tri# G0HhIA ADyEilrAnE

,UILIARD PRICE

by the same author

AMAZON ADVENTURESOUTH SEA ADVENTUREUNDERWATER ADVENTUREVOLCANO ADVENTUREWHALE ADVENTUREAFRICAN ADVENTUREELEPHANT ADVENTURESAFARI ADVENTURELION ADVENTUREDIVING ADVENTURECANNIBAL ADVENTURETIGER ADVENTUREARCTIC ADVENTURE

MY O\vN LIFE OF ADVENTURE

t.

Gorilla Adventureby Willard Price

ILLUSTRATED BY PAT MARRIOTT

.f orrathan Cape Thirty Bedford Square London

r969, 1974, 1977, 1983Y Willard Pricery6g bY Jonathan CaPe Ltd

Jonathan Cape Ltd, 3o Bedford Square, London WCr

rsBN o zz4 6t636 6

NoteThe characters in this story are fictional' Thedescriptions of the habits of animals and thecustoms of the PeoPle are factual.

Printed in Great Britain bYSt Edmundsbury Press, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

Contents

Io

34

56

78

9IOIIT2

r3r+

r5T6

r7I8r920

coNco JUNGLE 9FOOTPRINTS I8GOG, THE GrANT 25THE BULLET 32PYTHONS ARE LIKE THAT 39WRESTLTNG MATCH 45ANOTHER BATTLE LOST 53ROGER,S LUCK 6OMASSACRE 73THE HONEY BIRD 8TTHE SALTY BABOON 88THE SPOTTED CAT 94THE BALLING GUN IO3FIRE IO8THE CRATER 116TAKE ,EM ALIVE T26BEDROOM MENAGERTE r35BLACK LEOPARD r4OMAN AGAINST CAT T49sPrrTrNG COBRA T57

2T,

22

232425

26.27

SNAKE WrrH TWO HEADS T67TrEG TUMBTES T77DTAMoNDS r84A MYSTERY SOLVED I9ITHE rNgUISrrrvE osTRrCH 2OrsHIPLoAD oF RAScALS zo8DrvrNG ADVENTURE 2r7

Gorilla Adventure

0ne

Congo JungleHer- and Roger had grown uP with animals. Theirearliest memories were of wild beasts.

For all of Hal's nineteen years and his brother'skangaroos,opards andsmall that

r rormd the animat farm of their father, John Hunt,famous animal collector,

The farm was on Long Island, New York. There thesnimals were kept until they could be sold to zoos orcircuses.

GORILLA ADVENTURE

Thev had iust completed a job in the African lion.o.titry. A cable from their father gave them anelv project.

RINGLING CIRCUS WANTS GIANT GORILLA' BIGCHIMPS, PYTHON, GABOON VIPER, SPITTING COBRA,AND OTHER TYPICAT WILDLIFE FOR JUNGLEEXIIIBIT. WHAT CAN YOU DO?

It was a thrilling and challenging assignment' IIaltalked it over witL Joro, chief of his thirty-man blackcrew. Toro shook his head.

"Ve?v difficult," he said' "Those are bad snakes'And th6re's only one place to find that giant gorilla"'

"Where is that?""Congo jungle. Between Congo River and Virunga

volcano6s.'Wild country and wild people' Tribesfight, white men die' Perhaps you tell your fatherno."

But the boys were not in the habit of saying nowhen their faiher asked them to do a job, especiallywhen it was one that offered excitement, adventure,and a chance to learn more about Africa and its wild-Iife.

So their reply was an enthusiastic yes.Their enth-usiasm simmered down a bit when they/

IO

coNco J UNGLEcrossed from the lion country into the jungle home ofthe gorillas.

Joro had told the truth. The Congo was not at

The Hunts got their permit from the black comman-dant at Rumangabo.

"The Virunga volcano territory is pretty wild,"the commandant warned them. "You'll need aguide."

"Can you recommend one?""No, I can't. We did have some good white hunters.

But when the Congo boi{ed over, they went back toBelgium. One of them st"ayed

-

but f don't recom-mend him."

"Why not?" Hal asked. "If he had enough courageto stay, perhaps he's just the man we need."

The commandant smiled. "I'm afraid it wasn'tcourage that kept him here. He just didn't have thecash to go. He was broke

-

still is.""Then perhaps he'd be willing to take on this job.

Doesn't he know the country?""More or less.""Then what's the matter?"The commandant pursed his lips. "I think I've said

enough. Suppose I send a boy to fetch him. Then youcan judge for yourself."

A half hour later the big Belglan walked in. Thecommandant introduced him as Xndr6 Tieg.

II

GORILLA ADVENTURE

i

II

A d;;;;.t."eath it running 1u ltrg y,avaown-tgth;.;;;'";; th" mouth suggesled that-the ev.e *d^haple had heen soused bv the claw of a leoparo'

r necheek had been gouged by the claw ol a leoparo' r r""".

*."".a tne"tefifidebf the face into a perpetuscar warPed the 3il

T2

CONGO J UNGLEcruel man, not quite the sort of fellow one would feelsafe with in the woods.

home.""But you haven't gone," Hal said.Tieg swelled visibly. His high brush of hair nearly

touched the ceiling."I'm hard to scare. I'm not ajraid of the natives.

And I'm not afraid of gorillas. But you must notexpect too much. There aren't many mountaingorillas left."

"I realize that," Hal said."You see," said Tieg importantly with the sort of

voice an encyclopaedia would have if it could speak,"there are two kinds of

-

the mountaingorilla and the lowland The lowland gorillalives in the hot, wet along the West Coast. Itis short-haired and jawed. It's about the sameheight and weight as the mountain gorilla

-

butdoein't lbok it. The mountain gorilla appears almost

"I know," Hal said.r3

circus won't pay more than five thousand doUars tor

GORILLA ADVENTURETieg's glass eye stared coldly. "Then aren't you

prettt foolish to go after the ones that are harder to

crrcus won I pay more urarra lowland go-rilla. What they really want is the raremountain iariety and they'll put up ten thousanddollars to get one."

"Indeedl" Tieg said. His good eye dropped, but hisartificial or$/continued to stare. "Well, young man,it's your fuieral."

The next evening they found themselves in a roughcabin ten thousand feet up the slope of MountMikeno. It had been a stiff climb

-

the fourteenLand-Rovers, Powerwagons, catching cars and jeepsbeloneine to the expedition had needed every ounceof polwei they could get out of their four-wheeldrive.

Now the two boys and Tieg sat about a rough table,sipped tea, and chewed on the dried meat calledjerky.' Tire crew had made themselves a camp-fire outsidenear a sheet of water too large to be called a pool andtoo small to be called a lake. Night had come on andanimals were creeping out of the forest to drink'

Roger peered tlirough a small window. "I see bushpigs ind-wildebqept and waterbucks and there areiu'o bufialoes. Bui no gorillas."r4

don't drinkCONGO

HaI said.J UNGLE

they seldom come so near camp."Tieg cocked his movable eye at the raftered roof.

"You'll see them soon enough. I hope you're preparedfor a shock. Beginners Iike you find them the mostterrifying animals on earth."

"Why terrifying? " Hal asked. "After all, they lookpretty much like men."

"That's just it," Tieg said. "They look so muchlike men that you expect them to act like men. Butwhen one comes at you with a scream that can beheard ten miles away, with his huge hairy chest blownup like a balloon, his face twisted into a horrible glare,his jaws bigger than any man's, open wide enough totake in your head, his six- or seven-foot body lookinglike ten feet, his five hundred pounds against yourhundred and fifty, his enormous arms buried in haireight inches long, hands as big as footballs slappinghis stomach, poh-poh-pok,loud as an African drum,and you realize that here is a monster with thestrength of ten men

-

well, it's such a surprise to seea creature that looks like a man behaving as no mancould ever behave that the chills run up and downyour spine and you are so scared you stand rooted tothe spot, or you nrn like mad."

"I'd run," shivered Roger.,"That would be the worst thing you could do. No,

you hay'e to stand your ground. He's faster -

if yourun hdll catch you, and once those arms go aroundyou you'Il quit breathing. Your only chance is tostahd and face him. Then he may

-

he iust tnay -

stop and think it over. And he may not. If his wivesr5

IT

GORILLA ADVENTURE

his family."Hal tiitted his brows. "Did you say carry no gun?

sees one.""Then he must have been hunted."

16

coNGo J UNGLEin New York you'll see them in the Akeley AfricanHaI."

Roger spoke up. "They're great. We've seen themdozens of times."

Tieg looked at Roger so hard his glare seemed topierce the boy's hide. "So I suppose you know moreabout all this than I do. Perhaps you ought to be theguide and teach me."

I could teach you better manners, Roger thought."There's another m.rn more important in a way

than all these," Tieg went on. "You wouldn't knowabout him. He settled down here a few years ago andlived among the gorillas for more than a year. Hemade the first detailed study of the gorilla's habits.His name was Schaller."

"I've read his books," Hd said. He opened hjspack and drew out George Schallet's Tfu Year of theGoril.l,a. "It's my goriJla bible."

"So that makes you an authority, I suppose," wasTieg's caustic comment.

"Nonsense," Hat said. "I know nothing about themountain gorilla except what I've read. That's oneanimal.my fatler never had on the farm. Never couldget one."

"And there's no guarantee that you'll be moresuccessful," Tieg reminded him. "You could shootone easily enough. But to take one alive

-

that'sreally something."

17

Two

Footprints

bearing the words:CARL AKELEY

November 17 '

tgz6

red-hot lava."iit"

""ti"'fttd rough unpainted board walls and a

tr-"#]ii'"""tistea"ot tiree large rooms and twor8

FOOTPRINTSsheds- the crew slept in one room and the sheds,the boys shared a room, Andr6 Tieg had a room tohimself .

Everyone was up now -

except Tieg. He washaving his beauty sleep. Hal talked with the cook.Then he rapped on Tieg's-door.

