Orange in the Land of Lakes and Volcanoes is the second book in the series The Orange Chronicles. In this book, Orange and Jes take a trip to Nicaragua to improve Orange’s Spanish skills. While sight seeing, the duo suddenly finds themselves caught up in the search for missing crows and golden tacos. Sound a little funny? Join them as they have the time of their lives crossing Nicaragua and floating down the Rio San Juan.
The five passengers joined Romero in the boat within a few minutes, and soon they were on their way back up the river. The little fishing boat’s motor chugged along slowly, fighting valiantly against the river’s current. Everyone was enjoying the trip back to San Carlos. Even Paco had stopped trembling and was relaxing in the bottom of the boat.
Orange sat at the stern, which means the back of the boat, for you landlubbers. He was enjoying watching all the trees, plants, and jungle animals go by as they traveled along. Suddenly, he sensed something. He wasn’t sure whether he heard it, or felt it. But something had made him… aware. It seemed to be behind him, so he turned around to look. There, right behind him, almost touching him, was the biggest snake he had ever seen. And it was already halfway into the boat! It had been swimming toward them and then slithered over the side of the boat without being seen up to that point.
Orange let out a squeal. It was the piggiest squeal that had ever been emitted from his lips. But he didn’t care. Immediately, everybody on board turned around to see what had caused him to squeal like that. They saw.
“Get outa’ the boat! Get outa’ the boat!” called Judy from high up in the trees.
In one fluid movement, Jes grabbed Paco and landed on Orange’s back as he took to the air. Orange rapidly put as much air space as he possibly could between himself and the snake.
“Serpiente, Jes!” shouted Orange. “It’s called a serpiente!”
At the same time, Julio slid over the side of the boat and swam toward shore while Fernando and Romero dove into the water on opposite sides of the boat and swam toward opposite shores. Within the space of about one second, the boat was left in the hands of the snake. Wait a minute. Snakes don’t have hands. Within the space of about one second, the boat was empty, except for the snake.
Very quickly everyone arrived on shore. Orange landed behind some bushes so they could peek out and see what happened. Julio got to shore and scurried up a tree and out on a limb that hung over the water. He watched from there. Fernando stood on the bank on one side of the river while Romero stood on the opposite side. All of them watched in horror as the snake very slowly swallowed the only thing left in the boat – the golden tacos. Paco whimpered softly while Fernando shouted.
Orange Down Under is the first book of The Orange Chronicles. Join Orange and Jes as they travel to Australia. Learn about Australian geography, history, and animals. But most of all – have fun!
They were all enjoying the picnic when suddenly they heard a sound that made them all freeze. It was a terrifying cross between a snarl and a yap, yap, yap and it wasn’t too far away.
“Shhhhh!” whispered Jedediah.
“What was that?” whispered Jes, so quietly he could hardly even hear himself.
“It was a dingo. Shhhhh.”
A dingo. Sezni and Lorenzi had warned them about the dingoes.
“Orange, what should we do?”
Jedediah spoke up. “I’d say Jes is in the most danger. The pigs can hold our own since there are so many of us. Quickly, Jes, roll up into a ball and we’ll surround you.”
Jes dropped to his knees, tucked his head under his arms and rolled into a ball as small as he could. The pigs all formed a closed circle around him. Jes could hear the dingoes yapping and knew they were getting closer. Finally, they were close enough to hear them speak.
“So, BaconBits, what are you guys doing out here?” the leader asked, rudely.
“Just having a picnic,” answered Jedediah. “No need to bother us – we’re not bothering you.”
“Oh, you’re not? I beg to differ. Just your presence here bothers us. Just watching you breathe bothers us. You’re a waste of space and I’ve suddenly got a hankering for some pork belly.”
“You should think again, Fang. Several of my boys have grown tusks since you saw us last. We can put up a pretty good fight.”
“Maybe so, but…say, I smell something different. You pigs are filling the airways pretty full, but – yes – I definitely smell something different. What have you got there in the middle of your circle?”
“Never mind about that. I’m warning you,” answered Jedediah in his deepest, gruntiest voice.
“You leave us alone.”
“No can do, BaconBits. I smell human scent and I’m coming for supper.”
Dingoes can rile themselves into a feeding frenzy when there is something they especially like, and their hunger caused them to leave common sense behind. They were greatly outnumbered by the pigs and some of the herd had become quite strapping hogs. Suddenly, the fight was on. All around him Jes could hear the yapping, barking, yelping, grunting, biting, and slashing of the fight. In spite of his fear, he couldn’t just sit there and let his friends do all the fighting for him. Suddenly, he stood up and started throwing rocks at the horrible dingoes. It really didn’t take very long. In just a few minutes the dingoes were all whimpering and limping away. Jes had hit the leader in the head with a big rock and he had called for retreat. The pigs chased them far back into the hills. When they returned, they found that not one of the pigs or Jes had a mark on them.
After that the group decided they had had enough excitement for one afternoon, and returned to the safety of the pigpen. Now Jes understood the warning the emus had given him and he vowed never to get close to a dingo again.