They then parted to sleep for the night; and soon their love, their weariness and their purpose were all forgotten, except in disturbed dreams, in which he thought of wandering through unknown swamps with Sosee, and she pictured the rescue of her sister by a heroic lover. In the silence and longing of that night, however, Koree audibly breathed the following sentiment, which is the first poetry made by the human race: What is life Without a wife? CHAPTER X. [Illustration] As rosy-colored Morn advanced to greet the opening eyes of monkeys and men, and spread her beams over Cocoanut Hill, lifting at last the veil of mists which hung over Alligator Swamp, a fat baboon was seen wending his way with a child in his arms to the settlement of the Lali. All night long he had traversed wood and swamp, picking his way through bush and fen, eluding the serpent and fleeing from the cry of the catamount, his only companion the moon, and his only hope the morning. “I have avenged the rape of Soolee,” he said, as he approached the assembled Apes who were expecting the several warriors back which had gone to the country of the Ammi to recover the child that had been recently captured by them. Great chatterings and shouts of gratification went up from the Lali as they saw one of their number thus return victorious. Only the mother of Soolee appeared distressed. “Where is my child?” she asked. “I have brought one of the Ammi instead,” was the response of the warrior. “A man,” replied she, “is no compensation for a monkey; and the finding of another is no comfort to a mother for the loss of her own.” [Illustration: I HAVE BROUGHT ONE OF THE AMMI INSTEAD.] “You can have her for a slave,” was the reply. “You lost one, and you get one: it makes no difference whether you have the same or not.” The mother, however, was not satisfied, although the rest thought her grievance a small matter. The honor of the Apes was asserted by the reprisal; and when the public interest is conserved the multitude cares little for the individual loss. Orlee was placed in charge of this woman, who, notwithstanding her dissatisfaction, was delighted, not only at having a child, but at the fact that it represented the vengeance of her people. This double relation to the infant made her both love the child and mistreat it, the first because it was a child, and the latter because it stood in place of her own.