y, my son?" she whispered anxiously.

"Up to the loft, and lie low in the darkest place," replied Kinneneh,
and he set her the example and assisted his mother.

Now those Uganda houses are not low-roofed like these of Congo-land, but
are very high, as high as a tree, and they rise to a point, and near the
top there is a loft where we stow our nets, and pots, and where our
spear-shafts and bows are kept to season, and where our corn is kept to
dry, and green bananas are stored to ripen. It was in this dark lofty
place that Kinneneh hid himself and his mother, and waited in silence.

In a short time the gorilla put his head into their house and listened,
and stepping inside he stood awhile, and looked searchingly around. He
could see no one and heard nothing stir. He peered under the bed-grass,
into the black pots and baskets, but there was no living being to be
found.

"Ha, ha," he cried, thumping his chest like a man when he has got the
big head. "I am the boss of this place now, and the tallest of these
human nests shall be my own, and I shall feast every day on ripe bananas
and plantains, and there is no one who can molest me--ha, ha!"

"Ha, ha!" echoed a shrill, piping voice after his great bass.

The gorilla looked around once more, among the pots, and the baskets,
but finding nothing walked out. Kinneneh, after awhile skipped down the
ladder and watched between the open cane-work of the door, and saw him
enter the banana-grove, and waited there until he returned with a mighty
load of the fruit. He then saw him go out again into the grove, and
bidding his mother lie still and patient, Kinneneh slipped out and
ascended into the loft of the house chosen by the gorilla for his nest,
where he hid himself and waited.

Presently the gorilla returned with another load of the fruit, and,
squatting on his haunches, commenced to peel the fruit, and fill his
throat and mouth with it, mumbling and chuckling, and saying,

"Ha, ha! This is grand! Plenty of bananas to eat, and all--all my own.
None to say, `Give me some,' but all my very own. Ho, ho! I shall
feast every day. Ha, ha!"

"Ha, ha," echoed the piping voice again.

The gorilla stopped eating and made an ugly frown as he listened. Then
he said:

"That is the second time I have heard a thin voice saying, `Ha, ha!' If
I only knew who he was that cried `Ha, ha!' I would squeeze him, and
squeeze him until he cried, `Ugh, ugh!'"

"Ugh, ugh!" echoed