The warm air burst with sound.

Kah -ko!

Eee-eee!

Akkk-awkk!

"What's going on?" said Jack.

He and Annie looked out the window.

The sky was lit by an orange glow as the sun wentdown.

The tree house was in a tree by a stream at the edgeof a forest.

. The wild screeching and cawing came from theforest's tall, leafy trees.

Just then, two creatures leaped onto the windowsill.

"Aaah!" Jack and Annie yelled, jumping back.

Annie burst out laughing.

Arf! Arf! Teddy barked.

Two small monkeys peered at them. Their darkfaces were framed with light gray fur. They looked asif they were wearing tiny parkas.

"Hit" said Annie. "I'm Annie. He's Jack. And he'sTeddy. What are your names?"Kah-ko, kah-ko, the monkeys chattered.

"Cool," said Annie. She turned to Jack. "Her name isKah. His name is Ko.""Oh, brother"' said Jack.

"I bet he is her brother," said Annie. Kah and Kowhooped as if laughing atAnnie's joke. Their yellow eyes twinkled.

"We came to get a gift from the forest," saidAnnie. "Do you know where we can find it?"The monkeys nodded and chattered. Then theystarted down the tree.

Using their long tails and arms, they swung frombranch to branch. They jumped to the ground andlooked up.

"Coming! Bring Teddy, Jack," Annie said.

Then she started down the ladder.

Jack quickly flipped through Wildlife of India. Hefound a picture of the gray monkeys. He read:

This monkey is called a langur (say lun-GOOR).

The word Iangur means "having a long tail."Jack pulled his notebook and pencil out of hisbackpack. He wrote:

Langur means long tailAnnie's laughter came from below. It blended withthe sounds of the forest.

Arf! Arf! barked Teddy. "Okay, okay," said Jack.

He put the book, his notebook, and Teddy into hispack. Then he hurried down the ladder.

Annie was playing with the langurs on the streambank.

Jack put Teddy on the ground.

Kah bounded over to Jack and grabbed his hand.

The langur's paw felt like a tiny human hand.

Kah pulled Jack toward the forest.

Ko pulled Annie, and Teddy scampered after them.

The langurs climbed the huge, leafy trees. Thenthey began swinging from branch to branch, like kidson a jungle gym.

Annie dashed beneath the swinging monkeys.

Teddy ran after her.

"Wait, wait!" Jack called, hurrying after them all.

"Annie, slow down! We don't know anything aboutthis place."The langurs slowed down, as if they understoodJack's words. Jack caught up with Annie. Theywalked on through the forest.

"This is so amazing," said Annie.

Jack agreed.

The sunset gave the trees a fiery glow.

The hot air smelled sweet.

Blue peacocks spread their tails.

Yellow birds flew from tree to tree.

Small deer ate red flowers in a clearing.

"It's like paradise," said Annie.

"Yeah, but don't forget the title of our book:

Wildlife of India," said Jack. "'Wildlife' means scaryanimals, too."Jack noticed long, deep gashes in a tree as theywalked by. He stopped.

"What happened there?" he said.

Annie shrugged and kept walking.

Jack pulled the book out of his pack. There was apicture of a tree with gashes.

He read aloud:

Tigers sharpen their claws on tree trunks. Theyleave big gashes in the bark.

"What?" said Annie. She stopped and looked back atthe tree.

"See what I mean?" said Jack. "Tigers live here. Andone of them just came this way."