"You don't say!" exclaimed John.

"You kids have made a mistake," informed Tom disbelievingly.

"No mistake about it," protested Bob; "it's an out-and-out fact."

"Well, that's cheerful news, then," said Tom. "I know we hit her up to well over two hundred an hour coming across to Kuka."

"And we'll do as much on this stretch, if our water only holds out,"

declared John determinedly.

"That's the rub," put in Paul. "I'm sure it won't hold out, and if we work right up to the last drop, I'm afraid we may have to make a forced landing, and that may be in the tops of the trees, for all we know."

"Or on an elephant's back," added Bob jocosely.

"Well, I don't know but that we had better try to make a landing as soon as we come to a favorable spot where there is water," remarked John. "It is a fine moonlight night, and if we strike the right place I think we can make the ground. In a pinch, you know, we can use our searchlight."

"Speaking about searchlights--oh my! oh, my! will I ever forget how frightened those blacks were?" And Paul laughed until the tears came into his eyes, now that the tension was off. Tom joined him until both of them staggered and b.u.mped together, causing Grandpa to set up an excited chatter of inquiry.

John kept the Sky-Bird low, down to less than a thousand feet, after crossing the lower neck of Lake Chad, for the chart showed no marked elevations which would make flying at that height hazardous, and it was certain that the closer they were to the earth the better they could detect a favorable place to land.

It was really a beautiful night, and they opened the cabin windows after a while to enjoy the soft balmy air to the full. The wind then rushed through the cabin like a hurricane, roaring so that conversation was out of order; but they enjoyed its cool touch on their hot faces.

One by one the stars had made their appearance, until now the heavens fairly glittered with them. How pretty they looked up there in the great blue vault in which they seemed the choicest settings of an angel's handiwork! Somehow they seemed to sparkle more brightly, and the sky seemed a richer cobalt, than the sky the boys knew at home.

But they missed many of the stars which they loved in America. The swift airplane in which they rode had taken them, day by day, and night by night, away from them. Many stars which were unknown to them had taken their places, and they realized more strongly than all the pictures in the world could have shown them how very unlike were the skies of the northern and southern hemispheres.

One of the most striking sights to them now was the constellation of the Cross, commonly known by mariners as the Southern Cross, and which is composed of four brilliant stars. Sirius, Canopus, and Centaur also filled a part of the heavens with their splendid light. Mars, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter were old friends in new surroundings, and were all dazzlingly dressed. The part of the Milky Way between the stars Sirius and Centaur was so rich in stars and crowded nebula: that it seemed a perfect blaze of illumination. And there were the Magellanic clouds, white-looking patches made up of countless stars individually unseen to the naked eye, and nebulae--mists of radiating light--all shining brilliantly and revolving around the starless South Pole. To the northward was the constellation of the Great Bear, which reaches its meridian alt.i.tude about the same time as the constellations of the Cross and the Centaur. As the boys looked, stars appeared and disappeared. They were like a succession of guests, coming and going.

After a while, the flyers saw a small river glinting in the moonlight and running along for the most part in the direction they were taking.

"The first time we come to a level, open spot along this stream we will try for a landing," stated John. "It will afford us plenty of water for the radiator if we can get down to it."

"And plenty of water for a good plunge, too," said Paul. "I haven't had a bath since we left Miami, and I'm fairly suffering for a wetting, if it's no more than a quick dip."

"Same here," seconded Bob and Tom.

They were running much lower now, on the lookout for a place to stop, and so once more they could hear each other's voices.

Presently, just after clearing a dense forest, they saw the opening they sought. It was a gra.s.sy level, free of bushes and other obstructions, and well bathed in the soft light of the stars and moon.

After some careful maneuvering, John brought the Sky-Bird down, and though the tall gra.s.ses wound in the landing-gear in coming to a stop, they broke off without doing any damage.

"We'd better take the guns along," Tom remarked.

"That's so," agreed John; "we might run into some ferocious animal in this wild jungle."

So each armed himself with a rifle and a pail, and John led the way, as he was the only one of the party supplied with a lantern, the others having small flashlights which were none too good for breaking a path in such wilds. They knew the river lay a short distance to the north, but in order to reach its banks from the place where they had landed, they had to cut through a strip of woods bordering it.

It was tedious work getting through. The trees were close together and had to be dodged, and great leaves of plants as large as their bodies seemed to be everywhere, while vines of the toughest fiber frequently shut off their pa.s.sage and had to be pushed aside or cut with knives.

More than once one of the party tripped over unseen obstacles and measured his length in the soft, rank ground-vegetation.

But it was only a little way to the river, and soon they stood upon its gra.s.sy bank. It was a pretty stream, not very deep, and seemed quite clear when John held the lantern down to it. They filled their pails, and then, risking all dangers of snakes and crocodiles, disrobed for a plunge.

First one and then the other jumped in. How refreshing the cool waters felt to their hot, sticky bodies! They would have liked to do some diving, but were afraid of sunken logs, and contented themselves by splashing about, swimming a little, and making the woods ring with their laughter and shouts.

Then they came out and put on their clothes. Picking up guns once more, and the pails now filled with water, they started back, John still leading. But they had not gone far when somewhere in advance of them they thought they heard the sound of a breaking limb. So sudden was the sound on the still night air, that all stopped very quickly, their hearts beating fast.

