After tying off the canoe, she got out and very quietly made her way down the well worn trail.  The first thing she noticed was the all too familiar scent and scratch marks on the trees.  "He was here all right", she thought to herself as she slowly looked about the area.  "But there are so many more marks than on the other trails, I wonder why?" 

Lucas woke earlier than usual that day also.  His mother said that he could have the morning off, as long as he was available after lunch to help with the departing guests.  All but Mr. VanAnkat were leaving with Kari on the flight at 2 pm.  Kari had arrived yesterday and spent the night with them, as she often did when her schedule permitted.  So he had the morning to himself, and he knew what he wanted to do. 

He had talked with Beth the night before, quizzing her about Janet’s absence.  Beth finally told him that she was off stalking down the elusive tiger, and that she had gone to the pond with the  waterfall that Rale had mentioned the other day.  As Lucas was somewhat of a "voyeur", he had decided to see if he could find his sister and Mr. VanAnkat "going at it" in the woods. 

He knew that if he followed the stream it would lead him to the pond he was looking for.  So he threw on some shorts and took off through the woods.  Within no time he had found the stream, and two sets of tracks walking along it.  "I am on the right path" he thought to himself as he made his way along, adding yet another set of tracks to those already there. 

James woke shortly after Lucas had started his trek.  He went into the bathroom and started to brush himself again, after calling for a large breakfast.  In 15 minutes it had arrived, being left in its usual spot outside the back door.  After he finished with his brushing, filling yet another wastebasket with fur, he retrieved it and ate it. 

He had no plans for the day, but it was getting warm rather fast.  It was going to be another hot one out there.  "What better to do then to spend it at that lovely pond with the waterfall" he thought.  Throwing on his black shorts and his trusty pouch, he set the empty food tray out and began his walk up to the pond. 

About halfway up to it, he noticed the footprints along the stream.  "Three sets?" he thought to himself.  "I know one set are mine, but whose are the other two?  One, the smaller set is older, maybe a day or two old.  But this larger one is fresh, very fresh, not more than an hour or two."  He bent over and inhaled deeply at the ground around the print, then stood up and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply yet again. 

"Lucas!  But what is he doing I wonder.  I have no clue as to the other set, but I am sure I will find out soon enough.  I think I will see if I can "surprise" Lucas."  Chuckling to himself he thought  "That boy is so edgy and easily riled up.  I think he needs to learn a lesson!"  With that thought still rolling through his head, James started out after the teen as quietly as he could. 

Within a few minutes Janet had arrived at the clearing, and saw the still sleeping figures of her brothers.  She looked all around the area.  The scratch marks and scent marks were all over the clearing.  "What was he up to?"  she thought.  Not seeing or hearing any sign of him, she decided to wake her brothers and see if they could provide some clue as to what occurred during the night. 

As she bent down to shake them, that same powerful smell began to accost her nostrils.  Bending closer, she took a "whiff" of Rale’s legs.  She quickly snapped her head back in disgust.  "My God!", she exclaimed in shock, "he pissed all over them!"  Had she not heard them both breathing regularly, she would have instantly become quite concerned for their well being.  Instead, she just shook Rale to awaken him.  "Rale, get up!" she said while shaking the boy.  "You too, Rock!" 

"What are you doing over here, Janet?" Rale groggily said as he wiped the sleep from his eyes. 

"Yes," Rock joined in with eyes still closed as he stretched out on the ground, "What do you want so early in the morning?" 

Janet knew that Rock had spent some time as a fauve.  So she just said "Well boys, why don’t you both just close your eyes and take in a deep breath through those sensitive noses of yours?"  A devilish grin grew across here face as she watched the two males do as she said. 

Rale immediately sat up and wrinkled his face and said "Ewww!  What stinks!" 

Rock in the meantime had immediately jumped up onto his feet, shaking his head as if trying to dislodge something stuck on it.  "God - what is that smell!  And why is it so strong?  For some reason it seems vaguely familiar..." 

"Well guys, I was hoping you could clue me in as to what happened here last night." 

"Nothing out of the ordinary", Rock responded, still trying to clear his head.  We went to bed shortly after dark, as I was quite tired." 

"And you remember nothing else?" Janet asked. 

"No!" came the response from them both. 

"Wait a minute!" Rock said.  "Not only is that smell all over the clearing, its all over US!" 

"Give the wolf a cigar!" Janet replied mockingly. 

"Oh, gross!" came the hurt cry from Rale.  "What is it?!?" 

"Well boys, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I think our dear, sweet Mr. VanAnkat swam over here in the dead of the night and pissed all over the both of you!" 

"WHAT?!?" came the scream from both the males. 

