10 Gorilla Adventure (6 page)

‘Lay hold,’ Hal said, but the men stood back. Hal guessed the reason. The very rare white python is especially sacred. There is a tradition that the goddess Hali returns as a white snake every thousand years.

‘She will bring us disaster if we don’t treat her kindly,’ Toto said.

‘We’ll treat her very kindly,’ Hal assured him. ‘Any man who harms her will be punished. Come, take hold.’

Hal himself gripped the net near the upper end of the two-headed monster. Other men, encouraged by his example, hesitantly stepped forward and slipped their fingers through the stout meshes of the net. There was no room for more than ten men, five on each side.

Hal, whose scientific mind reduced facts to figures whenever possible, estimated that this number of hands would be enough. The gorilla must weigh five hundred pounds or more, and the snake added another two hundred. That made seven hundred pounds, or seventy for each of ten men. That shouldn’t be too much for anyone.

And yet it was not easy, for both animals began to struggle when they were tipped to a horizontal position and carried towards the camp. The snake released the gorilla’s shoulder and tried to get at Hal but was baffled by the net. Hal examined the ape’s shoulder and was glad to find that the heavy hair and tough hide had resisted the sharp teeth of the python. A bite that would have sunk an inch deep in a human shoulder had not even drawn blood. He could not believe his good luck. Two of the animals

they had most wanted were in that net. They had not been so much as scratched in the taking. They were both perfect specimens, and the snake was super-perfect. A white python was as rare as a snow-ball in a hot place.

The men who were not occupied as bearers were chattering in Swahili and looking at Roger. He could understand only enough of what they were saying to know that it wasn’t bad. Suddenly they seized him, hoisted him to their shoulders and bore him along in triumph.

‘Let me down,’ he demanded, but for once they refused to obey him. They did not set down the much embarrassed boy until they reached the trucks.

Under Hal’s orders, a large cage on one of the trucks was opened and to Roger’s great surprise, both animals were placed inside.

‘Surely not both in one cage,’ he objected.

‘Why not?’ Hal said. ‘They’ll be company for each other.’

‘They’ll fight and one of them will be killed.’

‘No, I don’t think so. You’ve already seen that the python can’t do a thing to the gorilla. And when a gorilla isn’t defending its family it’s generally good-natured. I think they’ll actually need each other.’

‘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 only thirteen mountain gorillas in all the zoos of the world. They must have something to interest them. The best thing would be another gorilla, and perhaps we’ll get one. But until we do, the python may be enough 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 to get them out of that net.’

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

He took out his bush knife and slit the heavy strands of the net from top to bottom and got out again before the animals realized they were no longer bound. They disentangled themselves slowly. There was nothing to excite or disturb them, except that they were in unfamiliar surroundings. The gorilla retreated to one corner and the snake to another and each pretended to be completely uninterested in the other.

‘It will take them a little time to get used to being roommates,’ Hal said.

The two watched each other suspiciously, but without fear. The snake was not afraid of the gorilla. Gorillas do not eat snakes but dine on fruit, bark, bamboo shoots, and herbs. The gorilla was not afraid of the snake. The python’s coils that could squeeze the life out of a lion were not strong enough to crush the great ape’s chest.

There was no reason, Hal thought, why they should not get along together.

Discussing the matter at bedtime, the brothers agreed it had been a great day. ‘Thanks to you,’ Hal said.

Roger would not accept the compliment. ‘I didn’t do a thing. They just captured each other. It was pure luck.’

‘Not exactly,’ Hal said. ‘You used your head. You took a rope with you. Tieg would have taken a gun. When the gorilla showed up you could have lassoed it. That would be the wrong thing to do. The gorilla would certainly have attacked you, and perhaps killed you. You noosed the python. You might have whistled then, but we couldn’t have got there before the snake would have had you. When the snake got stepped on and attacked the gorilla, you still didn’t blow your whistle. If you had, they would probably have separated and attacked you. That would have been two against one, and you never could have lived through it.

Instead, you roped them together - and then blew your whistle. It was all good timing.’

‘I still say it was luck,’ Roger said. ‘The gorilla came along at just the right second. I’m going to call her Lady Luck.’

‘And how about the other lady?’

‘Snow White,’ suggested Roger.

‘Snow White it is,’ Hal agreed. ‘That will distinguish her from an albino.’

‘But she is an albino.’

‘No. An albino usually isn’t pure white. You can still see faint markings on the skin. Besides, an albino has pink eyes. The eyes on 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 completely different from the usual. Every circus is eager to get a few sports to amaze the public - a woman 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’s an added attraction.’

‘I’ll bet they’ve never seen as pretty a snake as Snow White.’

‘Not for many years, anyhow,’ Hal said. ‘When I was a youngster and you hadn’t been born yet, an animal collector called Ryhiner went about the country exhibiting a white python he called Serata - it’s a Sanskrit word that means ‘beauty’. I remember seeing her on a purple cushion with gold fringes in the window of Swissair at Rockefeller Center. She attracted so many people that the police had to be called out to control traffic. Ryhiner was offered fifteen thousand dollars for her but refused. Prices have gone up a lot since then. Do you realize that your Snow White is worth at least twenty thousand - and your ape another ten thousand? A pretty good day’s work.’

Roger tried to be properly happy about this improvement in the family fortunes, but the thought of parting with either one of his two new friends was a bit sad. He had a way with animals - they trusted him, and were easily tamed. But what was the use of getting new friends if you couldn’t keep them?

