Free Tiger by the Tail by Eric Walters Page A

crouched down low and motioned for us to do the same. We followed his example, although it didn’t make any sense.
    “What does he think the tiger is going to do, take a shot at us?” Nick whispered.
    In spite of myself I laughed and both Mr. McCurdy and the officer turned around. The officer shot me adirty look. He led us to a small huddle of blue uniforms hiding behind a low hedge.
    “Sir, the tiger experts have arrived,” our escort announced to one of the officers.
    He turned and looked at the officer and then at us. His eyes grew and his mouth dropped so far that if he’d been crouched any lower it would have brushed the ground.
    “The what?”
    “The tiger experts, Captain, sir,” he repeated.
    “Have you lost your senses completely? Get them out of here!”
    “It’s orders, sir, right from the chief. We’re supposed to follow his directions to the letter, sir,” the officer said nervously. This story was getting better with each officer who passed it along.
    “You must be joking,” the captain replied, shaking his head.
    “No sir.”
    “The chief has given some crazy orders but this …”
    “Would you like me to mention that to the chief the next time he’s over for a barbecue?” Mr. McCurdy said.
    “NO!” the captain said. “I mean, that won’t be necessary.”
    “Sure thing. I want you to get all your men and have them fall farther back. I need a little space to work,” Mr. McCurdy answered.
    “Do you want us to stay close enough to take a shot?” the officer asked.
    “No, nobody is to take a shot. With the guns you have all you’d do is wound the tiger and make it mad. If you think a tiger is dangerous you don’t want to see a wounded tiger. Just fall back.”
    “If our guns won’t take it down, what are you going to do with that little gun of yours?” the Captain asked.
    “It’s not the gun, it’s the bullet.” Mr. McCurdy opened up the chamber and tilted the gun so the Captain could see the syringe inside. “This is filled with a special medication just for tigers. One shot of this in its butt and it’ll be as gentle as a kitten. I’ll walk right up to him, slip a line around his neck and lead him away.”
    “Amazing!” the Captain stated.
    “Yep, science is pretty amazing,” Nick agreed.
    The captain gazed at my brother. He gave an order to one of his officers to have everybody fall back, but kept his eyes on us. This guy had a way of looking at you that would probably make you nervous even when you weren’t doing one single thing wrong. And I did feel nervous because we were doing
everything
wrong. I just hoped when we got thrown in jail I didn’t have to share a cell with my brother … or the chimpanzee.
    “And who are these children and why are they here?” the captain demanded.
    “These are my grandchildren and they’re hereto help. Do you know anything about tigers?”
    “Um … no … not much,” the captain admitted.
    “Well these two know all there is to know and I need their help.”
    “Regardless of how much they know, I’m afraid I must insist the children stay here. I can’t jeopardize their safety,” the captain explained.
    “They can stay here, at least until I get the shot at the cat. Then I’ll need them. Do you want the ape to stay with you as well?” Mr. McCurdy asked.
    “Ah, no, I guess the ape can go with you,” the captain agreed.
    Calvin reached over and patted the captain on the head. The other officers started to snicker, but stopped short when the captain turned around and looked at them.
    “Go now and take that ape with you,” he hissed through clenched teeth.
    “I need Nicholas and Sarah to come just a bit closer with the ape,” Mr. McCurdy stated. “Don’t you worry, though, they’ll stay back so they’ll still be safe.”
    “Fine, whatever. Just keep them at a distance.”
    As we moved forward I saw all of the officers fall back. We’d only moved about six metres when Mr. McCurdy motioned for us to