"Breakfast's ready, " he called.In due time Tieg came out, Yawning."What's for breakfast?" he inquired sleepily."How rrould you like three per cent of an egg?"Tieg glared. "Is that supposed to be funny?""Yes," Hal said. "Funny and true. The cook tells

me he's scrambled an egg.""An egg for each man, you mean. Learn to speak

precisely, young fellow. ""I'm being precise," Hal said. "We're going to have

one egg for breakfast. ""One egg for thirty-three men?""Exactly."Tieg looked at Hal with an expression that would

turn milk sour."You're talking nonsense," he snarled. "Anyhow,

I want no egg. Just cofiee and toast."Ilut he changed his mind when the mountain ofsr:rambled egg came on the outdoor picnic table. Hestitl pretended to be indifferent, but he took a largelrclping.

"One egg indeed," he said, looking at the lusciousy,'llow mountain. "It took at least three dozen eggslo rrrake that."

" No, just one," Hal said. "Cook, bring the shell.r''I'hc cook brought the shell. It was unbroken except

r9

call me Mr Tieg"'

FOOTPRINTS

"Of course, Mr Tieg. What do you say- shall we-scout around first before we actually try to capture a

gorilla? Just the three ofchief tracker. Too many meAfter we locate a familY

Tieg smiled. d."I'1I be with y o-vided he keeps

nt their clothes. Their feet sank in moss so deep thatIt was hard to pull them out again.

Tieg led the way. He had said he knew this countryttrr in hour tLey pushed and scrambled and

flnd them there."'l'hey came out into the clearing. It was the one

2t

\GORILLA ADVENTUREthev had left an hour be cabin""ith" fitii"-ftte and the

themback so soon. Tieg had ma

Tieg did his noble best se rorthis blunder'"':'N.:;;;; he said. "You can't keep a..straight"o".t"

tftio"glt the woods iI there's no sun'"""fi"

-.o"-""ions began to realize that i{ they were

*" n'.i-#iiU"t it.t"v m"ttst do it without Tieg's help''"d; il;-t"-r'i. p""tt and pulled .out i P"t\"jcompass. "Now we'll know our dlrectrons ar teasl'he said."'il;;

was tired. "All that slogging through mo.ss

"rrd ihorns for nothing ! Aren't there any tralrs

throush these woods?""NJ trails," Tieg said'"ii;i;It t'h";"i-als that come to this waterhole

""";;;i1. Strely they must make a path"'

"' :'itfi;hj'- r#g'-in"i't"a' "AnimaG don't need. He wandered awaY from

e of the meadow,m here and therea trail' Fumbling

one' and

such-heavY beasts allio"i f""t Pressing th soar

FOOTPRINTS

over bushes. They would plough through th9ry oraround them, and those that came after would followthose that had gone before, and the result would bea trail. But the thick shrubbery that grew up alongthe forest's edge might hide the entrance to the trail'

So he kept p*ttft aside the curtain of follage,-thevoung tree-{erns, the bamboo, the strange wild celery.ix t"et ttlgh, the blackberry bushes. ,

And at"last, there it was' Concealed behind thefast-srowing screen was the beginning of a path,deepiy stamlped with the sharp hooves of buffalo,.thetro'ad padt.'of elephants, and many other imprintsunfamiliar to Roger'

"I found a trail," he shouted, and the others cameto ioin the voung explorer'

'lGood for yoi," Hal said and Joro gave him- asmile that wai aII the mrre brilliant because of the

in a very black face'ed, and followed sulkilY asrail'a book. It told him what

:d this waY. "Warthog," he said'" Waterbuck. Kongoni. Topi. Buffalo' Bush pig'" Her;lopped and looked about. "Watch both sides

-

and,,lrtiJe. A leopard has been here within the last halfIrour."

'lhey went on, warily, until Joro qaid,."You^canlrrl

GORILLA ADVENTURE

four knuckles."--;rit"

these?" Roger said, pointing out a row of

six inches.--;'g""t"

exclaimed Roger. "He must have handslike-ha'ms. I'd hate to be-swatted by one of those"'

24

Tltree

Gog, the Giant

f ono was carefully examining the ground. "He went6n up this path," he said. "Let's follow him. But bever5.quiet.-These prints are fresh

-

he can't be veryfar awav."

Thev-went on, careftrl not to step on any twig thatmight

-crack underfoot. After about a quarter of a

mile, Joro stopped."He tett th6 lrail here," Joro whispered. He stood

still and listened. He evidently heard something. Theboys heard it too

-

a sound t!\e the drippin-g -of

waterfrom leaves after a storm. But there had been no

iT:-JJJ:T:It came and

went, began and stoPPed.Then ihere was another sound

-

a voice -

a deep,

rnd peered through the bushes'25

GORILLA ADVENTURE

continued.""irtiv f*-a the voice again, like the purr of a big

heard.Then he talked again to himself';;;;;;;;;ti"d *t'ut he's saYing?" Hal ruhis-

d' "It isn't Swahili' Must bedone with drinking' stood uP'

He towered almost seven feet tall'- i'Must be a Watutsi," Tieg guessed'

26

I

GORILLA ADVENTUREHal was half convinced. The land of the Watutsi'

the world's tallest humans, was not far away'--

But Hal had collected animals in Watutsi country'"He can't b "The Watutsiare skinnY. must be frveteet around s seven hundred Poundsif he weiehs an ounce."- ift" ttio".t"t turned so they could see his profile'Now they could get a Ll idea of the size of thattremendous head, thethe huge Projecting

There was no doat a gorilla, and a great onek";*'l.;; his stu"clies, stood some five or six feettall re hundred to six h'rldredpou San Diego zoo tiPPedthe ght-five, and anotherat six hundred and eighteen.*-e-*"tiff.

tttat had been killed in the Forest ofB;;fi" near the Congo River in rgzo and^ whose

d in a French scientitlc lour-four inches' But it was ait had ever been heard of

since.---ih"

montter they were now looking at -was -thegr;i"ti lirriog

"t"it.tt" on two legs that they had

ever seen."Looks like Gog," Hal whisPered'tu*1. Io the Guildhall in

wooden statue ofused to be a race

supposed to be the last of

28

GOG, TIIE GIANTthese giants. And thnow looked like theone of the last of histain gorillas were wiped out, there would be no moreman-like giants on earth.

Hal mentally pinned the name Gog on the giantthat stood before them.

Hewouldinto the fullthousand heeaso. how the eirls would scream."

.d.'shaft of "sun broke through the clouds andbrought out the monster in sharp relieJ' For the frrsttime they could see that he was not all black. Downthe middle of his back ran a strea.k of silver. Exceptfor these almost white hairs, all the hair on his bodywas black and stood out as if electrified'Why ced his audiencepeering averag-e

-animalwould-h or smelled them.

man's.But in size and strength, thought HaI, this giant

lelt man far behind. How would they capture him?Four men certainly could not do it. It was a job forthe whole crew. He started back towards the traillnd the others followed. They must move fast

-

their prize might wander away before they couldbring the crew.

29

GORILLA ADVENTUREOnce on the trail, they broke into a dog-trot' Roger

was so busy glancing I'eft ana right that he almoststumbled.

"Watch vour step," Tieg said."I was wbnderinf where his family is," Roger said'

3o

GOG, TIIE GIANTdisappeared from the lace of the earth because theyhaclbien hunted to the death by man. If this sort ofmurder went on, the mountain gorilla would join thegone and forgotten.

3r

oar

full life-sPan of thirtY Y99t-s?-::lii,:dxtffi ii-e"'.,i;id like to have b:*;*igo'ul"o"iri"t ftipr"-8"ia i" *t'aJ.1 cian1 q1{9lo,9ksir-r."

-."a "

iittf" on" that would live a long trme'Iike, and a;:bi.itrr -irt"t's why they're worth the same

The Ballet

32

TIIE BULLETworld. But if you take a live gorilla and put it in azoo you haven't reduced the number of gorillas. Infact, you are doing the gorillas a favour

-

becausethey live better and live longer in a well-kept zoo thanthey would in the jungle where they have so manyenemies. Some people say that animals pine away ina zoo. That's true in some cases

-

but generally it'sthe other way round

-

the animal is not at all un-happy to be safe and well-fed, cured of his diseasesif he has any, and entertained by wdtching the funnyhumans who come to look at him."

"Listen," Roger said.There was a crackling in the bushes, then out

stepped the giant they had seen beside the stream. Hewas still talking to himself in a low, contented voice.

He stopped short when he saw what had happenedto his family. Then his voice changed to an agonized&oo, aoo, aoo. He ran forward and stooped over thebody of the young male, probably his son. Then hedropped between his two wives. With his great handshe tried to stop the blood that still trickled from theirwounds. He shook them as if trying to bring themback to consciousness. Then he put one great hairyarm around each, drew them close to him and rockedback and forth, moaning pitifully.

Suddenly there was a change. The giant droppedthe two warm dead bodies and leaped to his feet. Helooked all about him and one could guess the thoughtin his mind, "Who did this?"

His eyes came to rest on the men not too well con-cealed in the bushes. He let out a blood-curdlingscream that echoed back from the crags of Karisimbi,

GORILLA ADVENTUREthe next volcano' It was snumbed the nerves and the

at drum of his chest' '

Their first imPulseknew very well thatTheir onlY chance wbeast.T;'h" behaved in true gorilla fashion he would*ii" *ltffip"trttpt t"tt t"Jt of them' then stop' andturn aside' ick to the rules of the

was wiPed out bY his

34

GORILLA ADVENTUREuntil vou cJm" to the great apes' They.afone'.31$tft"f .itf"t ."i-al, manl have a face that can trulyxDress their emotions'"^6il

";;;'-;, "" matter how angry' does not smell

#;';';y io'i['' e stght bie6ze brought theodour to Roger's nostrils

"He smells like burninCoe ipteta his huge ha -ole

"tilii "J""o"*rti*. if;. t- ight

iili]ii" I'nltira* mo"ct"s heaved and it was clearthat one of those enormous hands could twist a man'shead off'*Ti""iar"

on the ape's forehead twitched up- andd";;J;il;' r"rd*'" hair on his own neck do

.fti u" the wrong thing'He bent down, grabbed a rock' and threw it with all

his strength.*i;;tru?k the monster full in the chest but h"l lo

-;;iJ ulon nim t an if he had been struck bya feather.- il;;;" picked it up and threw it back' That againr.riri""a?["in" il"v. Jit'" stotiet about the great Gog*tt" i.t*rtt;v durling rocks at his enemies' - .

