THE VERVET MONKEY OR BLUE APE 



They came along chattering and frolicking, confident 

 their sentinels would give the alarm in good time if 

 danger threatened. Entering the mealie field they 

 scattered, each monkey intent upon eating to reple- 

 tion of the succulent young mealies. Presently the 

 chattering and practical joking turned to screams of 

 wild alarm, for, from those six pits the reports of a 

 dozen guns rang out with a deafening roar, followed 

 by a second volley, for every gun was double-bar- 

 relled. Three of the guns were breech-loaders, and 

 before the horrified apes could gain sanctuary, 

 another shower of loopers raked them. The sight 

 was sickening in the extreme. A dozen or more 

 monkeys lay dead, and others were lying wounded 

 and helpless, or endeavouring to drag themselves to 

 some place of concealment, while the coloured men, 

 yelling like fiends, chased and slew them. 



One of the wounded was a mother monkey ; she 

 had been struck in the lower part of her back by 

 a slug, and her hindquarters were paralysed. She 

 clasped a baby in her arms, and was begging piteously 

 for life — for the life of her child. Casting both arms 

 around it, she made the most frantic efforts to shield 

 it with her body. Looking over her shoulder she 

 glared at her enemies, the muscles of her face assum- 

 ing a variety of forms, and her teeth glittered in the 

 early morning light. Those who have seen the 

 grimacing of a mother monkey defending her child, 

 are never likely to forget the sight. 



Presently the menacing mien subsided ; she 



7 



