No application of fire to gunpowder could have produced a more immediate
effect. The professor's rice was scattered on the floor, and himself was
outside the head-house before his comrades knew exactly what was the
matter.

"He's always like that," said the hermit, with a slight twinkle in his
eyes. "Nothing discourages--nothing subdues him. Twice I pulled him out
of deadly danger into which he had run in his eager pursuit of
specimens. And he has returned the favour to me, for he rescued me once
when a mias had got me down and would certainly have killed me, for my
gun was empty at the moment, and I had dropped my knife."

"Is, then, the orang-utan so powerful and savage?"

"Truly, yes, when wounded and driven to bay," returned the hermit. "You
must not judge of the creature by the baby that Verkimier has tamed. A
full-grown male is quite as large as a man, though very small in the
legs in proportion, so that it does not stand high. It is also very much
stronger than the most powerful man. You would be quite helpless in its
grip, I assure you."

"I hope, with the professor," returned Nigel, "that we may have a hunt
after them, either before or after the arrival of the pirates. I know he
is very anxious to secure a good specimen for some museum in which he is
interested--I forget which."

As he spoke, the youth who had brought information about the butterfly
returned and said a few words to Moses in his native tongue.

"What does he say?" asked Nigel.

"Dat Massa Verkimier is in full chase, an' it's my opinion dat when he
comes back he'll be wet all ober, and hab his shins and elbows barked."

"Why d'you think so?"

"'Cause dat's de way he goed on when we was huntin' wid him last year.
He nebber larns fro' 'sperience."

"That's a very fine-looking young fellow," remarked Nigel, referring to
the Dyak youth who had just returned, and who, with a number of other
natives, was watching the visitors with profound interest while they
ate.

As the young man referred to was a good sample of the youth of his
tribe, we shall describe him. Though not tall, he was well and strongly
proportioned, and his skin was of a reddish-brown colour. Like all his
comrades, he wore little clothing. A gay handkerchief with a gold lace
border encircled his head, from beneath which flowed a heavy mass of
straight, jet-black hair. Large crescent-shaped ornaments hung from his
ears. His face was handsome and the expression pleasing, t