THE BABOONS 245 



tically taken charge of an important thoroughfare, 

 had bitten, more or less severely, divers peaeefiil 

 citizens, and must at once be secured or shot. I 

 found Joao shortly afterwards, seated upon the 

 counter of an Indian sweet shop, and having the 

 time of his life, whilst the tearful and affrighted 

 proprietor, note-book in hand, kept careful ac- 

 count of his ravages by dint of peeping nervously 

 in at the window through which the two from 

 time to time relieved the monotony of these pro- 

 ceedings by making frightful grimaces at each 

 other. Joao came to my call with a meek and 

 angelic expression apparently of conscious recti- 

 tude, and the spectacle of the British represen- 

 tative's progress through the city leading and at 

 times almost carrying a large and larcenous 

 baboon was one which the delighted populace 

 was probably long in iorgetting. 



Soon afterwards, seated in my study one 

 morning, a soft pattering of hasty naked foot- 

 steps on the stairs heralded the entry of the 

 breathless and tearful Goanese cook of my neigh- 

 bour the Bishop Apostolic of the Province of 

 Mozambique — one of those great princes of the 

 Church who take precedence of even the highest 

 ot the administrative authorities. His painful 

 recital, interrupted by frequent gasps of indig- 

 nation and horror, was to the effect that whilst 

 making preparations for his eminence's luncheon, 

 an immense baboon, who must be the father of all 

 the baboons, of unexampled fierceness, had 

 suddenly leaped upon his back through the open 

 doorway. Regarding what followed, the narrative 

 17 



