10 Gorilla Adventure (16 page)

‘Good old Lady Luck,’ Roger exclaimed. ‘She really figured it out, didn’t she?’

‘That’s it,’ Hal said. ‘Figuring it out - that’s the main difference between monkey and ape. Don’t get the idea that the monkey isn’t smart. But when it comes to real thinking, the ape’s brain is just a bigger and better computer.’

There was a commotion at the edge of the forest. Then Joro and some of the men came out with two prisoners.

They were white men. They carried guns. They were brought face to face with Hal and Roger.

‘I think they were after gorillas,’ Joro said.

The unwilling visitors were very angry. ‘Take your hands off,’ one of them demanded. ‘Let us speak to the boss of this outfit’

The boss stands before you,’ Joro said.

The man looked scornfully at Hal. ‘What, this boy?’

If Hal was offended he did not show it. ‘Let go of them,’ he said.

The blacks released their prisoners but stood ready to seize them again if they should try to escape.

Hal looked at their guns. ‘Do you have a hunting licence?’

‘What business is it of yours?’

‘I’m a sort of deputy sheriff for this area. Let me see your licence. You are hunting, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, we’re hunting. But we’re not hunting animals?

‘What else is there to hunt?’

‘Diamonds.’

‘Diamonds! Do you hunt diamonds with guns?’

‘The guns are just for protection. Now, young man, who the devil are you?’

‘My name is Hunt - Hal Hunt. This is my brother, Roger.’

The prisoners’ manner changed.

The animal collectors,’ one said. ‘We know you by reputation. Allow us to introduce ourselves.’

They drew cards from their wallets and handed them over. According to the cards, these gentlemen were Robert Ryan and Tom Sims, geologists from the Williamson Diamond Mines.

‘We must apologize,’ Hal said, ‘for giving you such a rough reception. Our men thought you were poachers. Toto, tell the cook to bring some coffee.’

Seated at the outside table, the guests explained their mission.

‘We’ve been sent out to locate new deposits of diamonds,’ said Ryan.

Hal looked puzzled. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know much about diamond mining - except that some of the mining is done four thousand feet under the surface. How do you expect to find diamonds by just roaming around the country?’

That’s the way diamonds were found in the first place,’ Ryan said. ‘One day some children playing on the banks of the Orange River in South Africa found a very hard pebble that was brighter than any they had ever seen. There were bright spots on the surface where the outer skin was rubbed thin, and these spots shone as though there were a hidden light inside.

They showed it to a neighbour. He offered to buy it They laughed, and said he could have it for nothing.

‘He took it to a store in town. The storekeeper looked at it and said, ‘it’s a pretty pebble - but nobody would pay good money for it.’

‘But a man in a bigger town who really knew diamonds bought it and sold it to the governor of the colony for twenty-five hundred dollars.

Two years later the same neighbour heard of a poor shepherd boy who had found a bright stone and carried it around as a charm. He persuaded the boy to sell it for five hundred sheep, ten head of cattle, and a horse. To the poor boy this seemed like very great wealth. But it was only a very small part of what the stone was worth. The new owner sold it for fifty-six thousand dollars.

‘That started the diamond rush. People came from all over the world to hunt for diamonds. Today ninety-eight per cent of the world’s diamonds come from Africa. Not just South Africa - there are rich deposits of diamonds right here in the Congo. There must he hundreds of other deposits that we don’t know about. So keep your eyes open/

‘You mean we are apt to find diamonds lying on the surface?’ Hal said.

‘Exactly. And underneath there would be more. A deposit might run down thousands of feet. We would take those near the top by what is called open-pit mining. Farther down it would be a job of underground mining, with tunnels and shafts and lifts to bring the crystals to the surface. Our company would pay large royalties to anyone who discovered new deposits.’

‘It sounds fascinating,’ Hal said. ‘We’ll watch the ground from now on. But we can’t neglect our real job. You know, we too are looking for treasure. Would you like to see some of our diamonds?’

‘You have diamonds?’

‘Yes. Some with four legs, some with two, some with none.’

The geologists forgot their own search as the boys took them about to see Rocking Horse, the kudu; Flatfoot, the sitatunga; the mamba, which obligingly demonstrated its ability to stand six feet tall; the chimpanzee that had won the name of Good Samaritan; the three lively vervet monkeys.

When they went to visit the spitting cobra, Hal said, ‘Don’t go closer than fifteen feet.’

‘Why?’ asked Sims. ‘It’s in a cage, what could it do to us?’

‘I’ll show you,’ Hal said. He sent Roger for a mirror. He hung it on the end of a stick and held it out within twelve feet of the cobra. The sun struck it and dazzled the eyes of the snake. Its hood expanded angrily and then a double stream of venom shot from its two fangs straight as an arrow over the twelve-foot gap and struck the very centre of the mirror.

‘If your eyes had been where the mirror is,’ Hal said, ‘you wouldn’t feel very comfortable right now. In fact if you didn’t get treatment immediately you would be blinded for

life.’ ‘Marvellous,’ Ryan said. ‘I didn’t know the cobra could do that.’

‘Most of them can’t. There are ten species of cobra. This is the so-called spitting cobra. It’s believed to be the only snake on earth with this talent.’

‘You did well to get it,’ Ryan said. ‘Quite a prize - I don’t wonder that you call it a diamond.’

‘Now let me show you a black diamond,’ Hal said, going on to the cage of the black leopard.

‘Another prize,’ said Ryan. It must be very rare.’

‘Yes, it is,’ Hal agreed. ‘Scientists say that there’s about one chance in a hundred thousand that a leopard will come out black. But in this next cage we have something that could be one in a million.’

The men could hardly believe their eyes as they studied the double-headed boomslang. The snake, annoyed by their examination, blew up its two neck-balloons to their full size.

‘Well I’ll be…’ exclaimed Ryan. ‘Never saw anything like it in my life. Does any zoo have a specimen like this?’

‘Only one. Two or three other zoos have had two-headed snakes, but they all died young.’

‘Why should that be?’

‘Because there are two brains, and if one brain tries to go here and the other tries to go there the snake is split apart in the middle.’

‘So that’s why you put on the collar,’ Sims commented. ‘For such a young fellow, you seem to know your business very well.’

‘Not well enough,’ Hal said. ‘But I should know it, because as long as I can remember my father has been bringing specimens from all over the world to our animal farm in Long Island. Now come into our bedroom and see our best friends.’

Don’t tell me you have a zoo in your bedroom!’

‘Not only in our bedroom, but in our beds. Roger sleeps with two gorillas. I share my bed with a python.’

He took them inside. Instantly a clamour rose from the bush-baby, the elephant shrew, the colobus monkey, and the two baby gorillas. Hal introduced the visitors to the adult female gorilla. This is Lady Luck - because we were

so lucky to get her. Sit down, gentlemen.’

Sims sat on Hal’s bed. Something writhed beneath him. He leaped up to find a white head coming out from under the blanket, tongue darting in and out.

‘Don’t be frightened,’ Hal said. ‘It’s only Snow White.’

The great snake slithered out on the floor. Its blue eyes flashed, its long white body was like a wriggling ray of light.

‘Magnificent!’ Ryan exclaimed. ‘A truly magnificent creature. I never would have thought a snake could be so beautiful. Is it really a python?’

‘It is.’

‘But isn’t it dangerous?’

‘No,’ Hal said. ‘There’s no danger between friends.’

As they were leaving, Ryan said, ‘You were right. You have a fine collection of diamonds.’

That night Roger woke to find one of his bedmates shivering violently.

Bubu, as he had named this small gorilla, was shaking like a leaf in the wind. Yet he was not cold. On the contrary, he seemed much warmer than usual. In fact, he was almost feverish. Roger woke Hal. ‘I think we have a sick baby on our hands.’

Hal tumbled out and lit the oil lamp. He examined Bubu. The little fellow’s skin was very hot. Yet he was shaking as if very cold.

‘Chills and fever,’ Hal said. He felt the pulse. ‘Heart is pumping as if he were running uphill.’ He put his ear to the ape’s chest. ‘He seems to have trouble breathing. Little short gasps. Something wrong down in those lungs.’

Roger was impatient. ‘Stop fiddling around. Get busy and do something.’

He had confidence in his brother’s skill. Generally Hal knew what to do. He could give first aid, treat a case of the flu, sterilize a wound, even perform light surgery.

So Roger was surprised to hear him say, ‘I’m afraid this is too serious a thing for me to tinker with. We’ve got to get this little chap to a hospital.’

