THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 37 



more confident presently, and approaching, saw it was the 

 gun the old Hottentot had been carrying. We didn't 

 know anything about guns then, so we were very curious, 

 as baboonfolk always are. Our leader picked up the gun 

 and fingered it over. Then he discovered there was a hole 

 at the end. He applied his eye to it and tried to peer down. 

 One of our womenfolk was meanwhile fingering the other 

 end, when, with a terrific bang, a cloud of smoke shot forth. 

 There before our eyes lay our leader, stretched out dead, 

 and his brains scattered over the grass. Panic seized us 

 and we fled. Never again did we venture near that orchard. 

 It was a lesson we never forgot. The very sight of a gun 

 after that chilled us to the marrow. 



A FRESH CAUSE FOR ALARM 



Lately we have heard that the humanfolk all over the 

 world are beginning to have what they call Zoological 

 Gardens, which are places where they keep wild animals 

 in captivity. There are menageries and circuses as well. 

 The owners of these are always keen to get our folk, because 

 they say they can train them so easily to do all kinds of 

 clever things. We wouldn't mind so much being captured 

 and kept in Zoological Gardens, because the cages are big 

 and roomy, and they look after us carefully, and see that 

 we are properly fed and that we are warm and comfortable. 

 We dread with a horrible dread being captured and sold 

 as slaves to circus people, because they nearly always use 

 us badly. One of our folk escaped and joined us. He told 

 us how he was starved nearly to death, to compel him to be 

 obedient. When he was being taught to do things for the 

 amusement of you humanfolk he was thrashed, cuffed, and 

 kicked every time he did anything wrong. They kept him 

 cramped up in a small cage with iron bars, in which he 

 couldn't even stretch his limbs properly. 



