ANOTHER EXCURSION—FOOTPRINTS OF GORILLAS (NGINAS)—LISTENING TO THE MONSTERS' ROARING—TWO OF THEM CALLING TO EACH OTHER—THEY GRADUALLY DRAW NEAR TO EACH OTHER AND TO US—THEY MEET AND WE SLEEP IN THE FOREST—SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF THE MALE NGINA—KILLING OF THE NGINA AND HIS MATE

We were up early, and had all slept well. After our breakfast we started, but before doing so we hid our ladder and also an axe as a precaution in case our abode should be discovered and our ladder stolen.

Shinshooko and Alapai were to visit the traps to see if any game had been caught. Rogala and I were to reconnoitre and see where the game was to be found. Ndova and Andekko remained in the camp.

We had been gone about two hours, and had seen several footprints of gorillas; so we knew that they were in the neighborhood. Suddenly Rogala stopped, and said in a whisper: "Oguizi, listen."

His quick ear had heard a noise far, far away. I listened, and soon heard what I thought was the reverberation of thunder among the hills. The noise seemed to be on our right. Rogala listened attentively, and then whispered "Ngina" (gorilla). The noise was made by a gorilla and was renewed from time to time.

While listening, Rogala's quick sense of hearing caught another noise in the far distance, this time on the left, somewhat similar to the one on the right. He listened attentively and then said, "Ngina." It was another ngina, who was answering the talk of her mate.

Then he whispered to me: "Oguizi, there are two nginas talking to each other, the one on our right is the man ngina, the one on our left is the woman ngina, and she answers him."

They were a few miles from each other, and we were about midway between the two. We followed the path which seemed to be half-way between them, looking at our guns carefully in order to be ready for any emergency.

As we walked, we could hear them talk to each other, one answering after the other stopped. It was a real ngina conversation. I could detect the different intonations.

We walked several miles, all the time hearing the two gorillas continuously talking to each other. Rogala said to me: "There is not food enough for the two together, so they have separated in order that each may have enough to eat."

After a while their voices came nearer and nearer, and our position became, I thought, dangerous.

Rogala said in a very low tone: "The nginas are going to meet before night; for they will sleep very near together."

Louder and louder their guttural roar-like sounds came. At last they seemed to be abreast of us, one on either side. I asked Rogala in a very low tone: "Have the nginas scented us?"

"No," he replied in a whisper; "they are talking to each other, and will gradually meet as they come along picking berries and fruits. The nginas can see wonderfully well through the jungle. So let us stand perfectly still.

"The female ngina always runs away," continued Rogala. "It is the male ngina that fights, but both are afraid of noise, and when they hear it they go in an opposite direction. It is only when the male is suddenly surprised by the appearance of a man that he attacks him, or when he is tired of being followed or tracked. Then he makes a stand. Then it is a fight for life."

There was no mistake. The nginas were abreast of us, and we were not more than half a mile from each. But soon the voices or sounds gradually seemed to be ahead of us and became more and more distant. They had passed us.

"After they meet," said Rogala, "the female ngina, as it is getting late, will go up a tree to sleep with her baby if she has one, and the big fellow will sleep at the foot of the tree, his back resting against its trunk, and there keep watch. We will sleep in the forest to-night. We have koola nuts in our bags, and we will eat these for our evening and morning meals, and we will go after the nginas to-morrow at daybreak."

The nginas' tremendous voices gradually died away, till one might have thought it was the dying reverberation in the far distance of claps of thunder.

We slept at the foot of a large tree, and made a very small fire, for we did not dare to sleep without one. We had collected the firewood very quietly.

At daylight we were up, and followed the path leading towards the place where we thought the gorillas had slept. We had walked several miles, and I was ahead of Rogala, when suddenly I thought I heard the breaking of branches ahead of me. Could it be possible that a camp of natives was on our way. I thought perhaps I had made a mistake, and that the noise had been made by elephants either breaking branches with their trunks or trampling in the jungle and breaking the saplings in their path. I lay flat, putting my ear to the ground, but did not hear the heavy footsteps of elephants. I got up and said to myself: "It is a heavy dead limb of a tree that fell and was the cause of the noise I heard." Nevertheless I walked more slowly to give time to Rogala to overtake me. I had gone but a little way when I heard the breaking of another sapling or tree-branch; then I stopped and waited for Rogala.

Soon after I saw him coming, and I gave the "click" warning, made with my tongue striking my palate.

At this sign Rogala stood still. I beckoned him to come to me. I could not hear his footsteps as he walked towards me. No leopard or night prowler in search of prey could have made less noise.

As he came near me, I put one of the fingers of my right hand upon my lips. This meant, "Be silent, do not say a word." Then I put my left hand to my ear; that meant, "Listen."

We remained silent looking anxiously at each other. Suddenly another breaking of a limb of a tree was heard. Rogala knew the cause of the noise, and whispered, "Ngina."

We looked at each other without saying a word, then looked at our guns. They were all right. Then Rogala took the lead, and followed the path, for the noise we heard came from that direction.

After a short walk we saw the branches of a tree moving and being swayed to and fro by the ngina. The tree was loaded with large fruits of the size of oranges. The monster was breaking the branches, and when they had fallen on the ground plucked the fruit.

The jungle was so thick around the tree that we could not see the huge creature. So we lay flat on the ground, and advanced towards the tree, separating the jungle on the right or on the left as we made our way towards the monster.

I was so excited that I could hear my heart beat; then I stopped.

The rustling ceased. We looked round and listened. There was no more noise. All was silent; not even the note of a bird or the pecking of a woodpecker was heard.

I was just concluding that the huge creature had departed, when suddenly we heard on our left three most terrific yells following each other In succession. These yells were followed by roars that filled the forest with their din. I looked in the direction with my rifle ready to fire. Then I saw peeping through the leaves a black fierce face looking at us. It was a horrid sight. The brute's eyes were sunken, while a heavy overhanging ridge was over each. He gave vent to yell after yell, resembling somewhat the barking of an angry dog, but seeming to me a thousand times louder. These were followed by terrific roars, somewhat similar to those of lions, but louder. They reverberated through the forest, from hill to hill, and died away in the distance. The forest was filled with the echo of his horrid voice.

Then his whole body came in sight; he was advancing towards us, walking erect, to kill us. His short legs were scarcely strong enough to support his huge body. All at once he stopped and looked at us. How vindictive his eyes looked! They seemed to say to us: "You will soon be dead."

Then he beat his chest with his huge fist. How long and muscular were his powerful arms! How broad was his chest! His hair stood almost erect on his body, and the hair on his head moved up and down.

But our guns had been pointed at him from the moment we saw him, and just as he was ready to advance we fired in the direction of his heart, and the great monster fell like a human being, face forward, uttering a fearful groan, his limbs stretched out. Then all became silent. He was dead.

His arms extended measured nearly nine feet; around his chest measured nearly seven feet. He was nearly five feet ten inches in height. We skinned him on the spot, and hung his skin and skeleton on a branch of a tree.

The following morning we went after the skin and skeleton of the big beast Rogala and I had killed. I put arsenic on the skin and stuffed it with dry leaves.