The lad was speaking more to relieve his own sore heart than anything else, but Doto seemed to understand, and put his hairy paw consolingly on the boy’s arm.
“And now before many moons Bomba must go away again,” the lad resumed, “for Jojasta told Bomba that he must go to Sobrinini of the Pilati tribe, beyond the Giant Cataract, and that she could tell him about his father and mother. It is a long way off, and there are many dangers in the way. Bomba may never come back, may never see Doto again.”
The monkey uttered a wail and snuggled closer to Bomba as though in fear of immediate parting. The boy patted the animal’s head affectionately and roused himself from his musings.
“Bomba must go fast,” he said. “He is on his way home to Casson. He has been away a long time, and he does not know whether Casson is alive or dead. So Bomba must hurry.”
As the lad started on in haste, Doto broke out into excited chatterings and clung to Bomba’s arm as though to hold him back.
Bomba knew at once that the animal was trying to warn him of threatening danger, and he stopped short in his tracks.
“What is it, Doto?” he asked.
There was another outbreak of sounds that would have been meaningless to anyone else, but which Bomba had no trouble in interpreting correctly.
His face grew grave as he listened.
“I know,” he said. “The headhunters, the men with black hearts, are in the jungle. I have seen their signs this morning. I thought that I had got past them. But Doto, from the tops of the trees, can see farther than I can. Where are these men with the bloody hands?”