I believe the delicious perfume that permeated the air had almost lulled
me to sleep for the moment, when I was rudely roused up by feeling the
grip on my throat. "Belay that, Larry," cried I, fancying that my
practical-joking friend had stolen a march on me, thinking to catch me
napping, speaking without even taking the trouble to open my eyes. "A
lark's a lark, old chap: but you needn't squeeze my throat so beastly
hard, Larry!"
The pressure of his fingers, as I thought, continuing and absolutely
causing me considerable pain, as well as throttling me, while I felt
myself drawn up, as I have stated, into the lower branches of the tree
against which I had been leaning, I quickly opened my eyes.
Heavens, I was horrified!
The hand that I fancied was the hand of Larry and which he had clasped
round my neck in joke, was one of the great hairy paws of a huge baboon,
who, with his grinning face shoved close to mine, was trying his best to
choke me in grim earnest; while, getting a purchase with the other paw
on to a projecting limb of the juniper-tree, he was slowly hoisting me
aloft.
His grip was so strong that I felt powerless in his grasp; but, all the
same, I was not going to give in to a brute of a monkey without making a
fight for it!
So, feeling for the lanyard of my knife, I drew this out of its sheath
and gave Jocko's elder brother a slash across his wrist that must have
tickled him up a bit, the blood from the beast's paw shooting over my
face in a stream, while he let go his hold of me.
Hardly had I reached the ground, however, touching mother earth again
with a jerk that nearly dislocated my ankles, besides making me fall
sideways all a-sprawl, than the baboon, giving vent to a vicious snarl,
caught hold of my left leg with both his paws, just as a dog might seize
a bone, and bit me savagely with his tusk-like teeth.
Fortunately, all of us were in full marching rig with gaiters on, and
this protection prevented the baboon's teeth from penetrating far into
my flesh, though he made his mark on my unfortunate calf.
Then, on my prodding him in one of his hind legs, which I clutched in my
turn, thinking such a procedure only fair play, the beast dropped the
gaiter he was busy gnawing up, and made at me with a howl, endeavouring
to clutch me again in his hairy hug.
But, dropping on one knee, I gave him an upper cut with my doubled fist
right under the brute's chin, which prevented this movement; and the
next moment, falling back, when I jumped on top of him, he and I were
rolling over and over, locked together, the baboon and I, in each
other's arms, and engaged in one of the biggest rough-and-tumble fights
I ever had the pleasure of participating in!
The big brute, though, was so strong and muscular that he got the better
of me after a bit, tearing all the clothes off me with the long nails he
had at the ends of his toes and human-like fingers, besides biting me in
the most savage fashion wherever he saw an opening.