2L8 
And Get Lost in the Bush 
case they had performed their duty badly enough, for I was standing close 
by unnoticed. To get hold of a young living specimen if possible 1 had 
taken aim at a female with such a one on its back. The shot went off 
and with the most horrible howling and growling the whole troupe, 
taking some huge jumps from tree to tree, scattered helter-skelter in all 
directions. In trying to follow, the wounded mother's strength soon 
failed her, and after several fruitless attempts she clasped the branch 
and uttered those so often described awful human like groans which 
were answered on all sides from a more or less remote distance by the 
others: indeed two of the fugitives even turned back, probably to render 
assistance in answer to her wail, though this may have seemed risking 
too much when they recognised me. A second shot put an end to her 
sufferings and brought her down, with the youngster still clasping 
tightly to her back: I removed it, and placing it on my own shoulders, 
intended making my way home. But where was home? On my right, 
on my left, in front, or behind me? Everything I asked myself about 
it remained without reply because in my recent violent haste I had taken 
no notice of the way and had now lost its direction. Without fixing my 
sight on anything at all, without breaking a twig, I had just followed 
on to where I heard the concert, and now looking perplexedly around, 
could find no outlet from the labyrinth. ‘‘Straight ahead” the old 
saying advised me, and so I took a quick and firm course over open and 
dense brush-wood, recognising my foot-tracks as I thought, in every 
pressed-down leaf without any foreboding that I Avas all the time only 
increasing the distance from the starting point. Twice I even got back 
to the tree from which I had obtained my quarry: twice I turned my 
steps in a different direction, but on each occasion in vain — the closely 
interlaced tree-tops, which blocked every ray of sunshine from the path, 
remained just as thickly entangled. Suddenly what had hitherto been 
twilight changed to night, and the rain fell in torrents while the vivid 
lightning flashed at intervals between the dull booms of thunder across 
the dense forest-depths and drove its denizens past me in awe-struck flight. 
Heedless of the most beautiful birds that rose ahead of me, heedless of 
the troupes of monkeys that enjoyed watching my misfortunes, heedless 
of the many deer, tiger-cats, in fact everything that I came across — I now 
had but one desire on which my Avliole interest Avas centred, to reach the 
end of the forest. At last, exhausted and overpowered, I threw myself 
under a tree to recover, yet the increasing darkness would not let me 
rest. I jumped up afresh, commenced wandering off again and soon 
found myself once more under the very tree that I had only just left. 
Hands and face were already torn and the remnants of my trousers and 
linen jacket hung down in long strips when, with a final effort, I broke 
through another dense clump of bush and soav a second apparently end- 
less one lying beyond it. With this last display of strength my courage 
failed and with it the hope firmly implanted in me up to now of finding 
my way out of the labyrinth to-day : I lay down. I remained a long while 
in deep meditation until my eyes fell upon the dead monkey which I had 
been unconsciously carrying about with me, and my thoughts took 
another direction. The youngster, wet through, still sat on its lifeless 
