CHAPTER X.
JACK WILL HAVE HIS OWN WAY.—HE SEIZES MY LEG.—HE TEARS MY PANTALOONS.—HE GROWLS AT ME.—HE REFUSES COOKED FOOD.—JACK MAKES HIS BED.—JACK SLEEPS WITH ONE EYE OPEN.—JACK IS INTRACTABLE.
Now let us follow that young gorilla, whom I called Jack.
Jack, to begin with, was the most untractable little beast one possibly could get hold of. Jack was a little villain, a little rogue, very treacherous, and quite untamable. The kinder I was, the worse he seemed to be. We took him with us in the forest till we returned to our village, and then many of the women disappeared.
Jack was smart in his wickedness, and was quite as treacherous as any of the gorillas I had met before. He would not eat any cooked food, and every day I had to send into the forest for berries and nuts. I wish you could have seen his eyes glisten, you would have noticed how treacherous and gloomy they were. Jack was cunning; he would look at me right straight in the face, and when he did that I learned that he meant mischief, and, if close at hand, meant an attack upon me.
Of course, once in the camp, the forked stick had been taken away, and a little chain tied round the neck of Jack; the chain was about six feet long. Then I had a long pole fastened in the ground, and the chain was tied to an iron ring which had been used as a bracelet on the upper arm of a native, by which means he could turn all round without entangling the chain.