[Illustration]
The Ammi now continued their forward march with but little interruption.
“I fear this expedition will end in disaster,” said Gimbo; “our falling
into the water is a bad sign.”
“I think so to,” added Pounder, recalling his duckings; “but before it
ends I shall have a fight with the Apes, and smash some of their jaws.”
“What looks to me worst,” said another, “is, that when I was sharpening
my flint this morning, the Fire-monster suddenly appeared to me, starting
up out of the flint and immediately disappearing again.”
“I saw the same thing,” added another, “when Pounder struck me in the
eye. Fire flew in all directions and then disappeared.”
One of the scouts now returned breathless announcing that they could see
the Lali in the distance.
“Let me reconnoiter,” said Koree, who advanced rapidly to the farther
edge of the swamp, from which, indeed, the Apes could be distinctly seen.
These were running up and down the trees, apparently gathering fruit, and
chasing one another over the plains without any apparent purpose except
sport. But men never knew the deep designs of Monkeys.
“Where is Sosee, I wonder?” asked Koree, who was too much interested
in the object of his love to attend closely to the requirements of
war. He did not observe that at that moment a great ape was stealthily
approaching him from one side.
For the Apes had out their pickets as well as the men, owing to
apprehensions of an attack; while others were scattered through the Swamp
hunting food.
After a little waiting and looking he thought he descried Sosee in the
distance walking with a handsome ape who was exceedingly attentive to her.
Jealousy now succeeded to prudence, and his rage would have at once
carried him alone into the ranks of the enemy to capture her (and be
captured instead), but, another incident prevented him from accomplishing
this disaster.
“I will have her at once,” he said, “and scatter the brains of that
monkey attendant over any one who opposes me.”
At this instant the ape who was watching him ran up and dealt him a
powerful blow, knocking his resolution, his jealousy and his love out of
him for a while.
Koree, recovering his senses, now transferred his rage to this new
quarter, and, following it up with blows, soon brought to the ground his
assailant.
This was witnessed by other scouts of the Lali who ran to the rescue of
their companion, and also by some scouts of the Ammi who closed on the
combatants, so that an immediate fight was threatened between the pickets
of the two forces.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE BEGINS.]
This encounter, all unpremeditated, nearly defeated the schemes of both
parties. It destroyed the hope of secrecy on the part of the Ammi, who
thought to take the Lali by surprise; and destroyed the hope of ambush
on the part of the Lali who meant to entrap the approaching enemy in the
Swamp. Each party, moreover, being ignorant of the force by which it was
attacked, and fearing that it might be larger than its own, shrank from
fight.
As soon, therefore, as they got released from each other, they flew
apart, as if they had been fighting to escape, and not to conquer. Both
being afraid, and not daring to seem so, they affected to despise each
other, and so, showing their teeth and grinning a defiance, they went in
opposite directions, each hoping the other would take the encounter for
a chance meeting of strange apes hunting for food, and not a skirmish
between the advance guards of mighty hosts prepared for battle.
It was too late, however. Both powers were now apprised of each others’
designs, and both immediately put themselves in readiness for action.
Koree was much blamed by the Ammi for his rashness in precipitating this
encounter.
“It was your love,” said Abroo, “which brought us here to fight, and it
is your love which will now defeat us. O that love would take sense along
with it when it goes either to woo a woman or fight a battle.”
“But it generally turns to foolishness before it accomplishes anything,”
added Cocoanut-Scooper.
“And were there not a fool also on the other side it would never succeed
at all,” said Oko.
“Koree’s case,” added a fourth, “makes more trouble for others than
pleasure for himself.”
“For his falling in love once,” said Pounder, “I fell in the water twice.”
And so they went on reproaching poor Koree for having such a strong love
that it would not let them rest, and such a foolish one that it would not
let them fight.
Koree had nothing to say, but being himself most convinced of his own
foolishness, was angry that others agreed with him, and so simply changed
the subject.
“Be ready to fight at once,” he said, “as we may be attacked before we
have time to decide whether we will fight or not. Between the lake and
the Apes we have nothing left but to triumph.”
“It is either to be killed by the Apes or drowned in the water,” said
Oko, “and I don’t like either.”
“We’ll kill some apes before we are killed ourselves,” answered Pounder;
“at least, I will.”
“Their forces are more numerous than ours,” insisted Oko.
“That being so,” said Koree, who turned every objection into a new
device, “we will fight them by stealth, creeping upon them by night, or
enticing them into the woods.”
“Let us rather,” said Duco, “attack them openly, and all at once; though
we are less numerous we are armed, and have more skill than they.”
“I think,” said Gimbo, “that the Apes will triumph; they walk on all
fours, and people can fight better with four feet than with two; besides,
it is not right to—”
“Be still,” said Koree, “or give us your help, instead of your fears.”
It was resolved at last, as they could neither retreat nor stand still,
to go forward; and they determined to await an opportunity to make an
assault.
And now dread Terror brooded over the hosts of men, causing hearts to
flutter and visions of death to rush on the soul. Night and Blood and
Pain visited many in dreams, while to some Glory appeared, walking over a
vanquished foe. As Koree slept he thought he saw Sosee coming to him in
beauty with a branch of evergreen oak, and promise that he should rule
over a new race, while she should sit by his side as queen to receive the
admiration of all men.
The Apes also quaked, and the convulsions which had just thrown up the
Alps were trifling compared with the tremors that shook the breasts of
the embattled hosts that night. The morrow was to witness a conflict that
would decide whether the human race was to remain on earth or go out of
history in its infancy.