'"'Thffi; "i"sht

ri"tg in the stomach and doubledhim up. , E,-^ t^^L'^"irr?*oritt" did not stop at ten feet nor at five feet

36

TIIE AULLETnor at one. A sideways slap of his left arm laid Rogerand Joro flat on the ground and his right arm did thesame for Hal.

He reserved special treatment for Tieg. He pickedup the big fellow and flung him into a tree where helanded on a branch twelve feet up, then fell to theground.

Tieg drew a revolver and fired.The bullet found its mark but did not fell the beast.

He clutched his shoulder, then turned and dis-appeared into the woods.

Hal bent over the unconscious body of Roger. Hefelt his pulse, made sure the boy was breathing.

"He'lI come round," he said and, sure enough, afteru few minutes Roger opened his eyes and inquiredweakly "What happened to me?"

His tough young body survived a blow that wouldhave killed someone who had not been hardened asItoger had been by marry adventures in the Africanbush.

The men picked themselves up and stumbled in arort ol daze along the path towards the cabin. Hallooked curiously at Tieg.

"I thought you said not to carry a gun."Tieg was embarrassed. "Oh, that," he said. "WeII,

you see, I thought it was just an extra precaution.""llut I thought you said you weren't afraid of

Sorlllus,""Afraid? Who's afraid? I just thought I ought to

be rendy to protect you in case of trouble. You werevety lucky that I did bring it along. I saved yourllver nnd I expect a little gratitude for that."

37

GORIJ,LA ADVENTUREHil smiled and let the big coward enjoy his feeling

of sel{-imPortance.* R;;;;i;;a--h"cing back' After he had done this

.""u.ii ti-i. ,.Jis brotf,er asked, "What's the matter'

not seen the last of Gog'

38

Fiae

Pytltons are Lihe TltatRocen was restless. Every time he began to dozeoff he saw an angry black face in the bushes and allairy arm five hundred feet long reaching all the wayacross the clearing to knock him senseless.

He woke and worried. Not just because he wastfraid of Gog. But also because he was sorry for Gog.'l'he great beast had lost his loved ones. Then Tieglrad made matters worse. Now Gog, wounded andsrrffering, had become a deadly enemy. Half crazywith pain, he was raging through the forest ready tokill the first human he saw.

"Hal," Roger said. "Wake up.""Go to sleep.""l-isten, HaI. We've got to do something.""J,ike what?""(ict that bullet out of him."It was not the reply Hal had expected. But it was

lrrnl. like Roger to plan how to help an animal ratherI lrrr n cscape from it.

" l)on't talk nonsense," Hal said. "How can youttrnkc friends with a beast that is bent on murderingyrrrrl"

" l r lon't know," admitted Roger. "But we've got torLr ll, sornehow. And you've got to fire Tieg."

" l )r rfortunately, we can't do that. He's under39

G ORII-LA ADVENTUREcontract. We had to g until;;;;;a;"" with oui Butiil""iJ'.-o* tttittg r

"t" of his

Toro burst into the room'"

"Pythott, bwana'""Where?"

the lake'"'^ii"lr"ioor."a in vain for the python' Joro pointed'

40

PYTHONS ARE LIKE THATready to leap out and grab any animal that mightcome to drink.

"How do we get it out of there?" Roger wondered."Lasso it? Use a net?"

"It would go down before we could get a rope or anet on it," Hal said.

"How couid it go down? It has to stay up tobreathe."

"No. It can stay under and hold its breath for agood twenty minutes. In the meantime it could swimlway under water and we would have no idea where1o find it. We won't have much luck using force.llut perhaps we can give it a good reason to comeout."

"What do you mean? Do you think you can arguewith a python?"

4r

GORILLA ADVENTURE"Yes. If we have another

#*ttT"L"tPewithoutdifficu]tv.'"1";;ti; it over here-close to the water"' Halsaid.

Mali dragged the bucking' Puntil it stood on the shore closeMali himself disaPPeared intoing the end of the line'

There was a suclden surge of water as the snake*iifr'tt"^a itit"a u"a 1 s Jpen shot towards its prey

"Haul in," shoutedMali hauled the tremb

safetv of the bushes ancendid uPon the greatslithered through theirThe men were disaPPointed'"::N""i.'-i"a;;-riit tuia "we'tl get it {9t I,l -Tlt urr" it. nest down there' Sooner or later it wru comeoltt uguit,. Be readY to grab it'"'-ffi;

stood and w-ait"d - ten' twenty' thirtyminutes'

an idea' He went to theack with a sPrig of garlic'man said, "theY used to. Thev iust can't staythe garlic at the edge of

g him out'"

42

PYTIIONS ARE LIKE THATHal was too wise to laugh at such notions. This was

only one of many native superstitions.Another was that the python is sacred. Many tribes

worship it as a sort of god. If you kill a python therewill be no rain and your crops will die.

Another notion is that a python must have its taillocked around a tree before it throws its coils aboutyou. Naturalists know that this is not so

-

manypythons have attacked men and animals on the plainswhere there were no ttees.

Another common idea is that the snake uses itstongue as a paintbrush and covers its victim withsaliva so it will slip down more easily. Actually thelrrngue is too small for such a job. Irt would be likeI rying to paint a barn with a toothbrush.

-'llhe snJke has two small bumps underneath and is

srrl4rosed to press these into its victim's nostrils sol lrti it cannot breathe. This is not true, but the truthis rrrore strange. The two bumps are the remains ofllr:l . Some millions of years ago snakes walked.

( )nc more popular idea is that no snake dies before,,rrrrrlown. This is not the case, but there is somet,.lrson for such a superstition as the boys were soonlo lirrtl out.

'l lrc rainbow, in the traditions of some tribes, is anr.rr )r nrous python coiled around the globe, and onlyllrr. rnost powerful witch doctors can keep it from

43

GORILLA ADVENTUREpeppered with volcanoes, was subject to violentearthouakes.*e'-.itaa""

upheaval made him stagger ofi to more

and nowhere else.

Six

Wrestling Matclt

escape. To do so, it must release its grip on the sidesof the hole.

of snake.

4445

GORILLA ADVENTURE

46

WRESTLING MATCHpowerful teeth can inflict a serious wound. Its longteeth are as sharp as needles. They are curved in likefish-hooks so that once they have taken hold they donot let go.

The men forgot the tail and tried to rescue theircompanion from the snake's jaws. At once theneglected tail swung round, beating down severalmen, then coiled about the body of the man whohad been bitten. The man was Toto, one of Hal's best.He fought bravely but could do little since his armswere pinioned to his sides.

Every time he breathed out, the coils tightened.That is the constrictor's favourite method of killing.Often it does not break any bones, but merelysqueezes more and more tightly so that the victimcannot breathe. When breathing has stopped theheart also will soon stop.

But don't believe it if someone tells you that a con-strictor cannot break bones if it wants to. A circuslrcrlormer was killed by a seventeen-foot snake andwas {ound afterwards to have bones broken in eighty-li rur places.

lI the snake succeeded in squeezing all the life outof 'loto it would then proceed to swallow him.Wlrcther it could do so would depend upon the sizeol lhe snake and the size of the man. There are hun-,lrrrls of proven cases of the swallowing of humansl,y rnembers of the boa family.

'I lre boa constrictor, which grows only to a length'l soure twelve feet, cannot do it. But it is not impos-',rlrk: for the great alaconda or the python. A pythonr rr, rlr: than thirty feet in length swallowed a grown

47

GORILLA ADVENTUREEast Indian woman. A boy fourteen years

-old was.*rffo*.a by a snake eighteen feet long-' JVttgl "ii"*""" dis"appeared his-friends searched for him'f"t"J

""tfti"g Uut his slippers, and near by a gor-ged

""tno" t*""iv-five feet iong' Upon opening it they

idund the body of their companion'.And vet a python is not a vicious creature' It

.tt"oti ti*"t "iJkes

trouble unless it is attacked' It is

"".ii" tu*"a "rrd many an African keeps a pet python

in th"e house to rid the ptace of rats and "i"#r"##i

;:.'ffi:?lseizing the bar and forcing it

between the great teeth. Two men helped him pryttt" i.*t opei and free the bloody shoulder'- Othershad ieized ihe tail and were uncoiling the sna!9 tromioio;. toay. Toto knew nothing of all this' He hadfainted.--ii;.;'t

crowbar did the trick' The jaws separatedand tf,e uncoiled serpent fell away'

But ii the men thought tH:l',:il::Tffi*::ed iirto one of the holes.s, or even for daYs.

Bis Tiee had been standing safely in the background'Niv nisaw ttis chance to be a hero' He came stndtng;-;;; the men, who stood no higher than hisrhJad His great yellor moustache whipped abouti" ttt" tt""r", f,is gliss eye stared coldly at the men'"nJfti" ottt"i

eye "fixed iiself scornfully upon Hal'

48

WRESTLING MATCH"You've made a pretty botch of it, haven't you," he

said."You could have done better?" Hal inquired."Naturally. You seem to forget that I am the guide

of this expedition. This is no job for boys.""If you have any plan let's hear it," Hal said. "The

snake is frightened now. Heaven knows how long it'llstay down. If you know how to get it up, go to it."

"Simple," Tieg said. "Men, get some brush and putit down that hole." The men obeyed. "Nbw set fireto the brush." The fire was soon blazing fiercely. "Nosnake can stand that. It will come out the other hole.AII of you, stand close around that hole and grab itwhen it comes out."

The men closed in around the hole. Perhaps Tiegwas right. The python, dreading the fire, wouldsurely try to escape by this exit.

No one happened to notice that Tieg did not jointhe men around the hole where the snake wasexpected to emerge. He stood at a safe distance bythe other hole where the fire burned.

He was taken completely by surprise when straightup through the flames shot a great yellow head draw-ing after it a writhing black-and-brown body withtwo lumps. Like a thunderbolt it struck Tieg in thechest with its nose, tough as a battering ram, andthrew its coils around him.

