They had not been gone long when we heard their voices crying out, “Come, come!—quick, quick!” Stanley, David, and I hurried on with our guns, which we kept ready for use, and soon reached the boys. They were too excited at first to speak. “A wild man!” cried Leo. “A fierce-looking fellow! I thought he was going to run after us, but he did not, and I do not know if he is still there.”
“But was he a wild man?” said Natty. “He was walking along on all fours, and then he went up a tree. If he had been a man I do not think he would have done that.”
“Probably he was a big ape,” said David; “another gorilla.”
“No, no; not a gorilla,” answered Natty; “but I think he was an ape. He was not so big as the fearful one the captain killed and the ants ate; but he is a big fellow, notwithstanding.”
This account of course excited our curiosity, and we all hurried on, hoping to find the creature which the boys had seen. They led us some way into the forest.
“We shall frighten him if we make a noise,” whispered Natty.
“But I say he is a wild man, and I do not think he will be frightened,” said Leo. “Only take care; if he has companions they may rush out and surprise us.”
“Whether man or beast, we will be cautious,” said Stanley, advancing in woodland fashion, concealing himself as much as possible behind the trunks and undergrowth.
The boys kept close to his side. Presently they stopped, and pointed to a tree standing by itself in a little open glade. The lowest branch was about twenty feet from the ground, and on looking up we saw spread above it a curious roof of leaves like an umbrella, while seated on a branch with one arm round the tree was a huge ape. His feet were resting on the stump of a lower branch, while his head was so completely covered by the roof of his nest that it almost looked like a Chinaman’s huge hat. Presently we heard him give a peculiar sound, something like “hew”—“hew,” which was answered from a little distance, and looking round, we discovered another roof with an ape seated under it. We guessed that it was the female, by her having a funny-looking young ape clinging to her, which she held, as a nurse does a baby, in one arm. We had advanced so cautiously that neither of the animals saw us. They were smaller than the gorilla; the hair seemed blacker and longer, and more glossy.
“Do not kill the creatures,” said David. “They will do us no harm, and we do not want them for food.”