They listened, but the sound was not repeated. They started on again, thinking the limb must have been a dead one and had fallen from some tree of its own weight. But scarcely had they taken a dozen steps when they heard another sharp cracking of wood, this time very close in front of them.

Their intuition told them now that they were near to some night prowler of the animal kingdom, and perhaps one of considerable size, judging from the crash. Hardly realizing what they were doing, they set down their pails, and c.o.c.ked their rifles, facing, with alertness and uneasiness, the direction whence the sounds had come.

Now they heard some rustling, as of leaves, directly ahead. It came slowly and cautiously closer. Just as it seemed about to burst out upon their view it stopped. There was no more noise. All was silent; not even the note of a night-bird or the gentle chirp of an insect could be heard. For the first time the soughing of the tree-tops in the soft breeze above failed to meet their ears. What a deathly stillness it was!

Suddenly, right out of the black shadows ahead, there sounded on the hushed air of the night three terrific yells, one following immediately after the other. These piercing cries had hardly died out when another, of deeper note, and a veritable roar, filled the forest with its din. The leaves about the boys seemed fairly to quiver under the violent guttural reverberations.

John Ross may well have been excused for shaking as he held up his lantern in his right hand and threw its rays upon the tall undergrowth ahead, while his fingers tightened like bands of steel around the stock of his repeating-rifle.

As he and his companions looked, they saw peeping through the foliage a black, fierce face, one of the ugliest and most ferocious that man could have imagined. It was staring straight at them. The brute's eyes were sunken under a heavy overhanging ridge of dusky skin. His eyes were small and black, and the iris of each shone like a diamond set in carbon. His forehead was low, receding, and covered with short bristling hair. His nose was broad and flat. His great jaw protruded frightfully, with the upper thin lip pressed tight, the lower curving away and displaying a row of long yellow tusks which could have bitten the hand off a man with one crunch.

The animal now opened his cavernous mouth, and uttered yell after yell again, these sounding something like the bark of a dog but being a hundred times louder. They were followed by terrific roars, somewhat similar to those of a lion, though of much greater volume. The cries rang through the forest from hill to hill, and died away in the distance. The woods was filled with the echo of his horrible voice.

Then, very slowly his whole body came in sight. He advanced clumsily and ponderously towards the little party of flyers, walking erect, his plain intent being to kill them. His short legs were hardly strong enough, as st.u.r.dy as they were, to support his huge body. All at once he stopped to look at them. How vindictive his eyes were! They seemed to say to the boys: "I will soon finish you!"

Then he beat his chest with his great fists and the noise was like a bandman striking a ba.s.s-drum. It was his challenge to combat. How long and muscular were the s.h.a.ggy arms that directed these blows! How broad was his chest from which the sounds came! The hair stood almost erect on his body, and the hair on his head moved up and down.

This hesitation of the monster proved the salvation of the flyers. It gave them a chance to pull their shattered nerves together and elevate their rifles. As he must keep the light on the creature, which now all recognized as a large gorilla, so that his companions and himself could see to shoot, John had only one arm with which to handle his gun. But he brought the weapon up quickly, and pressed the trigger just as three other shots rang out from the guns of his companions, who had stepped on either side of their leader.

A hoa.r.s.e yell of rage and pain answered the reports. They saw the gorilla stagger, then drop to all fours, and lunge toward them.

There was no chance to retreat. As quick as a flash John dropped his own rifle, so that he could hold the lantern in both hands and direct its rays better upon the beast, and cried to his comrades to fire again.

No sooner had the words left his lips than the others brought their repeaters once more to their shoulders. On account of the poor light on the barrels of their weapons they were again compelled to take snap shots, shooting with both eyes open; but this time with greater success.

The big gorilla fell, uttering a fearful groan. He rolled over upon his back, his ma.s.sive limbs twitched convulsively, and then he was still. Going up to him cautiously with the lantern, they found that he was dead.

Extended, his great arms measured nearly nine feet; his chest had a girth of seven feet, and he lacked only one inch of being six feet in height. These facts Tom ascertained with the use of a small tapeline which he carried in his pocket.

"Let's skin him," said Tom; "I know how, and it won't take but a few minutes."

"Sure," agreed Paul; "his skin will be a valuable trophy to take back home with us. Jiminy, I wish it had been daylight and we had brought our camera with us! We could have secured some pictures worth while for the _Daily Independent_."

With his keen-edged sheath knife, Tom soon had the skin removed from the giant brute. The performance of this operation was far from an agreeable one, however, both for surgeon and observers. So human-like was the gorilla that it seemed like skinning a man!

As they made their way onward again, carrying their trophy in a roll tied with withes made from vines. Bob ventured to say: "I wonder how the gorilla came to be awake and to attack us this way?"

"I think he must have had a mate, perhaps a family, nearby," replied John. "I have read that the mother and her babies always go up into a tree to sleep, while the father squats down at its base to guard them, and here he sleeps with one eye open and the other closed, as the saying is. At least he arouses at the slightest sound of an enemy. We probably awakened him by our shouts while in bathing, and being so close to him when we came back along a slightly different path, he thought we were going to attack the family upstairs, and showed fight right away."

The little party regained their airplane without further incident; the radiator was drained, and the fresh water put in. Then, feeling that there was no further danger of the engines running hot, they took off.