When they resumed their journey the next morning they encountered a new form of obstacle in the form of the webs of huge red bird-catching spiders, whose nets stretched from tree to tree in the forest, looked like seine nets in a fisherman’s village hung out to dry, or to make another comparison, miles of mosquito netting hung between the tree trunks. Through these webs they had to make their way for a long distance.

The boys did not like it at all, and Donald Judson, who was particularly averse to spiders, slunk in the rear till the natives, with shouts and yells, cut down the webs that hung across the trail. The soft silky substance of the webs struck them in the face and clung glutinously and covered their clothes with a coating of white fleece.As they forced their way through this repulsive feature of New Guinea forest travel, they could, from time to time, see the hideous forms of the huge and venomous spiders that had spread the webs peering at them from dark retreats in the crevices of trees or else scuttling off on long, hairy legs to safety. It did not require much imagination to picture their anger at this ruthless destruction of their homes. That night they camped near the edge of a big swamp, and the two boys, weary of the monotony of the long march and tired of canned stuff and preserved goods, volunteered to set out with rifles and see if they could not bring in something more palatable.

As they had camped early when the swamp crossed their path, there was plenty of time for them to go quite a distance in search of game. In a short time they had brought down two birds that looked something like partridges, as well as shooting an odd-looking bird like a huge parrot, with a gigantic bill and horny head. They were some distance apart, separated by a brake of reeds, when Jack heard a sudden cry of alarm from Billy.

Disregarding the danger of snakes, he pushed his way through the brake at once. As he came in sight of Billy, who was standing staring into the forest as if petrified, Jack, too, received a shock. Not far from Billy was what he at first thought was a man. But such a man! Not even in a nightmare had the boy ever beheld such a hideous form.

This man, if such he was, was covered all over with red hair, thick and shaggy, except on the face, which was darker and bereft of hair, but from which two yellow eyes glared malevolently. In an instant the true nature of this creature flashed upon Jack. It was an orang-outang, and a monster, too, that stood facing them, its long arms trailing in front of it. But even though stooped over, it was as large as the average man, with a massive chest and shoulders.

“Take a shot at it, Jack,” urged Billy.

But Jack shook his head.

“It looks too horribly human,” he said. “Besides, it doesn’t look as if it would attack us. It seems to be more possessed by curiosity than anything else.”

Perhaps the boy was right, for after eyeing them for a few seconds more the monstrous creature shuffled off for the edge of a big sheet of water on whose margin they stood, and began tearing up some sort of water plants and eating their roots with many grunts of satisfaction. He waded in almost knee deep, stuffing his bag-like cheeks full and chewing with huge satisfaction. The boys gazed at this strange picture with fascination.

But suddenly the monster stopped eating and stood erect. Its hair began to bristle and it uttered an angry sort of growl. Apparently it was not fear but anger that possessed this colossus of the forests as it glanced angrily about it. The cause of its emotion was not long in appearing. From the stagnant waters was approaching an antagonist formidable indeed—a giant saurian—a crocodile larger than any the boys had ever seen in any zoo.

The boys naturally expected to see the orang-outang beat a hasty retreat. But instead it stood its ground, merely drawing back a few inches as the crocodile’s hideous snout and scaly body were successively protruded from the water. Jack now recalled what Salloo had told him one night in camp about the orang. The Malay had said it was the king of the New Guinea forests, fearing no man, beast or reptile, and this certainly appeared to be the case in this instance.

Had it wished to beat a retreat to safety, the mias, as the natives called the red gorilla, might easily have done so. One leap and he could have grasped a tree trunk, up which he could have scrambled in a jiffy. On the contrary, after its first backward steps, which brought it almost out of the water, the creature stood upright and, uttering savage growls, beat on its hairy chest with its huge arms, producing a sound like the reverberations of a savage “tom-tom.”

The scaly reptile continued to advance. Perhaps, to its eyes, the red gorilla was simply a native, a poor weak human being, such as possibly had fallen victim to the great crocodile before. However that may have been, the saurian, without undue hurry, could be seen to be making straight for the red ape and, maneuvering so as to get its monstrous armor-plated tail in position to give a fatal flail-like sweep, which would fling the orang-outang into the water, stunning it and making it an easy prey.

