So they ran, and the earth rapidly receded behind them. The other two apes followed, but at a distance, so that the tiger and Shamboo were practically alone, and must soon, it seemed, try their strength in single combat. The tiger, however, was too scared to take an inventory of what he was carrying, while Shamboo’s thoughts were divided equally between how to hold on and how to let go. The tiger himself soon solved this problem for Shamboo by running through a hole in a thicket which was too small to admit both, so that Shamboo was knocked off. He fell into a cluster of bushes, and the fall was so violent as to cause him to turn several summersets, so that he did not know in which direction he had been going. The tiger, lightened of his load, but not of his scare, kept on, and was soon out of sight and out of this story. Shamboo picked himself up and, looking round, spied the other two apes coming slowly toward him. He limped back to them with an air of disappointment, rather than of suffering, and, without uttering a word, fell upon the younger ape, who had shown cowardice, and killed him for his breach of military discipline in disobeying orders. The fame of that ride and that fight remains to the time of this story, though there are different versions of it among the Ammi and the Apes beyond the Swamp. And long subsequent to this time, when the descendants of these Apes got to riding on the backs of horses and cattle, there was a legend ascribing the origin of the uses of beasts of burden to this unwilling ride of Shamboo; and in the mythology of the later Apes Shamboo became the god of Domestication. CHAPTER IV. [Illustration] In the course of the contest with the tigers, which lasted several years, many improvements were made in the art of warfare, which afterwards served the Apes in time of peace. After the experience of Shamboo and others, who attacked unarmed the savage beasts, they found it advisable to fight at a distance. Taking their position on trees, which was done for safety, the problem was how to reach the enemy. They commonly showered cocoanuts and other large fruits upon them, which, while annoying to small animals, had little effect on tigers. They next carried stones up the trees for missiles, which they dropped with some effect. In time they became expert at throwing, and could strike a tiger’s head ten paces off. Shoozoo claimed to have killed a hyena at a distance of many alligators’ lengths with a rock larger than his head; but Shoozoo had a reputation for lying, which was greatly developed during the war.