The big gorilla fell, uttering a fearful groan. He rolled over upon his back, his massive limbs twitched convulsively, and then he was still. Going up to him cautiously with the lantern, they found that he was dead.
Extended, his great arms measured nearly nine feet; his chest had a girth of seven feet, and he lacked only one inch of being six feet in height. These facts Tom ascertained with the use of a small tapeline which he carried in his pocket.
"Let's skin him," said Tom; "I know how, and it won't take but a few minutes."
"Sure," agreed Paul; "his skin will be a valuable trophy to take back home with us. Jiminy, I wish it had been daylight and we had brought our camera with us! We could have secured some pictures worth while for the Daily Independent."
With his keen-edged sheath knife, Tom soon had the skin removed from the giant brute. The performance of this operation was far from an agreeable one, however, both for surgeon and observers. So human-like was the gorilla that it seemed like skinning a man!
As they made their way onward again, carrying their trophy in a roll tied with withes made from vines. Bob ventured to say: "I wonder how the gorilla came to be awake and to attack us this way?"
"I think he must have had a mate, perhaps a family, nearby," replied John. "I have read that the mother and her babies always go up into a tree to sleep, while the father squats down at its base to guard them, and here he sleeps with one eye open and the other closed, as the saying is. At least he arouses at the slightest sound of an enemy. We probably awakened him by our shouts while in bathing, and being so close to him when we came back along a slightly different path, he thought we were going to attack the family upstairs, and showed fight right away."
The little party regained their airplane without further incident; the radiator was drained, and the fresh water put in. Then, feeling that there was no further danger of the engines running hot, they took off.
As the Sky-Bird arose into the air, the flyers noticed that Grandpa the monkey was slightly excited. This they attributed to the presence of the gorilla's skin; but when they saw Grandpa continue to dash wildly about the cabin, from their shoulders to the rear window, out of which he would take a quick look only to fly back to them and chatter wildly and coweringly, Paul thought he would see what could be the trouble.
One glance was enough. He shut the open window with a bang, and turned to his companions with a pale face.