the safari of Jenssen and
Malbihn and with the talkativeness of a native to other natives had
unfolded his whole mission to the black servants of the two Swedes.
These had not been long in retailing the matter to their masters, and
the result was that when the runner left their camp to continue his
journey he had scarce passed from sight before there came the report of
a rifle and he rolled lifeless into the underbrush with a bullet in his
back.

A few moments later Malbihn strolled back into the encampment, where he
went to some pains to let it be known that he had had a shot at a fine
buck and missed. The Swedes knew that their men hated them, and that
an overt act against Kovudoo would quickly be carried to the chief at
the first opportunity. Nor were they sufficiently strong in either
guns or loyal followers to risk antagonizing the wily old chief.

Following this episode came the encounter with the baboons and the
strange, white savage who had allied himself with the beasts against
the humans. Only by dint of masterful maneuvering and the expenditure
of much power had the Swedes been able to repulse the infuriated apes,
and even for hours afterward their camp was constantly besieged by
hundreds of snarling, screaming devils.

The Swedes, rifles in hand, repelled numerous savage charges which
lacked only efficient leadership to have rendered them as effective in
results as they were terrifying in appearance. Time and time again the
two men thought they saw the smooth-skinned body of the wild ape-man
moving among the baboons in the forest, and the belief that he might
head a charge upon them proved most disquieting. They would have given
much for a clean shot at him, for to him they attributed the loss of
their specimen and the ugly attitude of the baboons toward them.

"The fellow must be the same we fired on several years ago," said
Malbihn. "That time he was accompanied by a gorilla. Did you get a
good look at him, Carl?"

"Yes," replied Jenssen. "He was not five paces from me when I fired at
him. He appears to be an intelligent looking European--and not much
more than a lad. There is nothing of the imbecile or degenerate in his
features or expression, as is usually true in similar cases, where some
lunatic escapes into the woods and by living in filth and nakedness
wins the title of wild man among the peasants of the neighborhood. No,
this fellow is of different stuff--and so infinitely more to b