Tieg in a panic drew his revolver and fired into thecreature's open mouth. The bullet passed up throughtho head. The snake fell away and the thirty-footbody twisted into knots in the death agony.

Hal faced Tieg. "I'I take that gun," he said.49

GORILLA ADVENTURE

steam.HJ puled him out of the hole and removed the gun

tto-m-tit holster. Tieg's adventure in water and firehad taken

"Better es"' HaI said'Tieg got u the cabin'

52 53

Seaen

Another Battle Lost

Jono slashed off the head of the dead snake with onestroke of his bush knife.

"We make medicine out of that," he said.Hal was quite willing to let the men use the dead

snake as they pleased. They coufd grind the skull intoa powder and sell the powder to the medicine men.

The joints of the backbone could be used by villagewomen as a necklace to strengthen the throat-oras a belt to cure stomach-ache. In some Africancountries a string of python bones was supposed toprotect the wearer against snakebite.

Serpent superstition goes back a long way. Mosessct up an image of a Brazen Serpent that was sup-posed to have healing power. For five centuries itwas worshipped as a sort of god. The Greek god ofhealing, Asklepios, carried a carved serpent woundirround a staff. It is still the symbol of the medicalprofession.

Ilven today 'snake medicine' is sold in China. It isnr1>posed to be a cure for insanity, convulsions,r,pilepsy, poor sight, colds, sore throat, malaria, ear-rr r: I rr:, toothache, deafness, arthritis and rheumatism.Irr (luatemala hot snake fat is used as a poultice forloltls. Snake oil is well known in Puerto Rico.

Viper flesh was used as a medicine in France until

GORILLA ADVENTURE1884, and before that in London as a cure for the

54

ANOTIIER BATTLE LOSTthat is used to record earthquakes. You remember in

how many earth-ed in a day, some-felt one of them.

Every snake is a wriggling seismograph.""speaking of hearing," Roger said, "do you hear

a bell? Every time that snake twists I hear atinkle."

HaI laughed. "Now you're the one who is crazy.Snakes don't tinkle."

"This one does. Listen. Hear it? You're so good atexplaining

-

explain that."Hal heard it. Even with all his training from child-

hood up as a practising naturalist, here was somethinghe couldn't explain. "You've got me there," headmitted.

Toto, his shoulder bandaged, came to Hal. "Youwant?" he said, pointing at the snake.

"No, I don't want it," Hal said. "You and themen can do what you like rrith it."

Toto grinned his appreciation and went back to themen. HaI was a good boss. He had made a kind giftto his crew.

The men slit the underside of the body and beganIo strip off the skin. It was worth good money'l'ython hide makes excellent leather' It is waterproof,r la.mp-proof, wear-resistant. It does not crack, chipor peel.

It was better than cowhide or goatskin' These ani-rrriLls, since they have legs to keep them up off thegrrnrnd, do not need such tough skins' A pythonwlrich must drag its two-hundred-pound body over

J5

GORILLA ADVENTUREthe ground and through brush must be protected by

covers were made from it.But the skin would spoil unless it was stripped

from the dead snake without delay So HaI under-stood the haste of the crew.

When the hide had been peeled free, the body wascut open and out tumbled a fine pork dinner-twofat pigs who must have been swallowed recently andweri little affected by the snake's digestive juices.

The snake had evidently been guilty of raidingsome native village.

But stili the tinkle was not explained. A littie morecutting, and the mystery was cleared up. Out camethe sk-eleton of a cat with a small bell on its neck.Toto took off the bell, washed it in the lake, and hungit on his neck-cord where it tinkled merrily as hervorked.

"Dig that hole larger," Hal advised the men. "Per-haps you'll find the nest."

Sir feet down they came uPon a large chambercontaining a great number of leathery white eggsabout foui inChes in diameter. They counted them.There were ninety unopened eggs and two that hadbeen broken.

"Wonder what broke them," Roger said'"There's your answet," HaI said, pointing out two

baby snakei about a foot long. "Notice the horny

56

ANOTIIER BATTLE LOSTtooth on the end of their snouts. They use that to

other eggs. Coiled insidete snake, its httle forked

tongue darting in and out.fhe Africaos seemed as delighted as if they had

discovered gold. They carefully put every one of theninety snakelets into a deeP Pan.

"What good are theY?" Roger asked."You'Il see at dinner-time. "The big snake was cut into thick slices. A fire was

made nelr the cabin and not only the pigs but

They were surprised to find it so good."it'. Iik" chicken," Roger said, "only not so dry."Hal said, "I uaderstand the cannibals like it even

better than man-meat, just for that very reason-it'snot so dry. A man is about sixty per cent water.But a snake is seventy-five per cent water'"

"I feel like a savage," Roger said, "sitting here ande ating snake meat."

"You don't need to feel that way about it," Halsaid. "Your ancestors il Europe ate snake. It is stillr:aten to some extent in France-but for the benefitof persons who don't like the idea of eating snake,the meat is sold in the market as'eel'. The Pilgrimswlro came over in the M ayflower ate snake when theyr':rn out of other food. The pioneers who went West

57

GORILLA ADVENTUREin covered wagons ate rattlers when they were shortof other provisions. Rattlesnake meat is still cannedin Florida. Here in Africa where there are so memysnakes the people would be foolish if they didn't eatthem. It's not savage. It's just common sense."

For dessert the grilled baby snakes were served.The men popped the small snakes into their mouthsand chewed up the soft bones and delicate flesh withmuch pleasure.

ThiJ was just a little bit more than Roger couldtake, He announced that he was not hungry anymore. Even HaI would gladly have skipped thisdessert. But his men were watching him. With a smileon the outside and a sickish feeling inside he downedone of the little wrigglers.

Back in the cabin HaI went to an old rolltop deskand began fishing through some Papers, yellow withage.

"I saw something here about pythons -

ah-thisis it. It's a clipping from a missionary magazine, GladTidings, published fifty years ago. It gives somecurious advice on what to do if you are attacked by apython." He read the clipping:

"Remember not to run away-the python canmove faster. The thing to do is to lie flat on theground on your back with your feet together,arms to the sides and head well down. Thepython will then try to push its head under you,experimenting at every possible point. Keepcalm. One wriggle and he will get under you,wrap his coils around you, and crush you.

58

ANOTIIER BATTLE LOST"After a time the snake will get tired of this

Then carefully take out your knife and insert itinto the distended side of his mouth, and with aquick rip, slit him uP."

Roger grinned. "I don't think I could be thatpatient-tb keep calm and let him sruallow me up toihe knee before I stt him up. I'd slit him up before he

59

['GORILLA ADVENTUREhe said. "If he sees it he will blow his whistle. Whenyou hear it, get down there in a hurry. Tell themen."

Roger scanned the lake, but there was no sigrr of apython. He looked down the hole that had beenenlarged to get at the eggs; He examined the otherhole. He could not see very far down-the snakemight or might not be at home. Or it might be outlooking for food, or prowling in search of those whohad tal

GORILLA ADVENTURENow the whole head was up and out' Roger couldf the head lhat il uas a

th blue eYes. A red tonguengue, instead of being a

stinger as many people supposed, was a sort of mini-ature radar outfit. Every snake was so equipped,

sonous. Roger knewnot help being a bitdarting tongue.

Another foot or two of the gleaming white snakeemerged.

It was time to act. Roger put the whistle to hismouth. But no, he must not blow it yet, the snakewould feel the sound and escape. Roger must firstget the lasso over the head. Then he would blow forall he was worth.

It was necessary to steP out of the bushes to getroom to swing his rope. The snake, startled by his

noose.Now was the time to blow that whistle. But as

64

GORILLA ADVENTURE

single step.-- fhe miehtv arms might easily have broken thesnake's baikbone if they had been free' But they too

stricting now' Every time thetightened' No ordinary animalbreath would be squeezed out

wraooed in pvthon and rope."Vtu'a r6t'ter uhtwist them," Roger said, "before

bv anv ovthon,"'"f{"i yoo't" not going to pull them apatl?-".,"No. You've made a very neat Package oI tnem'

66

nocrn's LUc xI'd say you couldn't have done it better if you hadhad them gift-wrapped. If we separate them, thenwe'll have trouble with both of them. We'll take themjust as they are. Mali, go get a net."

When the net came it was wrapped quickly aroundboth figures then tied fast.

"Lay hold," Hal said, but the men stood back. Halguessed the reason. The very rare white python isespecialiy sacred. There is a tradition that the god-dess HaIi returns as a white snake every thousandyears.

"She will bring us disaster if we don't treat herkindly," Toto said.

"We'll treat her very kindly," Hal assured him."Any man who harms her will be punished. Corne,take hold."

Hal himself gripped the net near the upper end ofllrr: two-headed monster. Other men, encouraged byhis example, hesitantly stepped forward and slippedlhcir fingers through the stout meshes of the net.'l lrr:re was no room for more than ten men, five onr':ufi side-

llal, whose scientific mind reduced facts to figureswlrt:ncver possible, estimated that this number oflr;rrr,ls would be cnough. The goriila must weigh fivelrrrrrrlrcd pounds or more, and the snake added{urollre r two hundred. That made seven hundred1,,rrrrrrls, or seventy for each of ten men. Thatrlrorrltln't be too much for alyone.

Anrl yet it r,vas not easy, for both animals began to,,1 r rrllglc when they were tipped to a horizontal posi-Irorr a.nd carried towards the camp. The snake

67

GORILLA ADVENTURE

were both perfect specimens, and the snake wassuper-perfect. A white python was as rare as a snow-

68

ROGER,S L UCK"Need each other, my eye! What do a snake and

an ape have in common?""Companionship," Hal said. "A solitary gorilla is

apt to die of lonesomeness. That's why there are onlythirteen mountain gorillas in all the zoos of theworld. They must have something to interest them.The best thing would be another gorilla, and perhapswe'll get one. But until we do, the python may beenough to keep her interested."

"Her? ""Yes. They're both ladies. And we'll have to treat

them as ladies should be treated. The first thing is toget them out of that net."