"You think I am lying?  Just take a good "whiff" of yourselves.  And it is not just you he did it to.  Look around the clearing and at the edges of the trails.  See all those scrape marks on the trees around 6-7 feet off the ground?"  The boys nodded is assent.  "Well, I have been tracking him all over the islands.  From the mountain behind the resort, to the west "wing" across the lagoon from here.  He has been "marking" the trail he has taken with those scratches and the urine on the trees.  Why he has suddenly shifted to "marking" you two I haven’t a clue." 

"I think I do." Rock slowly said.  "When I spent those years in the forest as a fauve, I would run into others occasionally.  Some lived in small groups.  Sometimes they would "mark" their territory.  And occasionally, they would "mark" one another.  It could be interpreted as a sign of affection, or a sign of ownership.  Usually, it was a way of showing dominance though." 

"What do you mean by dominance?" asked Rale meekly. 

"Well," Rock continued, "I guess it could best be described as a way of showing to everyone that I am bigger and badder than you.  I can piss all over you and you can’t do a thing about it because I am the boss.  Do you understand?" 

"I guess.  I hope its that and not that he thinks he owns me!" the young boy said quietly. 

"I think he was just showing off." Janet said.  "I have been following him for over two days now, and I think he knows it.  I think he did this just to show me how good he is at evading me." 

"So let me get this straight," Rock responded, "You think this guy swims across the lagoon in the dead of the night, pisses all over the place and all over us, just to show YOU up?" 

"Well, kind of, yeah." She demurely answered. 

"That just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me." Rock said.  "I really don’t think that you enter into his reasons why that much." 

"Well, I don’t care why, I just know this stinks!  I am going for a swim and try and get that smell out of my fur!"  Rale said. 

"Sounds like a good idea to me!" Rock exclaimed.  With that they both went running for the inlet and went splashing into the water. 

After about five minutes of splashing about and rubbing their hands through their fur, Rale asked  "Hey, where is my canoe?  I had it tied up here last night." 

"Well, it’s tied up at the main dock now"  Janet said, walking out to the waters edge.  "I thought that you had swam over.  I used this one to come over this morning.  I  think that VanAnkat used your canoe to return to the resort in the middle of the night.  We can all use this one to go back to the lodge.  I would wager that you two want to take a shower." 

"You are most definitely right about that!" Rock said.  "I would also like to ask a certain guest what he was thinking when he "anointed" us last night." 

"I would bet you any money you won’t find him in his cabin.  He is never there" Janet responded. 

"Well, we will catch up with him eventually" Rock said.  "Come on, lets get over there."  And with that, they all clambered into the canoe and paddled back to the main dock.  They did agree on the way though to tell no one else, especially their mother, about what had occurred on the island. 

Lucas had finally arrived at the pond.  He had heard no sounds, so he walked to the shore.  There he saw the huge prints of the tiger, and his sister’s smaller ones.  No sign of either of them now though.  He was rather warm from his climb though, and the water looked so inviting.  Throwing off his shorts, he walked into the water.  After testing it out, he jumped in, fully submerging himself.  He broke the surface of the water from his dive and stood up.  "Boy, that feels great"  he said aloud. 

After spending nearly half an hour playing around in it, he climbed out of the water and shook himself off.  Looking around, he found a rather grassy area, and lay down in the bright sun to dry off.  He looked to the sky, and judging from the position of the sun, he had a couple of hours to kill yet, before he needed to return to the resort. 

He began to run his hands through his fur, trying to get it to dry a little quicker.  Before long, his hands began to wander through the fur near his groin, and his penis began to rise to the occasion.  Like any healthy fifteen year old, he was ready to "work off a load" at the drop of a hat.  To him, it was like just "another thing to do".  So, since he was all alone out here, he thought that he might as well enjoy himself. 

He was not in any big hurry, so he took his time.  Lucas slowly worked his hands up and down his hardening teen shaft.  "Boy, this feels great!" he thought to himself.  As his hands worked their magic, his mind pictured that huge white tiger, and his massive member pounding in and out of his sister’s steaming sex.  He grinned to himself as he pictured his sister moaning and groaning as the big tiger worked her over in his mind. 

As James approached the pond, he began to hear something.  He slowly crouched to the ground, and began to crawl towards the noise.  "That’s odd," he thought to himself, "it sounds like moaning and groaning."  As he slowly reached the crest and scanned the area were the sounds were coming from, he saw the lone figure of Lucas lying in the grass.  Lucas’s right hand seemed to have a death grip on his red erect penis, working it feverishly back and forth, his eyes clenched tightly.  "God damn puppy!" he thought to himself, using the old derogatory term. 

