Written by Jason Lethcoe
Illustrations by Jeff Clark
Cover paint by Grace Lee
Copyright © 2018 Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Disney Press, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.
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ISBN 978-1-368-02100-5
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One: A Calamitous Cruise!
Chapter Two: The Key of Fate
Chapter Three: Happy Meetings
Chapter Four: The Expedition Team
Chapter Five: An Unexpected Visitor
Chapter Six: Escape by Night
Chapter Seven: The Airport
Chapter Eight: Gone in a Flash
Chapter Nine: The Fueling Station
Chapter Ten: The Flying Phantom
Chapter Eleven: A Reunion of Sorts
Chapter Twelve: A Message from Yaw
Chapter Thirteen: The Death Maze
Chapter Fourteen: A Surprising Departure
Chapter Fifteen: Full Disclosure
Chapter Sixteen: The Ghosts
Chapter Seventeen: The Prison
Chapter Eighteen: The Dingonek
Chapter Nineteen: The Dead End
Chapter Twenty: The Horrible Isnashi
Chapter Twenty-One: The Cave
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Treehouse
Chapter Twenty-Three: A Daring Escape
Chapter Twenty-Four: Race to the Boathouse
Epilogue
Andy Stanley gripped the tiller of the Nile Princess as the ramshackle boat rocked up and down on the churning river. If anyone had told him a few months ago that he would be alone on a boat in the Congo, he would have thought they were crazy. If they had told him that he would secretly be having the time of his life, he would have thought they were talking about some other person entirely!
But here he was, battling the thundering current, his pith helmet set firmly on his head and his lips pressed together in a thin, determined line as he tried to navigate the dangerous river. His heart was pounding nearly as fast as the foaming rapids, and he could feel the sweat trickling down the back of his neck.
Andy’s skinny arms ached and strained as he pushed and pulled the heavy wooden tiller back and forth, desperately trying to avoid the sharp rocks that clawed like greedy fingers at the sides of the boat. River water splashed over the front, drenching his battered brown leather jacket and plastering his blond hair to his forehead. Andy sputtered and wiped away the water from his eyes, trying to see what perils lay in front of him.
Belowdecks, Andy could hear the bilge pump whine as the machine tried to dispel the water that was filling the cabin. Faint whiffs of smoke from the overworked pump filled Andy’s nostrils, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before it sputtered and died.
I’ve got to get to land, he thought, looking around for some way to dock his boat. But it was no use. He was going too fast to stop without crashing.
As he searched desperately for somewhere safe to land, he spotted a large shape in the water just ahead of him.
What’s that?
Suddenly, the gigantic object surfaced. Andy pushed hard on the tiller to avoid colliding with it. As the boat careened to the right, he swung his head to the side and saw that the object was actually the head of a mammoth hippo! The beast roared, exposing its giant canine tusks. Then, with a huge splash, it plunged back into the water and began swimming furiously after the Nile Princess.
“It’s charging the boat!” Andy exclaimed.
But there was no one there to hear him. The entire crew was gone! For better or worse, Andy was on his own.
Andy stared at the ferocious hippo on his tail. It was faster than the boat and quickly catching up to its target. Andy may not have had a lot of experience in the water, but he knew that such a powerful animal could easily destroy the leaky ship.
His heart thudded wildly in his chest as he fumbled around, searching for anything he could use to scare the beast away. Finally, in the captain’s crate, Andy spotted a flare gun.
Praying it was loaded, Andy grabbed the emergency pistol and, after nearly dropping it in his rush to get it, raised it into the air.
“Go! Get out of here!” he shouted at the huge hippo. He pulled the trigger and a bright flare leapt into the air.
Luckily, the flash of red light and the corresponding noise seemed to have an effect on the massive beast. It quickly plunged back into the murky depths of the river and began to move in the opposite direction.
“I guess you’d call that a hippo-shot-I-miss,” Andy mumbled under his breath, then laughed at the corny joke. It seemed his grandfather’s sense of humor was starting to rub off on him.
Andy took a deep breath. His hands were trembling violently from the power of the blast, and his legs were shaking from the near collision with the hippo. He would have loved nothing more than to sit down, but the leaky boat was still splashing down the rushing river at an alarming rate. There was no time to rest.
Andy tossed the flare gun back into the crate. In spite of his shaking hands, he managed to reclaim tight control of the tiller as he tried to anticipate what other dangers might lie ahead.
The Nile Princess was definitely waterlogged. Andy could tell that the hull was sitting much lower in the water than when he’d first set off. The acrid smell of burning oil from the bilge pump filled the air.
There’s got to be a bank or inlet somewhere that I can steer into! If I can’t find one, I’m done for!
At that moment, Andy noticed a distant roar sounding from somewhere up ahead. He paled, knowing exactly what it was.
Schweitzer Falls.
Andy been told by his guide that it was one of the deadliest and most massive waterfalls for miles around. Going over it in a sinking ship was certain doom.
Sweat broke
