But the clicking of the gun-locks aroused it to its danger, and, springing upright, it stood peering at them for some moments from beneath a pair of great hairy overhanging brows, before giving vent to a hoarse, long-continued yell. The result of this was soon perceived, for three more such figures suddenly bounded from amongst a clump of bushes and made for the dense forest close at hand. The first seen stretched itself up a little higher for the moment, until it looked like a big savage man, and it stood still glaring at the strangers fiercely and displaying its teeth. Directly afterwards it uttered another deep-toned yell, and its human aspect was gone, for it went down on all-fours and seemed to turn itself into a rear-guard for the other three till they disappeared amongst the undergrowth. The first seen then again raised itself to gaze over the bushes at the boat, and, after uttering a hoarse half-bark, half-human cry, it plunged in after the rest and was gone. "Here, why didn't one of you have a shot?" cried Lynton. "What at?" said Brace quietly. "Those monkeys. It was an old man and his wife and two youngsters. Why didn't you fire? You had a good chance." "That was why I didn't fire at them. I didn't want to hit the old man nor his wife nor youngsters. I couldn't bring myself to do it." "That's just how I felt," said Briscoe. "Hang me if I could make out whether it was a wild man or an ape." "It's my opinion that it was the former," said Brace, gazing back at the little embayment they had just passed. The next few minutes were passed in silence which was at length broken by Brace. "Look, there he is again," he said; "he's watching us from behind those bushes. Couldn't be a wild man, though, could it?" "Of course not," said Lynton: "whoever saw a wild Indian go off on all-fours? It was a great monkey." "But there are no great monkeys in this part of the world," said Brace. "One has to go to West Africa and Borneo for them. What do you say, Mr Briscoe?" "The naturalists all say that there are no big apes in South America; but some travellers tell a different tale, and the Indians report that there are great half-human creatures that they are afraid of roaming about in the woods." "I suppose that must mean that there are some species of apes on this continent, but that no specimens have been captured," said Brace. "I'm going to make a note of what we've seen to-day," said Briscoe, "for that chap was as big as an orang-outang, and quite as ugly." "Yes," said Brace. "It looks as if we had made a discovery. I don't see why there shouldn't be big ones in these vast forests." "Nor I," said Briscoe thoughtfully. "There's plenty of room, and people are too ready to say that nothing more remains to be discovered. Why, only the other day they wouldn't believe in the existence of the gorilla." "Look here," said Brace; "don't you think we ought to go back and endeavour to catch one of those young ones?"