The Castaways

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

  A SPECTACLE RARELY SEEN.

  When the huge reptile first unfolded itself to their view, it wasalready close to the spot where the ourang-outang, knee-deep in thewater, stood awaiting it. They naturally expected to see the landanimal effect a retreat from an antagonist even more formidable-lookingthan itself.

  And in reality it did give ground at first; but only for a few longscrambling strides, made as much on its arms as legs--just far enough toplace itself high and dry upon the bank. There it came to a stop, andstood firmly facing the foe.

  They now perceived the truth of what Saloo had been telling them: thatthere is no animal in all Borneo, either in its forests or its rivers,of which the mias feels fear. Certainly there is none more to bedreaded than the gavial crocodile; yet the great ape, judging by itspresent attitude, was in no sense afraid of it. Had it been so, itwould have retreated into the woods, where, by climbing a tree, it mighteasily have shunned the encounter. Even if it had retired a little upon_terra firma_, the amphibious animal would not have thought of followingit, and it could at once have avoided the conflict, if desirous of doingso. On the contrary, it seemed rather to court it; for not only did ittake a firm stand on the approach of the saurian, but continued to emitits hoarse cough and bark, which, as we have said before, closelyresembled the growlings of an angry mastiff with his jaws held half-shutby the straps of a muzzle. At the same time it struck the groundrepeatedly with its fore-paws, tearing up grass and weeds, and flingingthem spitefully toward the crocodile, and into its very teeth, as ifprovoking the latter to the attack.

  Undismayed, the scaly reptile continued to advance. Neither the strangenoises nor the violent gesticulations of its four-handed enemy seemed tohave any effect upon it. To all appearance, nothing could terrify thegigantic saurian. Confident in its great size and strength--above all,in the thick impenetrable skin that covered its body like a coat ofshale armour--conscious of being so defended, the crocodile alsobelieved that there was no living thing in all the land of Borneo, or inits waters either, that could withstand its terrible onslaught. Ittherefore advanced to the attack with no idea of danger to itself, butonly the thought of seizing upon the half-crouching, half-upright formthat had intruded upon its domain, and which possibly appeared to itonly a weak human being--a poor Dyak, like some of its former victims.

  In this respect it was woefully deceiving itself; and the slight retreatmade by the mias toward the dry land no doubt further misled itsassailant. The reptile paused for a moment, lest the retreat should becontinued, at the same time sinking its body beneath the water as low asthe depth would allow.

  Remaining motionless for a few seconds, and seeing that its victim wasnot only not going any further, but maintained its defiant attitude, thegavial crawled silently and cautiously on till the reeds no longerconcealed it. Then suddenly rising on its strong fore-arms, it boundedforward--aiding the movement by a stroke of its immense tail--andlaunched the whole length of its body on the bank, its huge jaws flyingagape as they came in contact with the shaggy skin of its intended prey.For an instant of time its snout was actually buried in the long redhair of the gorilla, and the spectators expected to see the lattergrasped between its jaws and dragged into the lake.

  They were even congratulating themselves on the chance of thus gettingrid of it, when a movement on the part of the mias warned them they werenot to be so conveniently disembarrassed of its dangerous proximity.That movement was a leap partly to one side, and partly upward into theair. It sprang so high as completely to clear the head of itsassailant, and so far horizontally, that when it came to the groundagain, it was along the extended body of the crocodile, midway betweenits head and its tail. Before the unwieldy reptile could turn toconfront it, the ape made a second spring, this time alighting upon thegavial's back, just behind his shoulders. There straddling, and takinga firm hold with its thick short legs, it threw its long arms forwardover the crocodile's shoulder-blades, as with the intent to throttle it.And now commenced a struggle between the two monstrous creatures--aconflict strange and terrible--such as could only be seen in the depthsof a Bornean or Sumatran forest, in the midst of those wild solitudeswhere man rarely makes his way. And even in such scenes but rarelywitnessed; and only by the lone Dyak hunter straying along the banks ofsome solitary stream, or threading the mazes of the jungle-grown swampor lagoon.

  On the part of the crocodile the strife consisted simply in a series ofendeavours to dismount the hairy rider who clung like a saddle to itsback. To effect this purpose, it made every effort in its power;turning about upon its belly as upon a pivot; snapping its jaws tillthey cracked like pistol shots; lashing the ground with its longvertebrated tail, till the grass and weeds were swept off as if cut withthe blade of a scythe; twisting and wriggling in every possibledirection.

  All to no purpose. The ape held on as firmly as a Mexican to a restivemule, one of its fore-arms clutching the shoulder-blade of the reptile,while the other was constantly oscillating in the air, as if searchingfor something to seize upon.

  For what purpose it did this, the spectators could not at first tell, itwas not long, however, before they discovered its intention. All atonce the disengaged arm made a long clutch forward and grasped the upperjaw of the gavial. During the struggle this had been frequently wideagape, almost pointing vertically upward, as is customary with reptilesof the lizard kind, the singular conformation of the cervical vertebraeenabling them to open their jaws thus widely. One might have supposedthat, in thus taking hold, the gorilla had got its hand into a terribletrap, and that in another instant its fingers would be caught betweenthe quickly-closing teeth of the saurian, and snapped off likepipe-stems, or the tender shoots of a head of celery. The inexperiencedand youthful spectators expected some such result; but not so thecunning old man-monkey, who knew what he was about; for, once he hadgained a good hold upon the upper jaw, at its narrowest part, near thesnout, he made up his mind that those bony counterparts, now asunder,should never come together again. To make quite sure of this, he benthimself to the last supreme effort. Supporting his knees firmly againstthe shoulders of the saurian, and bending his thick muscular arms to theextent of their great strength, he was seen to give one grand wrench.There was a crashing sound, as of a tree torn from its roots, followedby a spasmodic struggle; then the hideous reptile lay extended along theearth, still writhing its body and flirting its tail.

  The red gorilla saw that it had accomplished its task; victory wasachieved, the danger over, and the hated enemy lay helpless, almostnerveless, in its hairy embrace.

  At length, detaching itself from the scaly creature, whose struggleseach moment grew feebler and feebler, it sprang to one side, squatteditself on its haunches, and with a hoarse laughter, that resembled thehorrid yell of a maniac, triumphantly contemplated the ruin of itsprostrate foe!