James’s eyes grew wide at the site unfolding in front of him.  A nasty grin slowly developed on the tiger’s face.  He knew the teen was close to climaxing.  Using all the stealth he had learned over his years, the massive tiger worked his way slowly next to the young man.  He was still unnoticed as Lucas’s mind was elsewhere.  James had to time this just right.  He knew the kid was close, he could smell it in the air.  He could almost hear the teen’s pulse racing.  James slowly stood to his full height.  Just as he observed that the kid was starting to ejaculate he screamed at the top of his lungs in his deepest voice, "Hey, you keep playing with that thing and you’re going to break it!!" 

As soon as he heard the voice, Lucas jumped straight up, spinning around to see who or what was screaming at him.  Unfortunately, his body was in the throes of orgasm, and as he spun, he shot streams of semen all over the place, including the tiger’s legs.  The teen’s body lost all strength, and he fell to his knees, his hips involuntarily humping the thin air. "Uh, uh, uh", was all Lucas could spit out as he tried to gather his wits. 

James was laughing inside hysterically.  But the feeling of semen shooting onto his legs brought him back to the present quickly.  "Just what do you think you are doing, BOY?!?", he screamed down at the quivering figure beneath him. 

"Uh, nothing, nothing at all" Lucas replied, trying to clear his head and think straight. 

"That doesn’t feel like nothing that you shot all over my legs, BOY!" 

"Uh, I’m really sorry about that.  I didn’t mean to...." 

But as he tried to get up and finish what he was saying, James harshly pushed the kid back down to his knees.  "So what are you going to do about it, BOY?" the  tiger said, making sure to emphasize that last word again. 

"Uh, I don’t know..." by now Lucas was really starting to get scared.  This huge man just towered over him, and was pushing him around like he was a little toy. 

James could start to smell the fear emanate from the youth.  It was almost as strong as the acrid odor of his ejaculate.  "Well I will tell you what you are going to do, BOY!  You are going to clean up that mess you made on my legs!" 

"Uh, sure thing, yes, right away!"  Lucas took his hands and tried to wipe as much of the semen off of the tiger’s legs as he could without making too big of a mess.  He thought that he was doing a pretty good job of it until he heard the man bellow at him again. 

"I don’t think you are getting it all, BOY!" 

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Lucas asked as innocently as he could. 

"I think you should use your tongue to get it all off, BOY!" 

Lucas looked up into the bright blue eyes of the tiger.  He could tell he meant business.  His claws were extended, and his lips were drawn back exposing his teeth.  Lucas was actually starting to shake and fear for his life.  "I should have never come out here" he thought to himself.  "I am going to die and this lunatic is probably going to eat me so there will be no body to be found!"  As he looked up into the eyes of the tiger, Lucas felt that his only chance for survival was to humor the man as much as possible.  In his most timid voice, he replied "Yes Sir." 

Lucas bent his head down to the tiger’s legs and began to run his tongue through the fur there.  He almost threw up at the thought of what he was actually doing, especially when the taste of his own semen filled his mouth.  That and the strands of fur that seemed to be coming off into his mouth as he licked at the man’s legs. 

It was all James could do to maintain this facade of insanity.  He really felt that the whole situation was a joke, and wanted to break out into laughter.  He was going to see this through to the end though.  It was rough holding the snarl on his face, so after a few minutes of the kid’s sloppy lapping at his legs, he reached down with one hand, and grabbing the kid by the scruff at the back of his neck, quickly lifted him high into the air until he was at eye level. 

"That’s better, BOY!"  James screamed at him. 

That was all Lucas could take.  He brought his hands up over his face and whimpered to the tiger, "Please, don’t kill me!!  I’ll do anything you want, just please, please let me go!!"  and with that he started to sob uncontrollably, the tears streaming down his face. 

"Shit!" James thought to himself, "I thought that the lad would have some more self control than this!  I didn’t want to hurt him.  I better end this quickly." 

"Well, I will let you go - BUT, you better be more careful when and where you play with yourself from now on - do you understand, BOY?!" 

Through his tear-filled eyes Lucas quickly responded "YES, oh yes!  I’ll be ever so careful from now on!" 

"Good!", James replied as he slowly lowered the boy to the ground.  "Now put your pants on and get out of here!"  Lucas did as he was told and as he was leaving James said "And one more thing, BOY!"  At the sound of that word Lucas froze in his tracks and looked up at the tiger.  "You will tell NO ONE of this, do you understand?!" 

"Of course - no one - got it!" 

"Then, be gone!"  James said.  He was chuckling under his breath as the poor boy took off in a dead run, almost running into trees and tripping over debris on the forest floor as he ran for dear life back to the lodge.  "That should put a crimp in his sex life for a while" he snickered to himself.  When Lucas was finally gone, James removed his own shorts and waist pouch and dove into the pond.  "Much better" he thought as he lounged about in the refreshing liquid. 