He climbed into the cage and let down the door,shutting himself in with his two visitors, either oneof which was quite capable of hugging him to death.

He took out his bush knife and slit the heavyslrands of the net from top to bottom and got outrrg;rin before the animals rea.Iized they were no longerlrrrLrnd. They disentangled themselves slowly. Therew;rs nothing to excite or disturb them, except thatllrt:y were in unfamiliar surroundings. The gorillarr:lrcated to one corner and the snake to another andr.irr:h pretended to be completely uninterested in ther rl ltct'.

" It will take them a little time to get used to beingI oorn-mates," Hal said.

'l'lrc two watched each other suspiciously, but with-rrrl fcar. The snake was not afraid of the gorilla.l,orillirs do not eat snakes but dine on fruit, bark,l,rurl)oo shoots and herbs. The gorilla was not afraidr,l llrc snake. The python's coils that could squeeze

69

GORI LI-A ADVENTUREthe life out of a lion were not strong enough to crushthe ereat aoe's chest.--

Tf,ere *a's tto reason, Hal thought, why they shouldnot get along together.

Discussinf tG matter at bedtime, the brothers.gt""a it ftuf, tteen a great day. "Thanks to you," Halsaid.

Roger would not accept the compliment' "I didn'tdo a ti-ring. They just captured each other' It was pure

timine.""I itill say it was luck," Roger said "The gorilla

came along;t just the right second' I'm going to callher Ladv Luck."

"And-how about the other ladY?""Snow White," suggested Roger."Snow White it i;, Hal agrbed. "That will dis-

tinguish her from an albino."

7o

ROGER,S LU CK"But she is an albino.""No. An albino usually isn't pure white. You can

still see faint markings on the skin. Besides, an albinohas pink eyes. The eyes of this python are blue."

"If she isn't an albino, what is she?""A sport.""What's a sport?""Well, you might say it's a freak. Something com-.

pletely different from the usual. Every circus iseager to get a few sports to amaze the public-awoman with long whiskers, a horse with two heads,anything that people will pay good money to see.Often a sport is ugly. But this one is beautiful. That'stn added attraction."

"I'li bet they've never seen as pretty a snake asSnow White."

"Not for many years, anyhow," HaI said. "When Iw:rs a youngster and you hadn't been born yet, anlnimal collector called Ryhiner went about therrrrrntry exhibiting a white python he called Serata-il 's a Sanskrit word that means 'beauty'. I rememberutxring her on a purple cushion with gold fringes inllrc window of Swissair at Rockefeller Center. Sherrllrircted so many people that the police had to be, rrllcd out to control traffrc. Ryhiner was offeredIrllccn thousand dollars for her but refused. PricesIrirvc gone up a lot since then. Do you realize thatyrxrr Snow White is worth at least twenty thousand

rrrrd your ape another ten thousand? A pretty good,l,r y's work."

liogcr tried to be properly happy about this im-lrrovcrncnt in the family fortunes, but the thought of

7r

GORILLA ADVENTURE

They would get along.

72 73

Nine

Massacre

Ro cB n's capture of the gorilla and the white pythonseemed a happy promise of future success.

Instead, it was the beginning of trouble.Everything went wrong. Roger, creeping out at

dawn to see how his guests were doing, found thatsomeone or something had been tampering with thepadlock on the cage door. It still held, but it was bentand battered.

If the night had been a little longer or the tools alittle stronger, Roger would now be looking into anempty cage.

Joro came out. Roger called him over. "Look atthis," Roger said, and Joro examined the lock.

"What do you make of it?" Roger queried. "Was itdone *ith a hammer? Or a pair of pincers?"

"We would have heard hammering," Joro said. "Itcould have been done with pincers. But it looks morelike a bite."

Roger stared. "That's a pretty wild guess, isn't it? "Joro grinned. "Pretty wild, " he admitted. "But

look. On both sides, the dents are in a curve as if theyhad been made by teeth. No pincers could do that."

"But how could teeth do it? " Roger objected. "No-lxrdy has teeth that strong. That's a good solid ironlock."

GORILLA ADVENTURE

has strong teeth. But they have no taste for hard-ware. "

Hal came out and joined the investigators' Theothers to exPress anopinio iron grille oneach s

get the cage open."-

"So you think it was done by an animal? " asked

"But there's no one else around.""They may be closer than you think," Hal said.

"Don'tiorgei the gang that murdered Gog's family."74

MASSACRE"What would they have against us?""They were probably after Gog too. But they

couldn't seII him with a bullet in him. They blameus for that. Then you bag a big female. There aren'ttoo many gorillas around

-

and we've spoiled theirchances to get two of them. We'Il spoil a lot more oftheir chances if we can-they know that. So perhapsthey've decided to take the easy way out. Let usdo the hard work of capturing the animals andthen steal them from us. I don't know. It's just aguess. "

Tieg appeared, twirling his big yellow moustache."And there's one more guess," HaI said. "Joro, saynothing about it to the men, but I want you to keepyour eye on Tieg. The commandant told us that hewas broke. What a temptation to try to get away withspecimens worth thirty thousand. Mind, I'm notaccusing him. Just keep your eye on him, that's all."

After a hasty breakfast the boys, with Tieg andtwenty of the crew, set out on a scouting trip throughI he surrounding forest to see if they could locate thet:nemy gang. Ten men were left to guard Lady Lucktnd Snow White.

Where the gang had attacked Gog's family theywcre surprised to find-Gog himself. The rvind was;rgainst them-the gorilla did not detect their pres-r:rrcc. He was occupied with his own thoughts.

I Ie had given his wives and son a gorilla burial bycovr:ring them thickly with branches and leaves.Now he sat near the graves with his great headlrowcd. He rocked back and forth, moaning softly.

75

GORILLA ADVENTURE"I clidn't know they cared so much," Roger

thev?"'iof course. But all you have to do is to raise your

voice a little and he knows he is being scolded' You

76

L

MASSACREwith rage, his eyes glared out of deep black caves andhis great savage mouth split open to let out an ear-spldtting uwua, uuua, that made iced water run downthe boys' spines.

Gog tore up a young tree by the roots and lumberedforward, bangrng his breast with one palm and bran-dishing the tree lke a great club in his other hand.

The boys forgot all they had learned about how tobehave when attacked by an angry gorilla. Theyturned and ran for their lives. They knew this beastwas not merely angry, he was bent on murder.Fortunately for thern, Gog's tree was caught in theunderbrush and before he could pull it free all hisenemies had disappeared.

"We should have brought a net," Roger said,remembering his bold plan to capture Gog and getthat tormenting bullet out of his body. And now,when they had had a chance to do just that, theywere unprepared. Instead, the angry beast hadscared the living daylights out of them.

"How could we know we would meet Gog?" Halsaid. '!We didn't come out to hunt gorillas this morn-ing. We're trying to spot that gang. Joro, do you seeany tracks? "

"The ground is too hard to show tracks," Joro said.A half hour later it was their noses, not their eyes,

that gave them some important information.It was not a good smell. It was the smell of death

and rotting flesh. Joro stood still, sniffing the air likean animal. "Over that way," he said, motioning tothe right. They picked their way through the under-brush, then went down through a grove of ferns that

77

GORILLA ADVENTUREin this climate grow to a height of twenty feet' Thesmell became slronger. The tree ferns thinned out

hundred mountain gorillas in the region of theVirunga volcanoes. The loss of sixty was a seriousmatter.

There were no dead babies. They had been takenalive after the older apes had been killed. Not everygangster had escaped the angry adults. Two Africanslav dead.

"Roger picked up something that was not African'Ue sn"ow,ia it to tiat. It was i small notebook {ull offigures and scribbled notes-in English !""It

seems to be a sort of account book. It tellswhere catches were made, how many were taken, cost

"Then what would You do?""Invite him down to see the authorities' I'll bet he

has no permit for what he's doing. He ought to beput away."?8

MASSACRE"If he goes to jail, witl that stop the kiJling? ""Chancis are it will. The gang doesn't kill for fun.

If there's nobody to pay them, why keep on? No pay,no work."

1'Look," Roger said. "Two live babies."The two youngsters had been lying unseen close to

their dead mother. Now one of them sat up and theother climbed on its mother's chest, took the longhair in its two little hands and tugged vigorously.When it did not get any response it sat mournfullylooking about, making no sound. A chimp would havebeen chattering. But gorillas are not talkative andan infant is no cry-baby.

"They look mighty lonesome," Roger said. "Andthey must be hungry. Do you think they would let

picked his way over the bodies. He stood lookingilown at the two small apes and they retumed hisgaze without stirring. They were too young to know

lris voice was easily understood.Slowly he moved his hand and petted one of them,

tlren the other. They seemed to like it.79

GORILLA ADVENTUREStill, he knew he couldn't rush matters. He did not

attempt to take them up. Instead, he rose slowly andstarted to walk away. He turned and found themfollowing close upon his heels.

He had been elected. From now on, he was theirmother.

He stooped again. One of them clambered up onhis shoulder and the other he took into his arms.

"A neat job," Hal said.

Ten

The Honey BirdHer showed the notebook to Joro. "Where do yousuppose we could find this Nero?"

"Perhaps he and his whole gang would be at Kalavillage today," Joro said. "One of my scouts bringsback word that they're having a big cerernony therein honour of a new chief."

"Let's go and see," Hal said.Tieg was pouting. He was supposed to be the guide

of this expedition but it was Joro who was leadingthe party. Tieg felt left out. He must assert himself.He must do something to make these people thinkhe was a great guy-that he knew something aboutthese woods.

But he didn't know enough to recognize a honeybird when he saw one. It sat on a branch, flutteringits wings and chirping loudly.

"It's trying to attract our attention," Hal said. "Ifwe'd follow it it would lead us to some honey. Butwe won't take the time for that now,"

'Tieg saw his chance to be important. "It would betime well spent," he objected. "AIl of us would likesome honey. I'll go and get it for you. I'Jl meet youat the village later."

