The next day the castaways met at breakfast.

The Skipper observed "This afternoon is the escape opportunity the Professor calculated."

The Professor said "The Komodo dragon is probably near where he was seen last."

Mr. Howell said what they were all thinking "Probably?"

A plan was proposed. The Howells would observe on the hill. (Partly due to Mr. Howell's cowardice-partly due to how little carrying power they had.) The others would gather fruit as supplies for the trip. Except Gilligan who would catch some fish instead. The Skipper reminded Gilligan there was a spot he could fish from in a clearing so the Komodo dragon couldn't sneak up on him.

Gilligan said "But Skipper. I need all my concentration to fish. How am I supposed to watch for the dragon as well?"

The Professor had a brainstorm. We'll all watch for him." He handed out seven Conch shells. "One blow is danger! Two is meet at the huts. Three is meet on lookout hill." [The grassy hill was being renamed from picnic hill. And they all knew what he meant even Gilligan. That's the way language evolves.] So they all practiced blowing for a few minutes. Then got to work.

Later Ginger heard a loud blow. She and Mary Ann put down the coconuts and bananas they were gathering and hastily climbed trees.

They saw the Komodo dragon. He walked past their tree like a lizard on a mission. Looked straight ahead and didn't stop for anything. His tongue flicking ahead of it.

Once it was safely passed them they got down from the tree and followed a safe distance behind. Gilligan suddenly appeared walking toward them. Then he saw the lizard and ran to the left. The lizard ignored him, headed in a straight line.

Gilligan said "You should have blown three times for danger!"

Ginger said "Gilligan. One is danger."

Gilligan said "No Ginger. One is meet on the hill."

His voice trailed off as he saw Mary Ann agreed with Ginger.

Then he said "The signal was danger and I just went to it!" He jumped in a tree. Although the lizard was out of sight he stayed there for a minute.

The Skipper and the Professor came up. The Skipper said "Gilligan why is the dragon going straight in the direction of where you were?"

Gilligan said "I don't know Skipper. I was catching fish like you said. I cut some into strips and set them out to dry them so we'd have dry fish for after the first day of the trip."

The Skipper asked "And where did you set them to dry them Gilligan."

Gilligan said "On the raft so we wouldn't have to go back for them. Some birds circled but I put the extra lumber on top so the birds couldn't get them."

The Skipper said "How much did you catch Gilligan?"

Gilligan said "I was having a great fishing day. Almost as good as the first day I fished here. Must have been sixty pounds." [27 kilos.]

The Professor said "These lizards prefer to scavenge then to kill. If it sensed sixty pounds of carrion it would head in that direction."

Gilligan said "What's carrion?"

The Professor said "Dead animals."

They got close to the beach. As the tide was in, the raft was on the shore. The Komodo dragon lay on the raft. There was no sign of the 60 pounds of dead fish.

The Professor said "Having eaten he would prefer to rest."

Ginger saw her return to Hollywood fading. She said "But we need the raft!"

Gilligan said "Tell him that."

They all stood silently for a minute.

The Skipper broke the silence first. "Good idea Gilligan."

Gilligan said "My idea? What did I say?"

The Skipper said "You get the Howells. Tell them the creature is napping and we know where it is. The rest of us will move our fruit piles to the beach."

Later they were all on the beach with the fruit piles and the water tank (now filled.)

The Skipper spoke "Two choices present themselves. We can stay on the island with this predator and try not to get eaten. Hopefully we live out our natural lives."

There seemed a lack of enthusiasm. So he went on to his next idea. "Professor, it's true that Komodo Island has been inhabited by men for hundreds of years."

The Professor agreed "The lizards eat so few of the people that natives have been there for centuries without going extinct."

"And once he ate he'll want to rest."

"The blood will be in his digestive system. He will be sluggish."

The Skipper passed out long sticks. "We go in yelling. We poke it with these sticks. There are seven of us. We don't corner it. We let it retreat that way. He pointed. "Then we load the raft and get off the island. Mr. Howell can send an expedition to retrieve the dragon for a zoo. And our luggage."

(Ginger gave Skipper's word choice an A+. He'd used the fear of his audience to persuade them TO do a dangerous thing. She gave his delivery an A-. There was just something amateur about it.)

"Retrieve the dragon. How much would that cost?" Mr. Howell began to calculate.

Ginger said "Mr. Howell. Think of the publicity."

"Eh. You're right. I'll do it."

They trooped down to the beach. The raft was off in the water. "The tide must have gone out." Said Gilligan.

The Skipper said "Thank you Gilligan. Now everyone grab this line." He picked up a rope made from vines. They all grabbed. "Now Gilligan go out there and tie it to the anchor so we can pull it ashore."

"Why me."

"Because you're lighter. We need my bulk to help pull it."

[The Chivalry of old fashioned sexism. Neither remembered that Mary Ann was also a lightweight.]

Gilligan said "Yes you have the- "Ginger saw that Gilligan's expression changed as the Skipper got mad. Then Gilligan finished "power for pulling it."

