glared and railed at him in a voice of wrath. It broke off 

 branches and threw sticks at him. 



Wallace thought of the offer made him by the South 

 Kensington Museum: " One hundred pounds in gold 

 for an adult male — skin and skeleton to be properly- 

 preserved and mounted — seventy-five pounds for a fe- 

 male." 



The huge animal showed its teeth, cast one glance of 

 scornful contempt on the puny explorer and started on, 

 swinging thirty feet at a stretch and catching hold of 

 the limbs with its two pairs of hands. 

 Wallace grasped his gun and followed on, lured by the 

 demoniac shape. A little of the superstition of the na- 

 tives had gotten into his veins — he dare not kill the 

 thing unless it came toward him, and he had to shoot 

 it in self-defense. 



It traveled in the trees about as fast as he could on the 

 ground. Occasionally it would stop and chatter at him, 

 throwing sticks in a most human way as if to order 

 him back. 



Finally, the instincts of the naturalist got the better of 

 the man, and he shot the animal. It came tumbling to 

 the ground with a terrific crash, grasping at the vines 

 and leaves as it fell. 



It was quite dead, but Wallace approached it with 

 great caution. It proved to be a female, of moderate 

 size, in height about three and a half feet, six feet 

 across from finger to finger. Needless to say that Wal- 

 lace had to do the skinning, and the mounting of the 

 skeleton alone. His servants had chills of fear if asked 



101 



LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



