As soon as Orlee recognized her sister she gave a scream of joy which disconcerted the plans of Sosee and Koree. It also startled Oboo and the woman out of their bliss, who now experienced all the horrors of interruption which the other two lovers had suffered the day before on the appearance of the mammoth. Oboo felt most disappointed, and the woman most frightened. They sprang up, and, for a minute, were bewildered, thinking that some curious apes, perhaps rivals, had come suddenly upon them, through jealousy or stupidity, to interrupt their tète-a-tète. The woman instinctively sprang in the direction of the child, while Oboo looked around to see who was the cause of the interruption. Soon they both took in the situation and started in pursuit of the child.
Koree, perceiving that no time was to be lost, had picked up the child and started for the Swamp, Sosee following at full speed. The child, frightened by the bustle, set up a combined screaming and chattering, which attracted the attention of the other Apes and called a large number of them into the pursuit. The scene for a few minutes was like that of a couple of foxes pursued by a pack of hounds, in which the foxes were fast making for the woods.
CHAPTER XIII.
All now depended on whether Koree and Sosee with the child could reach the Swamp in time to conceal themselves before the Lali should arrive. For so dense was the under-growth in the Swamp that it was next to impossible to discover man or beast that should attempt to hide there.
Sosee could easily have gained the Swamp in time for safety, but Koree, who was encumbered with the child, and so could not run as fast as she, was in danger of capture by Oboo, who was fast gaining upon him. Sosee, indeed, had already reached the Swamp, and was about to plunge into its thickets and out of danger, when she turned to see if Koree and the child were making their escape.
She was horrified to perceive that the pursuers were close upon them; and so, instead of saving herself, she turned on them, and made a desperate effort to rescue her companions. Before she could reach them, however, Koree was overtaken by Oboo, when, releasing the child, he dealt Oboo a powerful blow, which stunned him, and, at the same time, avenged the blow received by Koree from the same ape some days before. Sosee now came up, and, flying at the ape with screams and scratches, dealt him another blow scarcely less severe than that administered by Koree. These two blows compelled the ape to loose his hold for the moment.