‘Hospital! Where do you expect to find a hospital in this godforsaken country?’

‘There’s one on the road to Rutshuru. I don’t know whether it’s closed or not.’

‘Why should it be closed?’

‘It was run by white doctors. Most of the whites of the Congo have been killed or have gone home.’

‘Then why is it we’ve had no trouble?’

‘No trouble? You forget there’ve been two attempts to burn down this cabin. And how about that devil, whoever he was, who got me into an elephant pit and pushed in a leopard to kill me? Luckily we’re well off the main road and ten thousand feet up the mountain. I wouldn’t give two cents for the safety of whites down on the highway. The hospital may be burned down by this time, for all I know. And even if it’s still there, the chances are they won’t have a veterinarian on their staff.’

‘Well, let’s go and see.’

The first glimmer of dawn saw them on their way. Hal drove, and Roger held the hot and shivering ape in his arms.

They were relieved to find the hospital still standing.

They rang the bell but there was no answer. They went in. There was no one in the office. There were no nurses bustling about the halls. There were black patients bedded down in the wards - but where were the doctors?

Then in a far ward they found one, bending over a suffering patient. ‘Doctor,’ Hal said, ‘may we speak to you for a moment?’ The man straightened up and looked at them. He was a young fellow, perhaps in his early thirties. His face was haggard, his eyes were sunken pits, he appeared half-starved. He looked as if he had not slept during the past night, perhaps not for many nights. ‘Pardon me,’ Hal said. ‘Is there a veterinarian on your staff?’

‘Sorry, no vet. Where’s the animal?’

‘Right here.’

‘But that’s no animal,’ protested the doctor. Then he corrected himself. ‘Of course it is an animal, but not medically speaking. Its anatomy and physiology are like those of a human. It suffers from the same diseases. Let’s get this little fellow in bed and see what’s the matter with him.’

After his diagnosis, the doctor looked worried. ‘Your little friend is seriously ill. Lobar pneumonia. And pleurisy. There’s not much chance of saving him. A grown ape may beat off an attack like this, but it’s apt to be too much for an infant. We’ll do all we can.’

He looked very tired. Hal said, ‘You seem to be working alone.’

‘Yes. We did have two other doctors. They were both killed. We had five nurses. Two were killed - the other three I sent back to Europe.’

‘Then why did you stay on?’

The young doctor refused to say something heroic. He smiled. ‘Just stubbornness, I guess. We may have to close after all. It takes money to run a place like this. Funds used to come to us from Europe. Now they no longer get through. What is your friend’s name?’

‘Friend? Oh, you mean the ape. His name is Bubu.’

‘I like to know the name of every one of my patients. They feel better if I can call them by name. Don’t worry - I’ll do my very best for Bubu.’

Every day they drove down to see Bubu. The little ape was suffering acutely. He was kept awake by chest pain and tortured by a dry, hacking cough. Dr Burton, the young physician, gave him as much attention as any other patient in the hospital.

He kept him on a diet of milk and soup. He used chloral to keep the fever down. One day when the ape was delirious, he had to be quieted with morphine.

Every day Hal and Roger would find him moaning softly, but the moaning would stop when he saw them and he would put out a small hand for Roger to hold.

On the sixth night came the crisis. It was the little ape’s last struggle between life and death.

The doctor sat beside his bed all through the night. As morning came, he knew the answer - the ape would live.

His temperature dropped, his pulse slowed, his breathing was less difficult, and instead of being dry and hot, he began to perspire freely.

‘Good signs,’ said Dr Burton, who was more hollow-eyed and sunken-cheeked than ever, but happy. ‘He’s coming out of it. A few days more and hell be on his feet.’

When he was pronounced cured, the boys not only paid the modest sum that the doctor would accept, but made him a present of a carload of food supplies for himself and his patients.

‘Especially for you,’ Hal said. ‘Because if you don’t hold up, what will happen to all your patients?’

‘I wish we could really do something for him,’ said Roger as they drove home with their convalescent ape. ‘Something big.’

‘He’s having a tough time,’ Hal agreed. ‘His patients don’t pay him anything except a few bananas, he has no funds to keep up the building and buy supplies and pay large enough salaries to persuade doctors and nurses to come down from Europe and take the chance of being massacred. He has a lot of courage to stick it out in spite of all those difficulties.’