along the
earth, still writhing its body and flirting its tail.

The red gorilla saw that it had accomplished its task; victory was
achieved, the danger over, and the hated enemy lay helpless, almost
nerveless, in its hairy embrace.

At length, detaching itself from the scaly creature, whose struggles
each moment grew feebler and feebler, it sprang to one side, squatted
itself on its haunches, and with a hoarse laughter, that resembled the
horrid yell of a maniac, triumphantly contemplated the ruin of its
prostrate foe!

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

STILL TRUSTING IN GOD.

The reader may suppose the strange conflict we have described to be a
thing of the author's imagination. Some will, no doubt, pronounce it a
story of the sensational and fabulous kind--in short, a "sailor's yarn."
So may it seem to those who give but little attention to the study of
nature. To the naturalist, however, this chapter of animal life and
habits will cause no astonishment; for he will know it to be a true one;
and that the spectacle described, although perhaps not one coming every
day under the eye of man, and especially civilised man, has nevertheless
been witnessed by the inhabitants of the recesses of the Bornean forest.

Ask any old Bornean bee-hunter, and he will tell you just such a tale as
the above; adding that the ourang-outang, or red gorilla, which he calls
_mias_, is a match, and more than a match, for any animal it may
encounter in forest or jungle; and that the only two creatures which
dare attack it are the crocodile and the great _ular_ or _python_, the
latter a serpent of the boa-constructor kind, with one of which our
castaways had already formed acquaintance. But the Bornean bee-hunter,
usually a Dyak, will also tell you that in these conflicts the red
gorilla is the victor, though each of the two great reptile antagonists
that attack it is often thirty feet in length, with a girth almost
equalling its own. Only fancy a snake ten yards long, and a lizard the
same; either of which would reach from end to end of the largest room in
which you may be seated, or across the street in which you may be
walking! You will seldom find such specimens in our museums; for they
are not often encountered by our naturalists or secured by our
travellers. But take my word for it, there are such serpents and such
lizards in existence, ay, and much larger ones. They may be found not
only in the tropical isles of the Orient, but i