Everybody in Africa knew about the honey bird.Even Tieg had heard of it, though he had never

8r

GORILLA ADVENTUREactually seen one. The honey bird, or honey gui-{9 Tit was iometimes called, loved wild honey, but didn't

cared for nothing so much as honeY.There was another extraordinary thing about the

bwho had not studied the

h e aII this. This co-oPerationb was too strange to be true.They did not realize that symbiosis, which meansteamwork between two different kinds of animals, isnot uncommon in nature.

The rhino and the egret are friends, the bird rideson the beast's back and gobbies up the insects thatannoy the rhino.

Th; tick-bird performs a similar service for thebuffalo, picking out the ticks that have brirrowed intothe animal's hide.

The crocodile bird fearlessly enters the open mouthof the crocodile to pick bits of food from betweenthe teeth. Also it eats the leeches that infest thecreature's body. The crocodile is a bad-tempered8z

THE UONEY BIRDreptile, but has a soft spot in its heart for this bird.

A small fish swims about among the arms of thesea anemone. Those arms are covered with stingersbut the little fish is not stung, because it is theanemone's good friend and assistant. It tempts bigfish which rush in to take it, and are promptly stungand swallowed by the anemone.

There were dozens of other examples of symbiosis,all unknown to big Tieg.

With a noisy cker-cher-ckar the little brown-bodied, white-tailed honey guide fluttered fartheraway and Tieg followed. The bird impatiently waitedfor him to catch up, fluttering and twittering con-stantly, then moving on.

Presently Tieg noticed that he was not the onlyone followiag the honey guide. The other was ananimal about two-and half feet long and a foot high

GORILLA ADVENTURE

alld ran.He stopped when he found that the ratel was not

following. instead, the animal was climbing up to thebees'nest.

all.The bees swarmed around the ratel but their stings

did not disturb him in the least. His tough hide waslike a coat of armour' He clawed the nest from the84

THE ITONEY BIRDbranch and it fell to the ground. The bees still buzzedaround the branch that had been their home.

This was easy picking. All that Tieg needed to dowas to take the big honeycomb, treat himself, thencarry all the rest to the village, give everybody a littleof it, and allow everyone to think what a clever fellowhe really was.

But the honey badger was clawing open the comband eating the sweet contents. The bird flutteredabout constantly, waiting its turn. Tieg also waited.His heart sank when he saw that the ratel was teariagthe honeycomb to bits. There would be nothing muchleft to take to the village.

Finally the ratel stopped eating and looked up atthe bird as if to say, "Now it's your turn". Heambled off, firll of honey and quite content. He hadleft enough for his flying friend.

The bird promptly sailed in to get its own dinnerbut was as promptly scared away by Tieg. Whatcould he do now? He wasn't going to eat after ananimal. Besides, what was le{t, though satisfactory toa bird, was so crumbled and mixed with dirt that noman wor:ld want to eat it.

Tieg was angry. Angry with the honey badger, andangry with the honey bird which had led him hereon a fool's errand. fnstead of allowing the bird toenjoy its dinner in peace, he fiercely ground every bitof honeycomb deep into the dirt, then, quite proud ofhimself, stood off to see what the bird would make of it.

The honey guide flew down and pecked about butfound nothing. It flew up to perch on a branch andpeer at Tieg with one eye. For a while it was quite

8S

GORILLA ADVENTUREsilent. Tieg was highly pleased with himself. It was apleasure to be able to cheat somebody or something,even if it was only a bird.

Presently the honey guide stirred. It fluttered a bitand found its voice. It took off and flew to anotherlree, cher-ing loudly and fluttering excitedly.

So this was another come-on, Tieg thought. Thebird would lead him to another beehive. This timethere would be no honey badger to make a mess ofthings.

He followed the bird, which flew from tree to tree,finally stopping at a hollow stump and circling aboutit just as it had circled around the branch.

The hive must be in the stump. The trees castheavy shade and Tieg could not see into the hollow,but he noticed that there were no bees flying about.Thatwasgood anexPedi-tion, leaving t had to dothis time was the entirehoneycomb, perfect and unbroken, and carry it offto the village.

He reached in and was immediately bitten by verysharp teeth. He pulled out his hand and whatever itwas that had bitten him clung on to it.

Out came a cat-like animal spotted like a leopard,but smaller, with a black mask over its face.

It was no sooner out than it sprayed Tieg with ashower of evil-smelling secretion so strong that itmight have paralysed a skunk. He swung it abouttrying to free his hand, but only succeeded in pro-vot ing it to send out more foul-smelling blasts thatsoaked him from head to toe.86

TIIE HONEY BIRDIt was the civet's method of self-defence. All ani-

mals, big and small, had learned to leave the civetalone. The smell was like that of very strong am-monia. It burned the inside of the nostrils of anycreature that smelled it. Strangely enough, the stuftwas used commercially as a base for perfumes. Ofcourse its odour was completely changed in theprocess. But in its raw state there was nothing moredisagreeable. If p monkey was sprayed, the othermonkeys would have nothing to do with him. And,unluckily, the stink had a lasting quality and couldnot be washed away or rubbed off.

The civet prowls about at night but lies up duringthe day in some dark hole. The hollow stump wasthis animal's home sweet home, and it hotly resentedbeing disturbed. After it had bitten deep and sprayedout everything ii had to give, it dropped again intoits hollow, giving some low-pitched, throaty coughsas if it could hardly stand its own smell.

87

Elezsen

The Salty Baboon

Srencnruc for the leader of the gang that hadslaughtered sixty gorillas, Hal and his men walkedinto the village of Kala.

It was a poor village. The houses were small andhad no windows. The walls were of mud, the roofswere thatch made of papyrus-the same plant fromwhich the ancient Egyptians made paper.

The people did not look too healthy but they werein a gay mood because this was the day when theywould celebrate the election of a new chief. Therewould be a solemn ceremony when the present chief,no,v eighty years old, would pass on his authority tohis son.

But this morning the old man was still chief, so Halinclurred the way to his house. He found a fine oldgentleman with all the best qualities of a chief, butthe wirrrered body of a man who all his life had neverhad ',nough to eat.

,/rfter the usual courteous greetings spoken by Halin English and translated into Swahili by Joro, Halaskeci:

"Do you know a man named Nero? He huntsgorillas."

"Yts, I kaow him.'"Wi[ he be here today?"

88

THE SALTY BABOON

killine our people.""Yi"r p6opG? The people of this village?""No. Our nlighbours in the forest. The great tribes

lost the power of speech."HaI did not argue this point. He was satisfied to let

the old chief believe whatever he chose to believe' Hehad to admit that the gorillas were better men thansome men he knew.

"Don't you ever have trouble with these -

tribesof the forest? " he asked.

"Never. If we leave them alone they never botherus."

IIat looked out into the gardens surrounding thevillage. "But I see some of them stealing your vege-

thirst. ""But"The said sadlY'Haf ing he had read

89

I.. / GORILLA ADVENTUREabout the baboons and water. These animals didn'trequire much water. They usually got enough out ofthe green stuff that they ate. But they had the rareability to detect the presence of water beneath thesoil. If they became very thirsty they would locatewater and dig down to it. But how make a baboonthirsty enough tq want to dig?

"Do you have salt?" he asked."Salt we have. But it only makes us more thirsty.""Then it would make a baboon thirsty," Hal

explained. "Perhaps thirsty enough to dig a well foryou in your own garden. I'm not promising that itcan be done. But would you like us to try?"

The old man nodded gravely but seemed to havelittle faith in the experiment. "We thank you foryour thought," he said. "It rvill do no harm to try."

"We shall need a rope," Hal said.The chief sent one of his women for a line. She

brought a rope that was not a rope. But it would do.It was one of the lianas that hang from the greattrees.

Hal called together his men. "Catch the biggest,strongest baboon you can get. Bring hirn here."

The men, przzhng over this strange order, pro-ceeded to the garden. The baboons did not run. Beingthe boldest of the primates, they kept on rooting outand devouring vegetables even when the men hadclosed round them.

In the meantime, one of the chief's women broughta large gourd fiIIed with salt. It was not good cleancommercial salt, for it had been scraped from a forestsalt pan, but it was good enough for the purpose.9o 9r

The baboon was brought. "Now, lay it out," Halsaid, "flat on its back-hold its arms and legs down-

prise its jaws apart with that stick."The baboon struggled but the odds against it were

too great. HaI began to force-feed it with salt. He felta little.guilty for doing this even to a baboon butafter all, the animal should pay for damaging thegardens. HaI did not stop until the gourd was emptyand the baboon was full.

the salt to do its work, Hal did not know. Perhapsthe experiment would not work at all. The baboonsat sulking among the vegetables. With a stufiedstomach, he had no desire to eat more.

Hal waited and wondered. When the animalbecame thirsty he might wander off into the forest,perhaps many miles away, before he began to dig forwater.

But Hal didn't think so. A baboon rarely goes off

GORILLA ADVENTUREon its own. Besides, the ground in the forest wouldbe full of roots and digging would be difficult if notimpossible. In the garden the soil was soft, and clearof roots and stones.

It was nearly an hour before the baboon rose andbegan to explore. Then he walked about with hishead down, using whatever mysterious senses ele-phants, rhinos, baboons and other animals employ tolocate underground water.

Then he fixed upon a 5pot that suited him andbegan to dig. His great clawJike hands made excel-lent shovels. He soon had help. Baboons have astrong instinct for teamwork. In this respect they arequite different from some other animals, such as thehyena which is a loner, and seldom co-operates withother hyenas. If one baboon, especially a leader, startsa job the others will promptly join him.

So a dozen hands scooped away the dirt and thewell rapidly deepened. They kept at it until at adepth of about twelve feet water began to ooze intothe pit. It was muddy at first, but the salt-filled maledid not wait for it to clear. He drank deeply.

The people of the village ran to get their calabashesand climbed down the sloping side of the well tocapture the water that was now nearly two feet deep.

The old chief thanked Hal and the villagers lookedat him as if he were some sort of magician.

