"Take them as they are," he answered. "Once we get them separated they may calm down a bit."
Plunging boldly into the midst of the inferno of noise, we first lifted the three young females on to the stretchers and despatched them to the aerodrome, with Croft in charge of the procession.
Then we turned to the gray-haired grandmother, who had shouted herself so hoarse that she could now speak hardly above a whisper.
Gran'pa looked down at her, with a kindly light in his eyes, as if he understood only too well what it was to be old and decrepit.
"The really humane thing," he said, during a comparative calm, "would be to ask her to join the Rejuvenation Club. But the other members might object. So we'll let her end her days in peace. She seems a decent old lady—a little rugged and repulsive-looking, judged by our own standards of beauty, but probably quite a respected member of society in the jungle. . . . Very interesting, George! Do these old people support themselves, or are they dependent on their children and grandchildren, I wonder. . . ."
Gran'pa's speculative garrulity irritated me. I still felt far too jumpy to respond to his feeble attempts at humor.
"Why not spend a few days with her?" I suggested. "Dressed up as her eldest daughter, you could obtain quite an insight into gorilla life."
"Too risky!" he laughed. "The other girls might be jealous—which would only lead to discord."
"On the other hand, you might get an offer of marriage from some wealthy young bachelor."
"You flatter me, George!"