the volume of noise that came across that 

 valley. 



There were two voices, one a little 

 higher pitched than the other, and both 

 talked at once. Beginning in a low-toned 

 complaining wail like the last despairing 

 cry of a lost soul entering perdition, re- 

 marks would follow each other in cres- 

 cendo volume, and in ever increasing 

 rapidity, epithets would be fired by the 

 contestants until the snarling, sarcastic 

 statements were fairly spat out, ending 

 in shrieks that could be heard miles. 

 After an interval of a few seconds dur- 

 ing which the disputants seemed to have 

 changed their positions, the argument 

 was renewed, proceeding as before ex- 

 cept that with each repetition the anger 

 and violence of the scrappers increased. 

 At the height of one of these tirades there 

 was heard the scratching and tearing of 

 toe-nails on bark as one wordy fighter 

 seemed to chase the other up the trunk 

 of a tree and through the branches. This 

 was quickly followed by two thuds as of 



55 



