ated my
attendant in a tone of exultation.

The party came close up to where Rowley and I were lying; the women
stood aside, jumping and laughing, and crossing themselves, and crying
out "_Un Zambo! Un Zambo Muerto!_" the group opened, and we saw, lying
dead upon the ground, one of our horrible antagonists of the preceding
night.

"Good God, what is that?" cried Rowley and I, with one breath. "_Un
demonio!_ a devil!"

"_Perdonen vos, Senores--Un Zambo mono--muy terribles los Zambos._
Terrible monkeys these Zambos."

"Monkeys!" cried I.

"Monkeys!" repeated poor Rowley, raising himself up into a sitting
posture by the help of his hands. "Monkeys--apes--by Jove! We've been
fighting with monkeys, and it's they who have mauled us in this way.
Well, Jonathan Rowley, think of your coming from old Virginny to
Mexico to be whipped by a monkey. It's gone goose with _your_
character. You can never show your face in the States again. Whipped
by an ape!--an ape, with a tail and a hairy--O Lord! Whipped by a
monkey!"

And the ludicrousness of the notion overcoming his mortification, and
the pain of his wounds and bites, he sank back upon the bed of
blankets and banana leaves, laughing as well as his swollen face and
sausage-looking lips would allow him.

It was as much as I could do to persuade myself, that the carcass
lying before me had never been inhabited by a human soul. It was
humiliating to behold the close affinity between this huge ape and our
own species. Had it not been for the tail, I could have fancied I saw
the dead body of some prairie hunter dressed in skins. It was exactly
like a powerful, well-grown man; and even the expression of the face
had more of bad human passions than of animal instinct. The feet and
thighs were those of a muscular man: the legs rather too curved and
calfless, though I have seen Negroes who had scarcely better ones; the
tendons of the hands stood out like whipcords; the nails were as long
as a tiger's claws. No wonder that we had been overmatched in our
struggle with the brutes. No man could have withstood them. The arms
of this one were like packets of cordage, all muscle, nerve, and
sinew; and the hands were clasped together with such force, that the
efforts of eight or ten Mexicans and Indians were insufficient to
disunite them.

Whatever remained to be cleared up in our night's adventures was now
soon explained. Our guide, through ignorance or thoughtlessness, had
allowed us