilla. There were multiple springs throughout the jungle, so the animals used them for their watering hole.

Shirley thought it best that Lizzie Jane stay at “home” due to the circumstances. George finally gave up on Lizzie Jane joining him in the jungle today, so he decided to see what he could get into by himself.

An hour and a half passed and Shirley began to worry about Christie. She had not come back and she had plenty of time. Just as Shirley started to go and see about Christie, George came back, chattering away about something. Lizzie Jane got him to slow down and listened closely. She made out part of what he was saying because of her accumulated knowledge of “monkey talk” (the language George taught her) and the gestures he was using.

“Girl…got…big…men” is what she understood. Lizzie Jane turned as white as a sheet. Shirley looked puzzled. “Did you understand what he said?” she asked.

“Yes, it seemed like some big men captured Christie”, she finally blurted out in tears.

Shirley and Lizzie Jane ran down the trail and found the water gourds. It appeared there had been a struggle and, upon close investigation, some barefoot tracks of big feet. They clearly did not belong to Christie. Since she did not have a weapon to fight with, there seemed to be a good chance that she was captured alive.

“The savages!” exclaimed Lizzie Jane. “I have got to get her back” At that, she began to run down the trail.

Shirley called out, “What are you going to do? They are giants and you are only ten years old.”

“I don’t know, but we will be coming back together”, hollered Lizzie Jane, as she picked up speed.

“Lizzie Jane! Come back! You are crazy”, screamed Shirley, but they fell on deaf ears as Lizzie Jane went out of hearing distance.

Shirley sat down beside the trail and, holding her head with her hands, she sobbed. Had Lizzie Jane been in the jungle so long she has lost her senses? Who does she think she is?” At that statement, she looked at George — who looked worried, too.

All of a sudden she realized -- Lizzie Jane is different! She had understood what George said. Lizzie Jane had understood gorilla talk! But how??

--- To be continued

Copyright 2007 by Starla Anne Lowry
Under the pen name of Billie Sue