THE CAMP IN BECHUANA LAND. 39 



" But," Bob Marshall hastened to say, " no one has any idea of attempting the 

 journey you speak of, though Dick has referred to it" 



"What, then, is your plan?" 



It seems to me that after we have captured about all we came for in this part 

 of the world, we shall be as near the Atlantic as the Indian Ocean coast. Instead 

 of going back to Port Natal, it will be as easy for us to journey to the western 

 shore." 



" I hadn't thought of that," replied Mr. Godkin, after a moment's pause, " though 

 I am better acquainted with the country through which we have come than that to 

 the westward." 



"I don't see that that makes much difference," observed Jack, "for we can't 

 know much about a region that we've been through only once, and, as long as 

 we're in the same latitude, it isn't likely we shall find many changes in the country 

 itself." 



" After reaching the Atlantic coast," said Dick, " we can take sail to Loango and 

 get to the Gorilla country without trouble." 



"You've put the matter in a shape that will bear thought," replied Mr. Godkin. 

 " I suspect," he added with a smile, " that you two young gentlemen have been dis- 

 cussing the matter when I wasn't present." 



The boys laughed and admitted that the project was a favorite one with them. 

 They had informed themselves, so far as they could, before leaving home, as to the 

 habits, peculiarities and home of the wonderful gorilla, and they had talked to Jack 

 Harvey so long that he was won over. 



While those three would not have hesitated to plunge northward through 

 the heart of the Dark Continent to the Gaboon country, under the Equator, 

 I am glad to say that Mr. Carl Godkin was immovable in the sensible position 

 he took. 



Not to mention the peril from wild men and beasts, this journey would have 

 taken them into regions as pestilential as the famed valley of the Upas tree, ard 

 from which they would have stood no more chance of emerging than if flung over- 

 board in the middle of the Atlantic. 



But the plan, as outlined by the cousins, was not without its possibility of suc- 

 cess. The powerful motive with Mr. Godkin was that of securing some specimens 

 of the chimpanzee, but especially of the gorilla, and there was hardly a danger he 

 would not have faced for the purpose of obtaining them for me. 



No doubt many readers of these pages have seen one or more chimpanzees, but I 

 am quite sure that few have ever gazed upon a gorilla, because no one has lived to 

 be brought to this country. By special invitation, I spent considerable time in in- 

 specting the male gorilla that was on exhibition some years ago in London, but he 

 died shortly after, and it seems impossible to preserve them for any length of time, 

 after removal from their native haunts. Large sums of money have been expended 

 in the attempt to secure one of the pets, which we consider as more interesting and 

 valuable than the famous white elephant of Siam, which cost over two hundred 



