Suma followed her in a prodigious leap, unmindful of her own safety.
And scarcely had Myla landed with a thud when the Jaguar was upon
her--not to continue the assault but to rescue the whining Warruk who
lay on the bed of leaves several feet away. She seized her cub by the
nape of the neck, as a cat carries her kitten and without a moment's
pause dashed away into the forest.
As for Myla, the blow had stunned her; and when her senses slowly
returned she wondered where she was and how she happened to be there. It
came to her in a flash. A moment later she was painfully dragging
herself up into the branches after which she slowly made her way back
toward the foothills, glad to be rid of the surly Warruk and firmly
resolved thereafter to pursue her own life in the treetops and to let
the denizens of the lower world pursue theirs without interference from
her.
Suma crossed the windfall a short distance from the scene of the
encounter and headed toward the east. Throughout the greater part of
that night she travelled, impelled by a mad desire to put as much
distance as possible between herself and the region infested with the
meddlesome monkeys. Also, a mysterious something in the air told her
that the time for her journey to the lowlands had arrived. And, when at
last the shrieking parrot flocks overhead and the dull, gray light in
front of her, bravely struggling through the mist, foretold the coming
of day she stopped and carefully deposited her burden on the leaves.
There followed a minute inspection, much fondling and purring and other
evidences of glad rejoicing over the reunion.
Warruk was none the worse for his experience except that he had lost
some of his plumpness; and he had developed such a strong dislike of
monkeys that it boded ill for the members of that tribe in the future.
At last there came the day when the rising sun vanquished the sullen
mists that had so persistently hugged the earth and all the world
breathed in the glad fragrance of the morning and revelled in the light
and warmth; and gave thanks for its deliverance from the clutches of
Siluk, the Storm-God. For, the months of rain had been full of gloom;
the days dark and cheerless, the nights chill and dreary beyond measure.
The pulse of life ran high in anticipation of the joyous days to follow.
The birds, bubbling over with the sheer joy of living raised their
voices in a swelling chorus and flashed their gorgeous colors as they
hopped and flitted through the thick foliage bedecked with myriads of
drops of water that scintillated like the rarest of gems. Their ranks
had been augmented during the period of enforced seclusion and numbers
of their young lacking the grace and brilliant hues of their elders
viewed the new world with bright eyes as they learned the manifold
lessons of life upon which their existence depended.