It appeared to flatten itself as it reached shallow water, its ugly lizard-like legs spread out on each side of its scaly body almost horizontally. Then, with a suddenness that made the boys catch their breaths in a quick gasp, the monster gave a sudden leap, aiding this maneuver by its tail, which it suddenly stiffened as if it had been a spring.

Its whole length was launched into the air as it sprang, and for a flash its wide-opened jaws with their hideous rows of triangular teeth, appeared to engulf the red ape. But while the boys were still held spell-bound by this spectacle, such a one as perhaps no human being but a lone native hunter had ever beheld before, the red gorilla gave a mighty leap. It was partly straight up and partly to one side. As the great jaws of the saurian came together with a snap like that of a titanic steel trap, the red ape landed fair and square on the scaled monster’s back.

Straddling the plated hide, the great hairy legs gripped the crocodile’s sides as a bronco buster grips his fractious mount. And now commenced a struggle between these two denizens of the deepest New Guinea forests such as the two young spectators remembered with photographic vividness to the end of their lives.

On the part of the crocodile the battle was simply a series of leaps and wild tail threshings in an effort to dislodge his nimble foe. The grass and weeds were mown down as if by a scythe by the sweeps of the great tail, but the ape held firm, his little eyes twinkling wickedly. With one arm it clutched the rough hide firmly, but the other was waving about like a tentacle seeking something to grasp.

During the struggle the jaws of the crocodile had been frequently snapped, but they only closed on empty air. As in all the saurian tribe, during this process the upper jaw had pointed nearly vertically upward, making an opening big enough to swallow a canoe. Suddenly the watchers saw the orang’s purpose. All at once the disengaged arm made a swift sweep forward and grasped the extended upper jaw.“Great Scott! he’s done for now,” cried Billy. “That jaw will close and cut his fingers off.”

“Hold on,” warned Jack. “Watch. I’ve heard these creatures can bend rifle barrels as if they were made of lead. Perhaps—look!”

The orang suddenly shifted his position. He was now kneeling on the crocodile’s back, his knees braced firmly on its armor-plated neck and his second arm aiding the first in the task of keeping those jaws, once apart, from ever coming together again. Then summoning every ounce of that strength that has made the orang the most dreaded of all the forest animals in that part of the world, even the Bornean tiger owning his supremacy, the red gorilla gave one grand wrench.

There was a tearing sound as of a tree being torn from its roots, and the alligator’s body writhed and threshed about convulsively. The great ape sprang free from the scaly monster and with hoarse laughter that sounded like the merriment of a maniac, it gazed on the saurian’s struggles. But it was not destined to see the end of them. In its agony the great crocodile instinctively made for the water and was soon out of sight, threshing and writhing until a clump of water-cane hid it from sight.

Then, and not till then, did the orang take its eyes from its conquered enemy. But when it had seen the last of it, the hairy creature turned and appeared to be contemplating fresh victory. The lust of battle was in its wicked little eyes.

“Down, Billy, down with you quick,” warned Jack, pulling his chum aside in the thicket. “If it comes this way, shoot at once. I wouldn’t want to come to close quarters with a creature like that. I thought Salloo was drawing the long bow when he told me about the mias, as he called it, but he didn’t put it on thick enough.”

“If only we’d had a camera,” was Billy’s regret. But for the next few moments there were more important things to think about. The orang stood upright, looking about him in a truculent manner. It almost appeared as if, now that his battle with the saurian was over, he had recollected the human figure he had seen not long before, but had paid little heed to it in his haste to make his evening meal among the water plants.

In fact, he started shamblingly toward the brake where the boys were concealed with leveled rifles and fingers on triggers. But the great creature’s life was spared, for that time at least, for had the boys fired he must have fallen at the first bullets from the high-powered rifles. After advancing a few paces, he changed his mind and, grumbling to himself, he shuffled off and was soon lost in the gloom of the forest.

“We ought to have shot him, Jack,” muttered Billy as they started back to camp with what game they bagged.

“What, kill a fine old warrior like that without cause? Could you have done it, Billy?”“Um—well—er—no, I don’t believe I could,” rejoined his chum. “After all, that crocodile started the scrap and—and I guess every American likes a good fighter.”