ave been engaged in orchard-robbing,--for
they are excessively fond of fruit and remarkably destitute of
conscience. On such occasions, when hunted back to the mountains with
dogs, the females, when separated accidentally from their young, have
been seen to return to search for them through the very midst of their
pursuers, being utterly regardless of their own safety.

The group to which Black now directed attention consisted of several
females with a number of young ones. They were all huddled in a cleft
of the precipice, looking down in apparent surprise at the strangers.
On a neighbouring height sat a big old satyr-like male, who had been
placed there as a sentinel. Baboons are wise creatures, and invariably
place sentinels on points of vantage when the females and their young
are feeding on the nutritious bulbs and roots that grow in the valleys.
The old gentleman in question had done his duty on the first appearance
of the human intruders. He had given a roar of warning; the forty or
fifty baboons that were down near the river had scampered off
precipitately, dashed through the stream, or leaped over it where
narrow, hobbled awkwardly on all-fours over the little bit of level
ground, and clambered with marvellous agility up the cliffs, till they
had gained the ledge from which they now gazed and chattered, feeling
confident in the safety of their position.

"Did iver 'ee see the like? They're almost human!" said Sandy.

"Just look at that big grandmother with the blue face and the little
baby on 'er back!" exclaimed Jerry.

"How d'you know she's a grandmother?" asked Considine.

"W'y, because she's much fonder of the baby than its own mother could
be."

As he spoke, one of the party below them fired, and the echoes sprang in
conflict from the surrounding heights, as a bullet whizzed over their
heads and hit the rocks, sending a shower of harmless chips and dust
among the baboons.

With a shriek of consternation they scattered and fled up the heights at
racing speed.

A burst of laughter from the settlers,--all the more hearty that no
damage had been done,--increased the terror inspired by the shot, and
seemed to invest the animals with invisible wings.

"Tally-ho!" shouted Considine in excitement.

"The black ane for ever!" cried Sandy.

"I'll back the grey one with the short tail," said Kenneth McTavish,
coming up at the moment, "although she has two little ones clinging to
her."

"Ten to one