Get Smart 6 - And Loving It! Read Online Free Page A

just like that other island we were on—it’s nothing but jungle. We’re really doomed this time, Max. No one will know where to look for us.”
    “There’s a stream over there,” Max said. “Let’s follow it. We may be doomed, as you say, 99, but as long as we keep to the stream, at least we’ll have fresh water.”
    They plunged into the jungle, staying close to the stream. Their clothing snagged on brambles. They had to fight their way past thick, low-hanging vines. But then soon, almost miraculously, they emerged into a small clearing.
    “Look at those trees, 99!” Max said, appalled. “They must have been hit by some terrible disease.”
    “Max . . . I know where we are,” 99 said.
    “Oh? Do you read sick trees, 99? That’s quite a talent.”
    “Max, those trees aren’t sick. They were mowed down by a machine gun.”
    “That’s terrible,” Max said sympathetically. “You can sometimes recover from an illness, but from getting mowed down by a machine gun, never. I wonder who— Oh. I think I’m beginning to see what you mean, 99. What you’re trying to say is that we’re back on the same island that we were washed off of last night.”
    “I’m afraid so, Max,” 99 said gloomily. “All we managed to accomplish during the night was to lose our survival kit and everything that went with it.”
    “Well, at least we weren’t idle,” Max said.
    “What do you have in mind for today?” 99 inquired.
    “I think that’s pretty obvious. First, we’ll find the castle. Then we’ll recapture Guru Optimo. Then we’ll contact the mainland and have them send the helicopter for us. Then we’ll take Guru Optimo back to headquarters and turn him over to the Chief.”
    “Max, I’m hungry. I’m hungry and I’m tired.”
    “But first we’ll have breakfast,” Max said. “Since we no longer have the survival kit, though, of course, we’ll have to depend on our wits to scare up some food. You look for some berries, 99. And, meanwhile, I’ll build a few traps and snare some small animals.”
    “For what, Max?”
    “To eat. This is a desperate situation, 99. We have to think of our tum-tums. By the time you collect a few berries, I’ll have a squirrel or a hedgehog roasting over the grill.”
    “What grill, Max?”
    “First things first. Go collect your berries and let me get at my trap-building.”
    99 headed toward the bushes, and Max began gathering fallen branches. After he had collected a good number, he began stripping the bark from a few. “In times of crisis like this, the thing to do is keep your head,” he called out to 99. “As long as we don’t panic, we’re all right.”
    “Max, what are you doing?” 99 asked, looking over.
    “I’ll strip these strips into smaller strips and use them as cord,” he replied. “I’ll use the cord to tie together the parts of the trap.”
    “Max, that’s brilliant!”
    “Simply keeping my head,” Max said modestly.
    He broke the branches into lengths of approximately equal size, then, using the strips of bark as binding, he began constructing the first trap. “This reminds me of last Christmas Eve,” he called over to 99.
    She looked up into the sky.
    “No, I don’t mean that it’s snowing. Last Christmas Eve, I was doing this same thing.”
    “Building a trap to catch a squirrel?”
    “No, no, putting something together. It was a tricycle.”
    “Oh, yes, I remember. Your car was in the garage, wasn’t it?”
    “99, it wasn’t a tricycle for me,” Max said. “It was supposed to be a gift for my nephew. But you know how you get things these days, all in parts, and you have to put them together yourself. Well, I was assembling this tricycle—just as I’m assembling this trap, now. Except that this is child’s play compared to that. Have you ever seen the instructions for assembling a tricycle, 99? It’s very complicated. They tell you to connect Part A to Part B, but then, in a very sneaky way, they tell you that Part A