There was only one thing wrong with that well. Itbrought in other baboons from the forest. Soon therewere twice as memy baboons as before, enjoying thewater and eating the growing vegetables. People beatgourds and pans to frighten them off, but baboons do92

THE SALTY BABOONnot frighten easily. Instead, they nipped the legs oftheir tormentors with their strong, sharp teeth.'They even tore down a scarecrow that had been

erected in the gardens to frighten them away. It hadworked on most animals, but not baboons. The peoplelooked again to HaI, the great magician. But thewizard hid used up all his wizardry. He had no idea

93

Twelzte

Tlte Spotted Cat

Tnr huge wooden drum of the village began toboom. It was time for the ceremony when the ne\,vchief would replace the old.

The people left the gardens and gathered in theopen space at the centre of the village.

The aged chief made a long end beautiful speechthat brought tears to the eyes of those who listened.They loved him and were sorry to have him stepdown. But when his son came before them they wel-comed him as their new master with a great clatterof gourds and pans. He made a short and modestspeech praising the work of his father over the yearsand promising to do everything in his power to carryon his father's work.

There was good reason for the shortness of hisspeech. He was interrupted by the arrival of Tieg.

Hal's men were disappointed to see that Tiegbrought no honey. As for the villagers, they wereamazed by the appearance of this huge fellow withhis bristling yellow moustache, his cockatoo hair andhis glass eye.

But most of all they were conscious of a penetrat-ing odour that seemed to burn the inside of theirnostrils and start a fire in their heads. Those nearestto Tieg realized that thp stench came from the big94

THE SPOTTED CATman's tattered and stained clothing. They shrankaway from him as if he had the plague. They heldtheir noses

-

but they must breathe and when theydid they were almost suffocated by the evil smell.

They looked to Hal for help, but Hal was helpless.They tumed to their new chief. Here was his firstproblem as headman of the village. Here was a testcase. He must do something. If he succeeded he wouldbe respected. If he failed he would start his rule witha black mark against him. Another even moreserious problem confronted him-the problem ofwhat to do to save the gardens from the baboons.

The young chief, urged on by his people,approached Tieg. But when he came within ten feet ofhim he stopped. It was as if he had come up against astone wall

-

an invisible wall of smell so sickeningthat he could not go further. He looked around help-lessly. He knew he was making a poor spectacle ofhimself as leader of his village.

"I wish we could do something for him," Hal said."I think I can," said Roger.Hal was amused by his young brother's courage.

"Well, if you can, go to it."Roger called Joro. "I want to speak to the chief

-privately -

in his own house. WiIl you interpret? "Joro smiled and nodded. He did not think it strangefor this fourteen-year-old boy to expect a private

conference with a village chief. Roger had alreadywon the respect of the crew by his single-handedcapture of the gorilla and the white python.

Joro introduced Roger to the chief, who looked athim curiously and a little impatiently because he did

95

GORILLA ADVENTUREnot care to be bothered by a boy when there wereimportant matters waiting for his attention' Hereluctantly consented and the three entered hishouse and closed the door.

"Now, what is it?" demanded the young headman'"I can't give you much time."Some fifteen minutes later they emerged from thehouse, the chief carrying a blanket' He came withinten feet of Tieg and threw the blanket at his feet'

"You will temorre your clothes," he ordered' "Youwill wear this instead."

ed so effectivelYelephant.

made off into theforest,

laughter and relief. Theirn , after all.

this smell? " Roger asked

96

THE SPOTTED CATTieg. Tieg described the spot, the hollow stump, andthe odoriferous cat.

"Yes, yes," said the headman. "I know the place.And I know the ways of the spotted cat. The smellvrill not last for ever. When it is gone we can go backto the spotted cat for more."

The people were dancing in honour of their newchief, young in years, old in wisdom. The villagemedicine man led them in a chant praisinC their newleader who on his very first day rid them of thebaboons that had troubled them for years. TruIy, agreat man.

Roger was satisfied to leave it that way. He didn'twant the credit. Not that he didn't like credit, but hethought it must be tough for a young fellow to takeover the control of a village after it had been so wellruled for many years by his father. At such a momentthe new man needed all the credit he could get.

But how about Nero, the man whose gang hadthat day killed sixty gorillas in order to steal theirbabies?

Hal expressed his disappointment that the fellowhad not shown up. "I'd like to have told him wha-t Ithink of him," he said to the ex-chief.

"He was here," the old man said. "But when hesaw you he went away."

"Why didn't you tell me he was here? ""Because I didn't want any fighting on this day

when my son became chief."Hal could understand that. "Perhaps you were

right," he said. "But I'll get him yet.""Unless he gets you first," said the old man. "He

ti

E7

rGORILLA ADVENTUREwon't hesitate to do to you what he did to our sixtyfriends in the forest. Watch out for him."

Upon returning to camp, the first order of businesswas to feed Lady Luck, Snow White and the twobabies.

The youngsters still clung to Roger's shoulders."There's a cage about the right size for them on

that Powerwagon, " Hal said.But when the two little orphans were put into the

cage they immediately began to wail."They want their mother," Hal said. "And that's

you.""You mean to imply that I'm an ape?" Roger said.Hal looked him over carefully. "WelI, you don't

look iike one to me, but you can't fool the babies.They know a gorilla when they see one."

Roger laughed. "That's all right. I don't mindbeing a gorilla. They have better manners than somepeople I know."

He went back to the cage and opened it. At oncethe two youngsters scrambled out and climbed up tohis shoulders. Their wails died down to little whim-pers. "We'Il take them into the room with us," Rogerannounced.

"Our room is no zoo," objected Hal."It will be, with four gorillas in it.""Four? ""Of course. You say I'm an ape-and you're my

brother, aren't you? "The four apes entered the cabin. The two little ones

were shivering a bit from the cold of late afternoon.98

THE SPOTTED CATRoger tucked them into his own bed. They clutchedthe pillow just as they had clutched his shoulders.They were forlorn little things and must have some-thing to hang on to.

"Gorillas love fruit," Roger said. "I'11 get someout of the supply truck."

Hal stopped him. "I don't think they're old enoughfor it. It would give them colic and perhaps dysen-tery. When they're a little older they can eat mashedbananas, bamboo shoots, wild celery and such."

"But they can't wait until they get older. Slhat dothey eat now?"

"Perhaps Pablum and wheat germ. Even thatmight upset them. What they really need first ismother's milk. Since they've adopted you as theirmother, it's up to you to nurse them."

"And you think I can't? Wait a minute."Roger left the room. He walked over to the cage

containing Snow White and Lady Luck. He spoke toLady Luck, the gorilla, in low quiet tones. She snarledat him, slapping the floor of the cage with her hands.

For half an hour he stood there in the growing cold,talking to her. Then he ventured to put his handbctween the bars, but made no attempt to touch her.She drew back from the hand, smelling it suspiciously.After some minutes he moved his hand directly infront of her face.

Suddenly her jaws opened and her great teethclosed on the hand. Roger controlled his desire to pullit free. He let it lie between the sharp teeth and con-I inued speaking, quietly. The jaws did not tighten onI he hand.

99

GORILLA ADVENTURESome of the men had gathered to watch this pecu-

liar performance. They had watched Roger work withanimals before this, and had no fear that he would behurt. All the same, they stood ready to help him if heneeded help.

Lady Luck's jaws relaxed. Roger slowly withdrewhis hand but left it directly in front of those great teethwhere it could be seized again if the gorilla so wished.

After a few minutes he slowly extended his handstowards the gorilla's neck. She seemed to take nonotice. He caressed the back of the head and theneck. The lady wouldn't admit that she liked it, butshe plainly did not dislike it.

He went around to the cage door. He told the men,"Stand by, in case she tries to escape." He openedthe door, went in, closed the door.

The gorilla stood up to her full height and slappedherself with her cupped hands, warning this intruderto behave himself. But it was a very poor show ofanger. Plainly, she was not really angry, but only aIittle nervous.

Snow White, the python, was coiled in the corner.Roger stepped lightly to avoid disturbing her. Heopened the door and stood in the opening. When LadyLuck moved towards the door, he did not try to stopher, but stepped aside to let her pass. She hesitated.He took her great hairy paw that could have laidhim flat with one blow, and Ied her out, closing thedoor behind him. The men circled around him, butdid not come too close.

He led the lady to his door and through it into theroom, then closed the door.roo

TIIE SPOTTED CATHal lay on his bed, half asleep. He woke with a

start and sat up to stare into the great black face of agorilla not three inches from his own. At first hethought he was dreaming and this was his brotherwho had really turned into an ape. Then he scrambledout of bed and retreated to the far side of the room.

"Don't be afraid," Roger said. "She's a perfectlady. And I'm hoping she's a good mother."

The gorilla noticed the two Iittle fragments ofapedom in the bed. She ambled over to get a closerlook. They gazedeyes.

Would it work?grown-up gorillasthey are their own or not. In fact the real motheroften has trouble keeping away the aunts, uncles andfriends who want to pet her infant. Roger wasdepending upon this fact of gorilla nature.

He was not mistaken. The babies were alreadyscrambling up into the arms of their foster mother.She gathered them close in her hairy embrace.Presently there was a suckLing sound. The babies hadfound their milk. The feeding problem was solved.

HaI looked on, smiling. "WeII I'11 be darned. Nowyou really have turned this room into a zoo."

"Oh, I'm not quite done yet," Roger said. "I'mgoing to bring in Snow White too."

"Not in here," exclaimed HaI."Where else? She was nearly stolen last night.

Whoever or whatever chewed up that lock may beback tonight."

"But doesn't it occur to you," Hal said, "thatIOI

up at her with eager, hungr5zBoth Hal and Roger knew thatloved all gorilla babies whether

GORILLA ADVENTUREthere's nothing a python would like better than togobble up those two gorilla babies?"-

"Gee, t hadn't thought of that," Roger admitted.Here was a new problem. This time it was Hal who

solved it.

to2

Tltirteen

Tlte Balling GunHer called Mali. He was the chief of the ten menwho had stayed in camp during the day to guard thegorilla, Lady Luck, and the beautiful white pythonwith the blue eyes, Snow White.

"Did you feed them?" Hal asked."We fed the gorilla," Mali said."What did she eat?""Bananas, carrots, pineapple and bamboo shoots.""And how about the python?""She wouldn't take a thing. We ofiered her a

warthog that we had just killed this morning. Shewouldn't even look at it."

