What had happened? Had Oakley crashed, or had he landed again in the hope that I would follow? Or was he continuing his flight under the impression that I was safely aboard? I kept very still, and listened; but there was not the faintest sound of the engine still running. The world was terribly and cruelly silent. Once, I caught the sharp crack of some twig, as if life was moving in the depths of the forest, and I clutched my revolver and backed into the middle of the grass arena. I also heard a deep and distant roll of anger, followed by a series of staccato barks, which I instantly recognised as the cry of the gorilla. "Where in heaven's name is Oakley?" clamored my mind, a little hysterically. A shrill squeal from the tree tops on my right was the only answer and, as I swung round with raised revolver, I caught sight of a small brown body dropping swiftly from branch to branch. The temptation to try a sporting shot was great, but reason prevailed and I lowered my hand. Cartridges were too valuable to waste on mere monkeys. . . . For nearly a quarter of an hour, this nerve torture continued. Everywhere seemed to be hidden and malignant forms of life, crying warnings to one another, or hurling threats at me! Then they were suddenly drowned in the deep and magnificent roar of our aeroplane as it came gliding over the tree tops again in search of its lost passenger. "Hey!" I cried, frantically waving my cap. The great bird spluttered, abruptly became silent, circled round twice, and gracefully slid to earth. "Lord!" I exclaimed, as I ran up to Oakley. "I thought you'd forgotten me!" "I couldn't look round for the first three or four minutes," he said. "Too busy! These trees are a damned nuisance and the air's like a cauldron." Without wasting further time in talking, we backed the machine to one corner of the "aerodrome," started the engine and, this time, got away with both of us safely aboard. An hour later we were back in Corisco telling Gran'pa of our first encounter with a wild gorilla. "It's a great pity you had to shoot it, George," he said. "If I hadn't, neither of us would have been here now!" I exclaimed, irritably. "Oh, I'm not complaining. But we shall have to be careful not to let it occur again. These brutes must be taken alive--or not at all. I suppose you couldn't have frightened it away?" "Yes!" I breathed. "As easily as you could scare off an elephant with a pop-gun." "H'm! . . . Well, tomorrow we must get to work on that portable cage. It's no use going out again until we are properly prepared and can rely on making a capture. By the way, while you were away Stringer has been busy hypnotizing half-a-dozen blacks. He said very little to them; but his gaze seemed to work wonders. They behaved like docile children."