"I don't quite understand the aeroplane part," I said. "Do you intend flying over the jungle and lassoing them—or, what?"
"Don't be feeble, George. The aeroplanes are merely for getting there. Where it took weeks for other men to travel a hundred miles through the African jungle, we shall manage it in as many hours. We could leave Gaboon at eight in the morning, say . . ."
"Where on earth is Gaboon?"
He treated the interruption—which was actually inspired by a genuine thirst for knowledge—with contempt.
"You'll find it on any map of Equatorial Africa," he answered quietly. "As I was saying, we could leave there at eight in the morning and be in the heart of the gorilla country by ten o'clock at the latest. I intend making Gaboon the headquarters."
It is extraordinary that I was not in the least astounded at the easy and casual way in which Gran'pa was unfolding his plan of campaign. My initial amazement once over, it seemed the most natural thing in the world for a man to take gorilla-hunting aeroplane trips in Africa. It was as if Gran'pa had merely said: "We'll make New York our headquarters and motor over to West Point, Atlantic City and other spots of interest."
For over two hours he sat there talking, joking, speculating; and every query I raised was demolished swiftly and easily. There was little doubt whatever that he had studied the matter very thoroughly. He knew the country, the climate, the facilities for obtaining guides, the habits and haunts of the gorillas, and even their "language."
When I showed symptoms of unbelief at this last item of knowledge, he was evidently pleased with himself.
"I've been to Garner's works for that," he said. "You must remember Garner. He was the explorer who for nearly four months lived in a wire cage in one of the African forests. He says that both the chimpanzee and the gorilla have a definite language of twenty words or more. They have vocal expressions for 'food,' 'good'—in a sort of 'Thank-you!' sense—'discomfort,' 'drink,' 'illness,' and even 'death.' Take this for instance."
Gran'pa threw back his head, drew in his breath and imitated a weird animal cry, as near as possible to the exclamation: