tter neared the windfall Suma suddenly seemed
to divine her intentions and sped on ahead, crossed the creeper-covered
barrier and started up the tree the branches of which formed the far
side of the aerial bridge. She had just time enough to crouch on the
thick butt of a limb that overhung the passageway when the rustling of
the leaves announced the arrival of Myla. A dark form emerged from the
wall of trees opposite her and ran nimbly onto the swaying bridge. Suma
waited with bated breath and blazing eyes as her claws crept out of
their sheathes. Onward came the shadow-like figure, all unsuspicious of
the vengeful fury that lay in wait; and when the monkey reached the
border of her own country and, as she thought, safety, a lightning blow
from a monstrous, claw-armed paw smote her from above and sent her
hurtling to the cushion of creepers below.

[Illustration: Suma waited with bated breath and blazing eyes]

Suma followed her in a prodigious leap, unmindful of her own safety.
And scarcely had Myla landed with a thud when the Jaguar was upon
her--not to continue the assault but to rescue the whining Warruk who
lay on the bed of leaves several feet away. She seized her cub by the
nape of the neck, as a cat carries her kitten and without a moment's
pause dashed away into the forest.

As for Myla, the blow had stunned her; and when her senses slowly
returned she wondered where she was and how she happened to be there. It
came to her in a flash. A moment later she was painfully dragging
herself up into the branches after which she slowly made her way back
toward the foothills, glad to be rid of the surly Warruk and firmly
resolved thereafter to pursue her own life in the treetops and to let
the denizens of the lower world pursue theirs without interference from
her.

Suma crossed the windfall a short distance from the scene of the
encounter and headed toward the east. Throughout the greater part of
that night she travelled, impelled by a mad desire to put as much
distance as possible between herself and the region infested with the
meddlesome monkeys. Also, a mysterious something in the air told her
that the time for her journey to the lowlands had arrived. And, when at
last the shrieking parrot flocks overhead and the dull, gray light in
front of her, bravely struggling through the mist, foretold the coming
of day she stopped and carefully deposited her burden on the leaves.
There followed a minute inspection, much f