Koree, too, urged them to quicker speed, lest the battle, the Lali and Sosee should all escape, and they themselves should be compelled to return without glory or the girl. “If I must go south”, he said, “I want the company of Sosee, and if I must die in the cold, I want to die with her.” And so his tenderness for one became cruelty to many; and he led the forces hastily to the seat of war, while the girls and the weak fell back, unable to keep up. Watch-the-girls fell back with them, though abundantly able to go on. She said she would die with her charge, or else bring them up to the front later on. And so some remained behind suffering, while others went forward suffering. Watch-the-girls was equally divided in her attentions between caring for the dying and getting forward the living. CHAPTER XXXVIII. [Illustration] Meanwhile the Lali, to whom we will now return, had been passing through a crisis no less serious than that of their enemy. After failing to overtake the Ammi, whom they had prepared to overwhelm, as we have related, by amassing against them the fugitives from the north, they returned discouraged to their camp, there to encounter discontent among their allies, and finally division. They were even threatened at one time with extermination by the new-comers, which they averted by inducing the latter to pass on. The allies accordingly began an exodus, and were soon out of sight. But they devoured, before going, nearly all the means of the Lali, and carried off what they could not eat, so that, with the coming of the snow and cold, the Lali were left in destitution. This was relieved by catching some of the animals that had come from the north, and by gathering those that had perished in the snow. They also learned to eat, as all do in time of war or famine, many new kinds of food, and gathered leaves and sprigs, which till then had not been tasted. The flight of the Ammi before the allied Apes, which has already been described, proved a serious loss to the Lali. These had hoped, on conquering the Ammi, to take possession of Cocoanut Hill, and the stores amassed there; and, had they succeeded, they would have had enough, both for themselves and their allies, for some time, and could have lived in comfort. When, accordingly, it was discovered that Sosee was the cause of the flight of the Ammi, and so of the misfortunes of the Lali, they resolved to put her to death. Several attempts were at once made at this, but singular obstacles arose from the complications of the Apes with her, which secured her protection by starting fights among themselves.