After the repast was ended he remained seated in the shelter of the trees trying to form some plan of relief, when he became aware of a certain rustling near-by which could not have been produced by the gentle breeze among the foliage.
Any unusual sound, however slight, in such a place demanded immediate attention, because of the variety of enemies he had already met, and with his revolver ready for instant use he advanced cautiously toward the spot from whence the noise appeared to proceed.
Slowly, on tiptoe and with bated breath, he continued his way to a thicket of mimosas, and raising the thorny branches with the utmost caution peered forward at that which caused him to stand as if spell-bound with horror.
Before him, suspended to the branches of a tree, was a huge skeleton, its bones, which were bleached white as ivory, standing out in vivid contrast against the dark green leaves.
It was some moments before Philip could control his emotions sufficiently to approach this horrible object; but when he did so, alarm gave way to surprise. He seized the foot of the rustling, ominous-looking fruit borne by the mimosa, but it proved to be a hand. In an instant he understood that the skeleton was that of an ape—a gigantic mandrill, enemy of the baboon, with whom it shares the empire of ferocity.
Judging from the size of the bones, Philip knew that the ape to which it formerly belonged must have surpassed in size and strength any of the species he had ever seen; but how it chanced to be suspended in such a manner was something concerning which he could form no plausible idea.
That the animal had been skinned before being strung up like a malefactor was apparent from the fact that no fragment of hide was to be found at the bottom of the tree or clinging to the bones.
Improbable as was the thought, Philip fancied he looked upon the evidences of an execution. It surely appeared as if the mandrill had been hanged, and then, to make the punishment more degrading, skinned after death.
As may be supposed, Philip did not linger long in this vicinity. His own condition afforded plenty of food for sorrow, and there was no necessity to torture his mind with a sinister object such as called forth speculations which could not be otherwise than painful.
The suspended skeleton had the effect, however, of lessening his troubles to a certain extent, for as he made his way toward the east once more there was in his mind plenty of food for thought other than the forlorn condition in which he had so suddenly been plunged.