nto the opening for some time
finally reached into it and drew out one of the struggling young birds,
Warruk's interest was aroused at once. He made a lunge for it and
seizing it in his mouth growled so menacingly while his claws dug deeply
in Myla's side that she hastened to put him down on the branch while she
withdrew a short distance to watch the proceedings. Free of his captor
the cub crouched low and greedily devoured the prize while Myla hopped
up and down excitedly and screeched and chattered her opinion of the
unexpected sight. The parent birds, feeding in a nearby tree, heard the
commotion and surmised that it spelled disaster for their brood. They
stopped plucking fruits with their long beaks and tossing them into
their throats and flew heavily to their nesting tree. The spectacle that
greeted their eyes filled them with consternation. They rattled and
clattered their horny mandibles and yelped dog-like while they swung
about the branches like the accomplished acrobats they were. Their
cries of distress brought others of their tribe from a distance who lent
their voices to the din until the treetops were filled with a
screeching, whirling mob.

This demonstration unnerved the monkey. She snatched up the cub still
clinging to his unfinished meal, and darted away at breakneck speed. Her
show of fright gave courage to the toucans. They immediately took up the
pursuit, their white throats flashing a sharp contrast to their black
bodies as they hurtled after the fleeing monkey, easily keeping pace
with her and nipping her ears and back and tail. At each pinch Myla
emitted a scream and increased her speed until she seemed to fly through
the branches handicapped though she was by the cub securely tucked under
one arm. And Warruk, unable to fathom the new calamity that had befallen
him, clung to the half-devoured bird with his teeth and to the monkey
with his claws as they skimmed through space until their tormentors gave
up the chase and returned to their own affairs.

The hours that followed the loss of her offspring were filled with
anguish for Suma. All night long she had lurked in the vicinity of the
palm tree; but the frightful spines bristling from the trunk a distance
of six inches effectively discouraged her from climbing to the rescue.
Her loud demonstrations of rage and grief had given way to a strategy of
watchfulness for the opportunity for revenge that must at some time,
somehow, present itself, and th