"Perhaps she had eaten before we caught her.""I don't think so," Mali said. "If she had swallowed

nn animal there would be a bulge in her hide. Butshe's as slender as a dancing girl. Besides, if she hadenten, she would have been sleepy when we tried totuke her. She wouldn't have fought the way sherlid."

"You're right," Hal said. "Get enough men tolrelp you and bring her in here."

Mali's eyes widened. "You don't mean here-inlhis room? "

"Yes, in this room. You've guarded her all day. Irkrn't want you to have to guard her all night too.

r03

GORILLA ADVENTUREAnd she ought to eat. Bring me that warthog

-

and aballing gun."

HaI was not surprised that the python had refusedfood. Any animal when captured may be so upset thatit will not eat. Sometimes it is only a matter of hours,sometimes the fasting wiII go on for days until thecreature dies of starvation.

Mali went out on his errand. It was half an hourbefore the door opened again to admit a strange pro-cession. Snow White's darting tongue and blazing blueeyes came first, then MaIi, firmly gripping the snake'sneck so that the head could not turn and bite. Thencame a parade of fourteen men, seven on each side ofthe snake, holding it tightly so that it could not coil.

Hal took Mali's place, and Mali went out to fetchthe warthog and the balling gun.

The thing known as a balling gun is not a gun. It isan instrument used to force-feed an animal thatrefuses to eat. It consists of a long metal rod endingin a cup-shaped depression. You put a ball or chunkof food or medicine in the cup and push it so far backinto the animal's throat that it must swallorr it.

While the men firmly held the unwilling snake, thejaws were forced open and the cup in which the wart-hog had been placed was pushed far back into thethroat. Snow White did her best to spew it out, but itwas no use. The swallowing muscles went into actionand down rryent the warthog into the creature'sstomach. The balling gun was withdrawn.

The huge bulge in Snow White's midriff did notadd to the snake's beauty.

"AIl right," HaI said, "let her go."ro4

THE BALLING GUNThe men laid the snake on the floor and stood ofi,

half expecting her to attack. But nothing was fartherfrom hir mind. AII she wanted to do now was to go

several months.One thing was certain. The two baby gorillas were

nerfectlv safe in the same room with the great snakeihat usuaily had an excellent appetite for babygorillas.

The door was locked and all the members of the'zoo'including Snow White, Lady Luck, the two babygorillas ind the two humans were safe for the night 'Or so it seemed.

Lady Luck was content to sleep on the floor' "Herlong hair wili keep her warm," Roger guessed'

';Probably," Hil said. "But just to make sure I'Ilgive her one of mY blankets."" He laid it over her, and the way she snuggled into

ro5

GORILLA ADVENTUREwent blissfully to sleep but woke with a start an hourlater when he felt a cold something sharing the bedwith him. Now he too had a sleeping partner. Snow

the equator, the night air is chill at an altitude of tenthousand feet. Ordinarily the snake would be spend-ing the night deep in its hole where some of thewarmth of the day still remained. Lacking a hole, itwould crawl under heavy brrrsh.

Lacking both hole and brush, Snow White sensiblycrept under Hal's covers. However, there was onegood thing about her. She didn't wriggle and shedidn't talk. Slowly digesting her warthog dinner, shecould be trusted to be a silent partner in Hal's bed.

So Hal thought. He was a Iittle disturbed when hewoke later to find that the snake had thrown a coilof her body over his own.

What should he do about this? If she chose to con-strict, she could squeeze the breath out of him and hewould die in a few minutes. Should he struggle to freehimself? That would excite the snake and makematters worse.

He tried to look at it from Snow White's point ofview. She couldn't have done this with any idea ofattacking him. He was too big to swallow. In fact,she had no appetite. It had been necessary to force-feed her. She would certainly want nothing more untilher present load was digested.

By the slight moon-glow that came in through ther06

THE BALLING GUNwindow he could see her head on the pillow besidehit. ttti. gave him a moment of panic. 11-g 66nflolledhimself rv-ith difficulty' tH;X"J.::;ffH%

*::ot even call Roger- thatr.ne reason whY she had

wrapped herself around him. He was somethingwarm.

But in spite o{ all his experience with. animals hecouldn't help being a littl: nervous in this situation'He knew heiouldn't sleep another wink that night'But he was young and had had an active day' Infive minutes ite *i. us sound asleep as the python'

Td|

IFourteen

FireWuBN the screams of elephants broke the nightsilence, the first to be disturbed by the noise was thecreature without ears. Snolv White felt the soundwaves in her hundreds of nerve-ends. Frightened, sheslid out of Hal's bed and retreated to the farthestcorner of the room.

Only a hard pounding on the door woke the otheroccupants of the Hunt zoo. Hal recognized Joro'svoice.

"Fire, bwana, fire !"The boys tumbled out. Their end of the cabin was

ablaze: The dried-out boards of the cabin wall burnedfiercely.

The men were already bringing buckets of waterfrom the lake and dousing the flames. But thereweren't enough buckets for thirty men.

The fire seemed to light the whole sky. That wasstrange. This blaze alone couldn't give out so muchlight. Then Hal saw the reason.

"Look, the volcano !"Ten miles away to the south-east, Nyiragongo

Volcano was in full eruption, spitting out rivers of red-hot lava and throwing aloft a column oI fire a mile ormore high. The wind was blowing towards the cabin.Had it carried sparks that had started the cabin fire?ro8

I

FIREHal's first thought was of the animals

-

SnowWhite, Lady Luck and the two small gorillas. Wouldthey be burned alive? He flung the door open to letthem escape. With sinking heart, he looked for theloss of th9 valuable animals he had worked so hardto obtain.

But the animals did not come out. Terrified by thefire, they {elt safer in the dark room than in theblazing light outside.

How to get them out? It would be easy to removethe babies, but it would require many men to bringout the powerful female gorilla and the great snake.And the men were busy fighting the fire. Those whohad no buckets were trying to suffocate the flameswith blankets and canvas.

Help came from an unexpected quarter. The ele-phants became firemen. There were three of them andthey had formed the habit of coming every night tovisit the lake and roam around the cabin. They wouldstand near the campfire and enjoy its warmth. Themen had made friends of them, feeding them bambooshoots, stalks of sugar cane and wild celery.

Now the elephants paid back all they owed. Withan intelligence matched in the animal world only bythe great apes and the dolphin, they repeated a per-formance reported many years ago by the man whowas buried here, CarI Akeley, in his book In BrightestAfrica. He observed the ability of an elephant to putout a fire by shooting a stream of water from histrunk.

The great beasts heartily dislike grass fires andhave checked many in this way. If they had not

r09

been checked they would have become forest firesand elephants could have done nothing to stopthem.

All this flashed through Hal's mind as he saw thegreat animals fill their huge fire hoses with water atthe lake and then trundle over to quench the blaze.Every trunkful was equal to a dozen or more bucket-fuls. Another half hour of hard work and nothing wasleft of the fire except a few plumes of smoke from thewet boards.IIO

Now that the danger was past the precious ".ritn"Lmight escape. Hal hastily closed the door of his bed-

room menagene.The elephants were still drawing water, but only

to toss over themselves to wash cinders and ashesfrom their hides. At a suggestion from Roger themen took them two large hands of bananas as areward for their fire-fighting services.

Hal was talking to Joro. "What do you thinkstarted that fire? Sparks from the volcano? "

III

GORILLA ADVENTUREBefore Joro could answer, Tieg, who was standing

miles," he said. "But it doesn't seem very likely.""Likely or not, that's what happened," Tieg

asserted. He trudged off to his room to catch up onsleep, Joro's eyes followed him.

"Perhaps. PerhaPs not"'"You have some other explanation?" HaI asked'"Maybe. We were sleeping in the shed' The camp-

fire wai outside in the open place. I was half awake.It seemed to me I saw someone take a burning stickfrom the fire and walk away. I didn't think muchabout it. A few of the men sometimes get up duringthe night and get fire to make coffee."

"You couldn't see who it was?""No. The smoke almost hid him. It was more like

a black shadow than a man."f 'How large was-this thing? ""Big.""As big as-Tieg?""Yes. As big as Tieg. Or as big as the gorilla with

the bullet in him. You call him Gog. But of course itcouldn't have been the gorilla. He wouldn't havebeen that smart."

Hal was not so sure. "I don't know," he said. "Apesare very imitative. He may have seen one of the mentake a brand from the fire. I'm sure he's been watch-ing the camp, waiting for a chance to get-back at

-usbeiause he thinks we murdered his family' And hett2

FIREmust be a pretty angry beast with that bullet wounddriving him half crazy with pain. I wish we couldcatch him and get the bullet out of him. But thatfire- there's one other rascal who might have startedit."

"You don't mean one of our own men?""No, no, I mean the man we didn't see yesterday.

But we've seen his handiwork -

those sixty deadgorillas. Nero can guess that we are going to reporthim to the commaadant. And that's exactly whatwe'll do this morning."

His words were almost drowned out by the roar ofthunder over the volcano. Fork lightning playedaround the burning mountain. This was no ordinarythunderstorm. Not a drop of rain was fa.lling. Thethunder and lightning were caused by the high elec-tric tension produced in the air by the eruption.

Suddenly Hal and Joro were bathed in purpleflame. Their bodies gave off sparks. There was acrackling and fizzing noise, as if they were beingburned alive. Purple flashes leaped from the tip ofHal's nose, his ears, his fingers and toes. Joro put onan equally fine display. Their heads were surrouadedby flashing purple crowns. Still neither of them feltany electric shock.

"Even the god of the volcano is against us," Jorosaid.

Hal laughed. "It won't hurt you, It's St Elmo'sfire."

"What's that?""An electric discharge caused by the fight between

the heat rising from the volcano and the cold airI13

GORILLA ADVE NTUREaround it. It disturbs all the air within a radius oftwenty miles or so of a volcano."

"Well," Joro said, "I hope it scares Tieg or Gog orNero or anybody else who is sneaking around tryingto make trouble."

Perhaps it did just that, {or there was n