THE VILLAGE PET 177 



the sound, and he rose up and stood on his feet, as if he 

 intended to come to me. Again I uttered it, and he came 

 a few feet closer, but shied to one side as if to flank my 

 position and get behind me. He stopped again to look, and 

 I repeated the word, in response to which he came up near 

 my right side and began to examine my clothing. He 

 plucked at my coat sleeve a few times, then at the leg of 

 my trousers and at the top of my boot. He was getting 

 rather familiar for a stranger ; but I felt myself to blame 

 for having given him the license to do so. For a while he 

 continued his investigations, then he deliberately put his 

 left hand on my right shoulder, his right foot on my knee, 

 and climbed into my lap. He now began to examine my 

 helmet, ears, nose, chin, and mouth. He became a little 

 rough, and I tried to get him down out of my lap, but he 

 was not disposed to go. Finally I told my boy — who 

 acted as interpreter — to tell the native lads to come and 

 take the ape away. This amused them very much, for 

 they saw that I was bigger than the ape, and they thought 

 I ought, therefore, to manage him myself. They com- 

 plied, however ; but his apeship declined to go until 

 one of the men of the town interfered and compelled 

 him to do so. 



As he got down from my lap one of the boys bantered 

 him to play. He accepted the challenge and ran after the 

 lad until they reached the end of the open space between 

 the houses, when the boy fell upon the ground, and the 

 ape fell on him. They rolled and wallowed on the ground 

 for a time. Then the ape released himself and ran away 

 to the other end of the opening, the boy pursuing him. 