So Gilligan took off his hat, shoes and socks then waded out to the bobber that marked the anchor. And he tried tying onto the anchor. And he dropped it. "Ow! My foot. I think I'm bleeding."

"Never mind that now Gilligan. Tie the line on."

"Got it."

The Professor was deep in thought. Ginger suddenly asked "What are you thinking?"

"I calculated how fast that anchor would drop in the medium of water. He really should have time to move his foot out of the way."

Gilligan said "I got it tied on Skipper."

The Skipper said "Okay everyone heave."

They pulled the line up the beach. The Skipper asked "Gilligan why is the raft farther out?"

Gilligan said "The raft is farther out because the other rope slid off the anchor as I tied this one on."

The Skipper said "Well tie onto the raft. We need it."

Gilligan swam out carrying the anchor. The Skipper said "No Gilligan. Untie from the anchor."

So he untied then dropped the anchor. "Ow! My other foot! Now that's bleeding."

"Not now Gilligan."

He swam to the raft. And looked eye to eye with the Komodo dragon. "Arrggghhh!" So he swam around then approached from the other side.

Ginger said "Is that fin what I think it is?"

The Professor yelled "Gilligan! Watch out for that Galeocerdo Cuvier!"

Gilligan said "The what?"

The Professor said softly "Common names. Use common names." Then he yelled "The Tiger Shark!"

Sometimes Ginger thought of Gilligan as a real life character from the old movie serials. Far more than the other castaways he was always getting into and out of danger.

The Skipper noticed the fin. "Shark Gilligan!"

Gilligan yelled "Shark!" He began to swim much faster. Ginger wondered if the zig zag course he was adopting threw the shark off the trail. Then Gilligan got out of the water and ran onto the beach.

They all stood and watched.

Later the Skipper said "Well we did a good job with the sail we rigged. It must be making three knots easy."

The Professor said. "Yes. And the Galeocerdo Cuvier is still following the raft. Maybe it hopes to devour the reptile."

The Skipper said "We'll never build another raft before the tide comes in. We're stuck on this island."

Mr. Howell said "On the bright side that overgrown lizard is stuck out there."

Mrs. Howell agreed "How could we have a bridge party if we were worried that North would eat one of the other players."

The Professor said "Komodo dragons don't play bridge."

Mr. Howell said "Still it would be quite a faux pass."

Mrs. Howell said "The worst faux pass I ever saw was when the Van Clydes were caught passing signals."

Mr. Howell said "What a disgrace. To get caught like that! And I thought Mortimer and Clarice were sneaky!"

And the raft drifted farther and farther.

A couple nights later Gilligan had gone off after dinner. The rest of them were sitting around the table listening to the radio give news from home.

"The Coast Guard has made an unusual save. They found the missing Komodo dragon and carefully towed his raft to a deserted beach where zoo officials with special equipment took him into custody. The animal has been well fed and somehow traded the ship's boat he was on for a raft. How? It's a mystery and none of our reporters have volunteered to go in his cage and interview him."

The Skipper said, sarcastically "Oh it's a real mystery."

Ginger sighed wondering how much longer her career would be on hiatus. Then asked "So everyone can safely get off this island EXCEPT us? Even the lion who was here and now that big meat eating lizard."

Just then Gilligan's voice was heard "Here Tiger."

"Tiger!" said Mr. Howell alarmed.

Gilligan was heard again "Easy girl. Come this way."

Mr. Howell grabbed his wife's hand and tried to lead her away. The Professor pointed out "No Mr. Howell. Tigers can sense fear. We all stay together."

Ginger thought it was too bad there was no Olympic event in rapid fire rebuilding. Mary Ann would have a gold medal performance for how rapidly she was growing from the dying embers of the cooking fire into a nice blaze. (Ginger was scared-then began to pretend she was in a movie. She went to the woodpile and grabbed the two longest sticks she could find.)

Gilligan said encouragingly "That's it Tiger. Right over here."

The Skipper yelled "Gilligan! Why are you bringing Tiger here?"

"To show her where we live."

The Skipper tried to shout that was a bad idea. Ginger handed him and the Professor each a long stick. They each thrust one end in the fire to light it. The other four moved behind them.

Gilligan came into view "Here Tiger." He cried. They watched hyper alert. Seconds later an 8 pound (3.6 kilo) Siamese kitty cat with a collar on came into view. "Good Tiger. Now don't be shy. Meet all my friends."

All were shocked speechless. Then Ginger, who was trained in improv, recovered enough to ask "That's Tiger?!"

"Yeah. It says here on her collar. I guess she fell overboard from a boat. Can we keep her?"

(Do all eight of them live together happily? Or dose Tiger get back to civilization and never send a rescue party for the others? Tune in next episode and see that it's written as if Tiger never existed.)

The End

A/N Precedents and prior Appearances

The Lion Ginger mentioned-episode 2x24 "Feed the Kitty"

The Professor recycled his idea of blowing conch shells from episode 1x01 "Two On A Raft"

All the fish Gilligan caught the first day he fished on the Island-episode 1x12 "Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk"