A Farradorne Adventure

Sammy and Philip Farradorne are best friends. Like all Farradornes they have bright red fur with black spots on their stomachs, four long thin legs and pointed muzzles. Farradornes have white fluffy tails, (except Philip's has an orange tip on his tail.) They enjoy leaping from treetop to treetop in thier rainforest home in Xishuangbanna, China. Treetop leaping is one of a Farradorne's favorite activites. When they leap from tree to tree their bushy white tails flick back and forth. Actually, Philip's tail isn't all that bushy and fluffy because when he climbs hanging rank vines in rainforest his orange-tipped tail gets all mangled and tangled. Sammy likes to call Philip "Tang," short for 'tangled tail.'

One evening their treetop leaping was cut short because it was bedtime and Philip had to go home. Before he left he leaped next to Sammy and looked around with his dark brown eyes and whispered. "Hey Sammy, I found a cool cave next to the river. No other Farradorne has found it yet. Wanna go tomorrow and take a look?"

Now Farradornes knew about the caves next to the river that ran through the rainforest, but young Farradornes usually didn't go to them alone. Sammy was a bit scared at first, but he did like Philip's adventerous ideas most of the time, so he shrugged his red furry shoulders and said, "Sure Tang, sound like fun."

That night when Sammy went to bed he thought about the wonderful adventure Philip had planned for the next day. But he was so tired from tree top leaping that he soon fell asleep. In the middle of the night he heard a thumping sound outside his den. He went outside to check what it was. Poking his head out he saw Philip getting ready to jump up and down again.

"Whatcha want this time of night, Tang?" Sammy said sleepily.

Philip whispered, "My parents said no to our adventure tomorrow, so I think we better sneak out tonight if we want to go exploring."

"I don't know about that, Tang," replied Sammy. "It is awful dark and I am kind of tired."

Philip begged as he pulled on Sammy's front paw, "We gotta go Sammy! Being that it's dark will just add to the fun! Please?!? Come on let's go!"

So the two Farradorne friends snuck off in the middle of the night to begin their adventure, their two bushy tails flicking behind them.

Their slender legs moved in a quiet blur as the Farradornesran through the rainforest. Everyonce in a while they rested, but for only a minute. They had no time to waste, and they wanted to get to that cave!

When they arrived at the river, Philip pointed to a ledge way up and whispered, "That's the one. That's the cave I found." Then the two Farradornes climbed up to the cave in the darkness.

Farradornes are good climbers so they got up the ledge easily. When they reached the cave they crept right in. The cave was darker than outside, but the Farradorne's eyes adjusted quickly. Sammy felt just like an explorer. There was a main passage and several offshoots. Sammy and Philip were very cautious not to get lost in them. Further back the main passage the cave took a turn to the left, with a short offshoot to the right. Sammy and Philip turned left and were creeping slowly when Sammy thought he heard a sound and whispered something to Philip.

Philip responded, "I didn't hear anything. Forget it Sammy-Let's keep going.

Sammy didn't want Philip to think he was a scaredy-dorne so he kept going, following Philip. They crept just a bit further when the both heard the sound-----a growl. Then they saw the eyes of-----a tiger!

"RUN!!!!!" shouted Philip. Both Sammy and PHilip turned and ran. Farradornes never ran so fast. They legs were a blur of motion as the tiger thundered after them. When Sammy and Philip came to the turn in the cave they were running so fast they didn't turn. Instead they ran staright into the offshoot. They suddenly came to a dead-end, with the tiger getting closer.

"Oh no! We're doomed," whimpered Sammy.

Philip responded, "Nuh uh, we're Farradornes!" He then saw their way of escape. A stalactite hung from the ceiling of the cave. There was also a small ledge just big enough for four Farradorne paws.

Just as the tiger reached them, Sammy and Philip put the escape plan into action. The two Farradornes jumped and leaped off the tiny ledge, grabbed the stalactite and swung over the tiger and hit the floor of the cave running. This time the remembered to turn and ran through the main passage. They ran and ran until they exited the cave way ahead of the tiger.

Dawn was just breaking when they reached the cave ledge. Both Farradornes leaped off the ledge and landed in the river. They swam to shore and ran until they were sure there was no tiger following them.

The two Farradornes stopped to catch their breath. Sammy whispered, "That was the hardest that I have run in my entire life."

Philip said, "Me too."

They padded quietly back to Sammy's den where Philip said, "That was an adventure. Wanna go back tomorrow?"

Sammy replied, "Are you nuts? I wouldn't go back there if you gave me all the Kungaroot in the world to eat!" With that he padded into his den, quietly hopped into bed and fell asleep.

The next morning, when Sammy's mother called him, he did not want to get up. His sister came into his room and said, "Get up you lazy-dorne." She then pulled his bushy white tail.

Sammy yelped and jumped up. "Bushy, can't a Farradorne sleep around here?"

His sister said, "Hey, you act like you didn't get any sleep last night, grouch!"

Sammy replied, "If I told you what happened, you wouldn't believe it."