45$ A STRANGE BATTLE. 



" Well, I'll be hanged ! " muttered the Texan, who was the first to recover his 

 voice. 



" He has given us the slip again," was the disappointed response of Bob; " how 

 did he do it?" 



Gyp was the only one that could explain it. 



No doubt that at the moment the gorilla broke the legs of the crocodile, he 

 discovered the presence of the hunters in the wood near him. But for that, he 

 would have kept up the fight with his antagonist, but, with a cunning natural to the 

 creature, he flung himself on the farther side of the saurian, and, using his shield as 

 a screen, darted behind the nearest bushes on the edge of the pool. Along the 

 water he skurried swiftly, his body being invisible until he rose erect on the farther 

 side, emitted his resounding cry and disappeared. 



Gyp suspected the meaning of the creature's sudden leap behind the body of 

 the reptile, but it was executed with such extraordinary deftness that it could not 

 be frustrated. 



Out of mercy for the wounded reptile, Jack Harvey brought his gun to his shoul- 

 der and sent a bullet into one of the eyes, following it the next instant with another 

 just back of the foreleg. Five minutes later the crocodile was dead. 



It was an exasperating disappointment to the hunters, when they had had the im- 

 mense gorilla at their mercy, but they were too philosophical to waste any time 

 in useless laments. 



" I don't believe we shaJ ever see him again ; he has had a good sight of us, 

 and will be sure to keep his tamily out of the way," said Jack. 



"What good, then, would it have done to shoot him?" 



"It might have brought the mother from the wood with her young, and it would 

 have been easy enough to dispose of her and capture her offspring, if it wasn't too 

 big." 



"There's another fact against us," said Bob; "the gorilla is such a big eater 

 that he cannot subsist long in one place, and this fellow would have been likely to 

 change his quarters, even if he hadn't seen us." 



" Where is Gyp ? " suddenly asked Jack, looking around. 



"He go soon be back he look," replied Hargo, with a number of grimaces 

 and gestures. 



A minute later the well known whistle of the African was heard from the other 

 side of the pool and near the spot where the gorilla was last seen. As his friends 

 looked, Gyp appeared and beckoned them to approach. 



" I wonder what's up now," said Bob, as the three hurriedly tramped through 

 the jungle to where their servant was awaiting them. 



" Have you found him ? " eagerly asked the youth, in an undertone, the instaat 

 <they joined the other. 



Gyp motioned them to follow him silently, adding, in a whisper : 



"Don't talk walk slow keep eyes open." 



It seemed incredible that Gyp by any possible means should have gained sight 



