Oh, the joy of that reunion! Hairi jumped up and down, his ears flapped like fans and his trunk twined about Pic’s body so tightly that the latter was hard put to keep breath within it. Wulli’s tail rattled vigorously and he bobbed around like a great bewhiskered shuttle as he strove to bestow upon the Ape Boy word and act of heart-felt greeting. The wonder is that Pic survived the twain’s ponderous exuberance but he managed to weather the storm and after pats and hugs of his own he got clear of the tangled mass of tusks, trunk, horn and feet and the two animals quieted down sufficiently to hear how it was, their long-lost companion had so unexpectedly come back to life.
Pic’s story was soon told, he being careful to delete such portions of his adventure with the Neander Giant as might cast a shadow over the present happy reunion. Then it was the turn of the other two to give an account of their doings. Pic’s attention was now centered upon the Mammoth—his neck and shoulders gridded with ragged scars, which latter were discernible beneath thin hair and wool-patches—relics of the Spring shedding.
“Fighting?” he inquired.
The Mammoth looked somewhat crestfallen as he answered:
“Um-m, not exactly,” whereat Wulli’s eyes twinkled, and the Mammoth observing, added:
“Well, we both fared badly, although it all seems comical when once past and done with.” Then in reply to Pic’s puzzled looks, he recounted his part in the mystery:
“We saw you climb down to the cave and enter it but you never came out, although we waited and waited until we were almost starved, for there was almost no food to be found among the rocks. Finally we made up our minds that you were lost to us forever, so we went away. I would have died rather than go alone but Wulli was with me. We went away together.”
His voice trembled. He was silent for a moment gazing at his toes which shone like great door-knobs; then he resumed:
“We rambled this way and that, eating, drinking and sleeping when we had to and not finding much pleasure in it. We poked our noses into all sorts of out-of-the-way places. One of them that I am going to tell about was covered with rocks, single and in mass with scattered patches of trees here and there. Detecting a strange odor coming from behind some of these rocks, we went over to find out what it was.