IN AFRICAN FOREST AND JUNGLE 



noise became gradually louder. The monkeys were 

 evidently coming in our direction. Hope of food 

 loomed before our eyes. Then all became silent; 

 the monkeys had manifestly stopped upon some fruit- 

 bearing trees, and were feeding. At such times they 

 are always still, for they do not want to attract the 

 attention of other monkeys. 



We went in the direction where we thought they 

 were, looking at the tops of the trees as we went along. 

 After a while we heard nuts falling on the ground. 

 Soon we came under the tree, and pulp and seeds 

 fell upon our heads and all around us. Looking up, 

 we saw the monkeys. I counted seventeen of them; 

 they were nkagos, and were so busy eating that they 

 did not notice us. 



We picked out two of the biggest, aimed at them 

 carefully, and fired. They fell on the ground with a 

 great crash. In the meantime the troop gave a shrill 

 cry of fear and decamped with the utmost speed, and 

 for a long time afterwards we could hear the noise 

 of the branches as they rose again after the monkeys 

 had leaped to others. When they thought they were 

 far from danger, they stopped and uttered the peculiar 

 nkago cry, calling upon their missing companions ; 

 but no answer came back to them, for our two monkeys 

 were stone dead. 



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