Before going to bed he picked up his flashlight and slipped out to see how the two new members of the expedition were faring. He was not quite prepared for what he saw. Lady Luck was stretched out sound asleep, and Snow White had crept over and lay snuggled close against the warm-blooded creature, almost covered by the gorilla’s shaggy hair.

They would get along.

Roger’s capture of the gorilla and the white python seemed 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 that someone or something had been tampering with the padlock on the cage door. It still held, but it was bent and battered.

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

Joro came out. Roger called him over. ‘Look at this,’ Roger said, and Joro examined the lock.

‘What do you make of it?’ Roger queried. ‘Was it done with a hammer? Or a pair of pincers?’

‘We would have heard hammering,’ Joro said. ‘It could have been done with pincers. But it looks more like 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 they had been made by teeth. No pincers could do that’

‘But how could teeth do it?’ Roger objected. ‘Nobody has teeth that strong. That’s a good solid iron lock.’

Joro shook his head. ‘It just looks that way. I can’t explain it. I can’t imagine who or what could have done it. A hyena will even chew up a tin can. But a lock would be too much for it. A lion or leopard has strong teeth. But they have no taste for hardware.’

Hal came out and joined the investigators. The others said nothing but waited for him to express an opinion. He studied the lock, then the iron grille on each side of it and above and below.

‘This was done by something pretty intelligent/ he said. ‘Any ordinary animal, a rhino for example, would have just banged around hit and miss, trying to get through the grille. But you see no marks anywhere except on the lock. Whatever did this could have been watching from the bushes when we put the animals into the cage. He saw us apply the lock and realized it was the thing to go after if he wanted to get the cage open.’

‘So you think it was done by an animal?’ asked Roger.

‘I didn’t say that. I just say that
None
it was done by an animal, it must have been an intelligent animal. But it could have been done by a not too intelligent human with some sort of tool that didn’t do a good job.’

Joro’s eyes narrowed. ‘Are you implying that one of my men could have done it?’

‘No, I’m not. I have too much faith in our crew.’

‘But there’s no one else around.’

‘They may be closer than you think,’ Hal said. ‘Don’t forget the gang that murdered Gog’s family.’

‘What would they have against us?’

‘They were probably after Gog too. But they couldn’t sell him with a bullet in him. They blame us for that. Then you bag a big female. There aren’t too many gorillas around -and we’ve spoiled their chances to get two of them. Well spoil a lot more of their chances if we can - they know that. So perhaps they’ve decided to take the easy way out. Let us do the hard work of capturing the animals and then steal them from us. I don’t know. It’s just a guess.’

Tieg appeared, twirling his big yellow moustache. ‘And there’s one more guess,’ Hal said. ‘Joro, say nothing about it to the men, but I want you to keep your eye on Tieg. The

commandant told us that he was broke. What a temptation to try to get away with specimens worth thirty thousand. Mind, I’m not accusing him. Just keep your eye on him, that’s all.’

After a hasty breakfast the boys, with Tieg and twenty of the crew, set out on a scouting trip through the surrounding forest to see if they could locate the enemy gang. Ten men were left to guard Lady Luck and Snow White.

Where the gang had attacked Gog’s family they were surprised to find - Gog himself. The wind was against them -the gorilla did not detect their presence. He was occupied with his own thoughts.

He had given his wives and son a gorilla burial by covering them thickly with branches and leaves. Now he sat near the graves with his great head bowed. He rocked back and forth, moaning softly.

‘I didn’t know they cared so much,’ Roger whispered.

‘Of course they do,’ Hal said. ‘Strange that such a big brute of an animal should be so affectionate. It just shows you can’t go by appearances. In the zoos they have found out that they have to treat the gorilla very gently. His feelings are very easily hurt. You never punish a pet gorilla by striking him. It may not hurt him in the least, but it makes him so unhappy that he may die.’

‘But sometimes they have to be punished, don’t they?’

‘Of course. But all you have to do is to raise your voice a little and he knows he is being scolded. You don’t even need to do that. Just push him away gently and he takes the hint. But you must make friends with him again very quickly or he will be physically ill. What’s the matter? You look as if you had lost two wives yourself?’

‘I sure am sorry for the old guy,’ Roger said. ‘How do you think he would take it if I went in there and tried to comfort him?’

‘I think he’d take your head off. Don’t forget, he still pins all his troubles on us.’

He turned to rejoin the men. Unluckily he stepped on a twig that snapped under his foot. Instantly Gog leaped to his feet. He came forward, brushing aside the bushes to get a better look. ‘Stand still,’ Hal said.

It didn’t work this time. When Gog saw who his visitors were, a fuse seemed to light in his brain. His face, so gentle and sad a moment ago, was contorted with rage, his eyes glared out of deep black caves and his great savage mouth split open to let out an ear-splitting uuua, uuua, that made iced water run down the boys’ spines.

Gog tore up a young tree by the roots and lumbered forward, banging his breast with one palm and brandishing the tree like a great club in his other hand.

The boys forgot all they had learned about how to behave when attacked by an angry gorilla. They turned and ran for their lives. They knew this beast was not merely angry, he was bent on murder. Fortunately for them, Gog’s tree was caught in the underbrush and before he could pull it free all his enemies had disappeared.

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

‘How could we know we would meet Gog?’ Hal said. ‘We didn’t come out to hunt gorillas this morning. We’re trying to spot that gang. Joro, do you see any 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 like an animal. ‘Over that way,’ he said, motioning to the right. They picked their way through the underbrush, then went down through a grove of ferns that in this climate grow to a height of twenty feet. The smell became stronger. The tree ferns thinned out into an open space.