ANSWER:

Suddenly Suhas heard a strange sound. It was one of the

buffaloes.

He had stood up in the water and was giving a low, deep bellow.

Two or three other buffaloes also stood up and gave a low deep

bellow. Then all at once, the whole lot of them BEGAN to come out

of the water.

Suhas stopped in his play to see what was wrong. But he could

see nothing.

“What’s the matter, Ballu?” he asked. “What’s wrong Chandu?”

The two biggest bulls of the herd scrambled up the bank and

came rushing towards the boy. All the other bulls also came out of

the water-some went past him on the right SIDE and some went

past him on the left side. Then suddenly, Suhas knew what it all

meant!

He heard a snarl, then a growl and finally a roar! A flash of yellow

leapt out of the jungle and came towards him with a huge jump.

It was a tiger!

But the buffaloes were already making a ring around Suhas. Then

he knew what had happened. The tiger had seen him from the

jungle beyond and had seen trying to sneak up on him quietly,

from THICKET to thicket. But the buffaloes had smelled the tiger in

time and had run out of the pond to save Suhas.

Suhas stood in the ring and looked with large, round eyes for he

was more frightened than he had ever seen in his life. He was only

a little boy and had never seen a tiger face to face. The tiger

growled and snarled and roared. Then it went round and round

the ring, trying to find a gap between the horns to get at the boy.

But there was no gap between the horns. Then, little by little, fear

left Suhas’ heart. Something inside him told him to be brave.