be in the neighbourhood of my friends, I began to exercise my
lungs. After I had shouted several times, I fancied that I heard an
answer, but still could not be certain that the cries which reached my
ears were not uttered by the monster apes or some other creatures. Then
I fired off my gun. Forthwith there came a loud chattering and
shrieking from out of the forest, uttered by troops of monkeys and
flights of parrots. I was afraid if I fired often I might exhaust my
stock of powder, which I should require for my defence if attacked
either by huge apes or four-footed monsters.

Finding no answer to any of my signals, I judged that I had got a long
way off from my friends; I therefore thought it prudent at once to climb
a tree, hoping not to find it occupied by any arboreous ape or other
creature. I therefore threw a vine over one of the lower boughs, by
which means I was able to climb onto the branch. I then drew up the
vine, so that I might be tolerably secure. There was still sufficient
light from the sky to enable me to find my way to a part of the tree
where several boughs branched off; here I could lie down with my gun by
my side, without any fear of falling to the ground. Before going to
sleep, however, I thought it would be as well to give another shout,
hoping that, perhaps, from my lofty position, my voice would reach my
friends. I listened for an answer. Silence reigned through the forest,
broken now and then by a roar so terrific, so superhuman, that I
involuntarily trembled. It was not like that of a wild beast, nor of
that proceeding from any human throat. It seemed to come from a spot at
no great distance off. What if the creature should discover me and be
able to climb the tree in which I had taken shelter! What hope would
there be for me then? I regretted having shouted; it would have been
more prudent had I kept silence. I could only pray that the creature
might not find me out, if creature it was. I did not believe that evil
spirits in bodily form walked the earth, or I might have supposed that
the voice I heard was that of one, so awe-inspiring was it. I now
peered down from among the boughs towards the ground near the trunk of
the tree, dreading every instant to see the creature approach.

At length I saw a dark form moving along, but it went on all fours.
Could it be the creature that had uttered the sound? Presently it
approached a small tree and then reared itself, and I saw wh