By the time that Rock, Rale, and Janet were getting done with their showers, Lucas was coming back from his little "adventure".  He headed straight for the bathroom also, wanting to shower away any evidence of what had occurred back in the forest.  By the time he had emerged his mother announced "Lunch is ready everyone." 

They all sat in their usual places around the table, with Kari joining them and sitting on the opposite end of the table from Sylvia.  It was unusually quite as the food made its way around the table, and this was not lost on Sylvia, Kari, or Beth.  It was Beth who broached the subject first.  "What’s the matter guys, cat’s got your tongue?" 

Lucas just seemed to cringe at what she had said, and the other children just looked at here as if to say, "If only you knew."  It was Janet who spoke first though, "No, just a little tired, that’s all." 

"Yes, we have all worked pretty hard lately.  But when the guests leave today, the place will be empty" Sylvia said. 

"Except for VanAnkat" corrected Beth. 

"That’s true", responded Sylvia.  "That reminds me, when I was cleaning his place today, he had some more photos set out on his dresser." 

"Where they like the other one?" asked Beth. 

"Not quite.  There was one of him as a child with a women I assume to be his mother." 

"You mean he had a mother?" Lucas said very quietly, just so the other children could hear but not his mother. 

As the children giggled Sylvia said "What was that dear?" 

"Did you say his mother?" Lucas quickly responded. 

"Yes, I think so", said Sylvia.  "It was the other ones that were different though.  There was a very old photo, maybe 75 years old or so of a soldier.  Then there was another old photo of a tiger in a pilot’s uniform.  But what was really interesting, was this large frame that had all these insignias and medals on it, and in the middle was this same man sitting in a fighter plane.  He was the same man in the wedding picture, so it must be Mr. VanAnkat’s father.  He must have been in the war." 

Kari had been listening with interest and suddenly stood up, capturing everyone’s attention.  "Of course, it is all beginning to make sense now and fit into place!" 

Everyone at the table just stared at her and wondered what she was going on about.  It was Sylvia who said "What are you talking about, Kari?" 

"I knew that name sounded familiar for some reason, but I just couldn’t place it.  It is because it wasn’t him that I remembered, it was his father!  You said there was a frame with a picture of a tiger in a fighter plane right?" 

"Yes", Sylvia said. 

"And among those medals, was there one large one, on a ribbon, very ornate, bearing the resemblance of the flag of the Old Country?" 

"Yes" 

"I was right then.  It is him, it could be no one else!" Kari said, almost as if she had found buried treasure. 

"Well kindly fill us in", Sylvia said with just a hint of impatience in her voice. 

"The man in the photo, the pilot with all the medals, VanAnkat’s father, I remember now learning about him and his exploits in military school.  He was nobility, he was a Baron.  He was known as the Mad Baron." 

"Oh my God, you’re right!" Sylvia gasped.  The kids just looked at the two of them as if they were crazy. 

"So what is the big deal about that?" asked Beth.  "Weren’t there a lot of pilots in the war?" 

"Not like him!", responded Kari.  They still study his maneuvers and strategies in pilots school to this day!  I had to read a chapter on his tactics in school myself.  He shot down more enemy planes than almost everyone else from his country put together!  And that medal your mother described is the Royal Medal of Honour, the highest award ever given during the war." 

"So why did they call him the Mad Baron?" asked Rale. 

"Because he fought like a madman," Kari recounted.  "His father, probably the man in the older photo, was an officer and killed early in the war.  The family lost almost everything in the invasion of the Old Country.  So he had a lot of reasons to be mad.  And, as I said before, he was the oldest male in the family, and inherited the title "Baron" when his father died." 

"Oh my God," Sylvia exclaimed.  "Now I remember!  The Baron and his wife were killed in an accident that happened when I was in college.  I remember all the newscasts of the event.  It was in all the papers and all over the television.  The Old Country held this massive state funeral for the "Mad Baron", the great war hero.  The genuine outpouring of emotion there was unbelievable!  I remember, they only had one child, a young son.  They funeral procession was long and wound slowly through the capitol of the Old Country, until it ended up at the old Royal Cemetery.  And walking all the way behind the horse drawn cart, bearing the two flag-draped caskets, was this sad, solitary figure all dressed in black.  Except that he was white.  A white tiger named James!" 

With this revelation there was a hushed "wow" that came from the children.  Sylvia continued, "And as sad as it was, the press would not leave him alone.  They came up with a terrible nickname for him.  He became known in the papers as "The White Baron", as he had inherited the title upon his father’s passing.  Within a few years though, he seemed to almost disappear, avoiding any type of publicity." 

"That has to be him then", Kari said. 

"Yes, it does", Sylvia responded, "and it explains a lot of things". 

"It most certainly does!" thought all the children.