Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-08-14

Dur carriage was brought to the door.
Pamba took me by the arm and said:
- If the master be wise he will wait
until tomorrow and not drive through
the forests. which are full of ferocious
beasts
laughed away his misgivings. Ny
good fellow" l said, who ever heard
of an attack of wild animals on
Europeans in broad daylight: Jump
in the rear and take care of little
Charley: you may take my pistols II
you will. The mistress and myself
will take the box seats. ="
master knows better than poor
Pamba." said the Malay, "but l warn
master of danger"
Travel was comparatively easy dur
ing the first hour or SO. though the road
grew worse all the time the further we
progressed on the way to the sea- The
Malay's evil predictions, though l
would not admit it. had cast a shadow
over the hopeful frame Of mind in
which / INDUCED. Now the forest be-
came thicker, the road more uneven
than ever, thorns and stones interfeIed
with the gait of the pony. We had to
go at a very slow pace. From Pamba
not a word. My servant was broad
chested, copper brown fellow with a
fat nose, protruding cheek bones and
the straight, coarse hair of his race.
In his lap rested my two pistols. from
his girdle hung the kris, two-edged
knife, sharp as a razor, which the
natives handle with astonishing dex-
terity.
Just as we were entering upon the
second half of our journey we heard
sounds over our heads in the trees.
1T was like "Tsjik tsjik. tsjik.
MAN of the-wood is here" said
Pamba. stoically. looked up. More
than a dozen orang- outangs were
watching us with gloating big eyes
from above. And as we proceeded we
observed that each tree forward on the
road was manned by couple Of tail
less apes. "They are the sentinels,
having mounted guard over u.s." whis-
pered the Malay, and half minute
later he added. "They are forming
themselves into an army"
A small troop, but horrible onel
When we had passed the first guard
house tree its hairy occupants let them
selves down to the ground and trotted
after us with uncertain, wavering
steps. crying their monotonous "Tsjik-
tsjik," and showing their terrible
teeth. The further we proceeded the
more numerous the procession grew.
Our pony seemed to be aware of the
danger Before could raise the whip
he had entered upon a fast trot. and
now broke into gallop. l had seen
enough of orang-outaDgs to know that
the stories descriptive of their alleged
inability to move swiftly upon the
ground was incorrect. The black
monsters were we'll able to keep pace
with US.
Further and further toward the sea-
board sped or brave pony, but horrors
upon horrors, the number of sentinels
above us, the army behind us, increased
every minute. Now / counted six
apes in each tree ON the road. Some
of the monsters tried to jump into our
carriage from the lower branches. but
happily did not calculate with the
movements of the horse and fell upon
the ground. Suddenly an old ape
alighted upon the step of the cart.
His tremendous jaws for moment
opened not a foot from my face, and
Whit of his polluted breath struck
my nostrils. At that moment Pamba' S
right. armed with an iron jimmy, de-
scended upon the orang- outang's head,
who fell to the ground with terrible
howl.
Ny wife, who had been leaning
heavily upon me. for some time, now
swooned away and my two little ones
began to cry for help and mercy.
recognized the impossibility of escape
by fight. Our cart was swinging
from one side of the way to the other,
and might turn over at any moment.
When the troop of apes was about
10 feet distant from us l ordered Pamba
to fire. ''They will run away after
the first shot. said to myself. The
Malay. as if he had followed my
thoughts. said "Man-of- the-woods
knows that we can not escape; that he
got us; this time he will not turn
tail
One of the apes fell as the result of
two shots fired: the others continued
to run after us. / handed Pamba my
revolver. He waited until they were
but 30 feet away. then fred six times
in quick succession. For second or
SO the animals seemed taken by sur
prise; they had probably anticipated
but one shot. Seeing two of their
comrades drop they hesitated. conferred
among themselves in their own shrill-
toned language. then trotted ON. The
pony was painting and struggling hard
for breath, and the next house was at
least four miles away.
Master must 60 ahead, Pamba will
fight man-of- the wood, said the Malay
of axuhi1o