"The gorilla felt the muscles in its hairy fingers, and showed its huge teeth. I looked eagerly at my enemy. "'Come, you haven't yet guessed my riddle; you are dull to-night,' it said lightly. 'That old wine of yours made you sleep too soundly. Don't let me disturb you. I will explain. This moon is now my home--I share it with the spirits of all the animals and insects that were once on your earth. And now that we are free from such as you--free to wander anywhere we like without fear of being shot, or caught and caged--we are happy. And what makes us still happier is the knowledge that the majority of men and women will never have a joyous after-state like ours. They will be earth-bound in that miserable world of theirs, and compelled to keep to their old haunts, scaring to death with their ugly faces all who have the misfortune to see them. There is another fate in store for you, however. Do you know what it is?' "It paused. No sound other than that occasioned by his bumping on the soil broke the impressive hush. "'Do you know?' it said again. 'Well, I will tell you. I'm going to kill you right away, so that your spirit--it's all nonsense to talk about souls, such as you have no soul--will be earth-bound here--here for ever--and will be a perpetual source of amusement to all of us animal ghosts.' "It then began to jabber ferociously, and, crouching down, prepared to spring. "'For Heaven's sake,' I shrieked, 'for Heaven's sake.' "But I might as well have appealed to the wind. It had no sense of mercy. "'He, he!' it screamed. 'What a joke--what a splendid joke. Your wit never seems to degenerate, Hugesson! I'm wondering if you will be as funny when you're a ghost. Get ready. I'm coming, coming,' and as the sky deepened to an awe-inspiring black, and the stars grew larger, brighter, fiercer; and the great lone deserts appealed to me with a force unequalled before, it sprang through the air. "A singing in my ears and a great bloody mist rose before my eyes. The wailing and screeching of a million souls was borne in loud protracted echoings through the drum of my ears. Men and women with evil faces rose up from crag and boulder to spit and tear at me. I saw creatures of such damning ugliness that my soul screamed aloud with terror. And then from the mountain tops the bolt of heaven was let loose. Every spirit was swept away like chaff before the burst of wind that, hurling and shrieking, bore down upon me. I gave myself up for lost. I felt all the agonies of suffocation, my lungs were torn from my palpitating body; my legs wrenched round in their sockets; my feet whirled upwards in that gust of devilish air. All--excruciating, damning pain--and _pro tempore_--I knew no more." * * * * *