The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-01-17

lie glanced DcIlIHu uiu. AAc pack
was close upon his heels. The time
had come. He had warned them con
~tinuously during the long march that
no harm must befall the white woman
ape who lay a prisoner within the vii
lage. All others were their legitimate
prey.
Then, raising his face toward the
sky, he gave voice to q single cry. 1t
was the signal.
In response 1900 hairy bulls leaped
screaming and barking into the village
of the terrified blacks. Warriors pour
ed from every hut. Mothers gathered
their babies in their arms and fled to-
ward the gates ms they saw the horrid
horde pouring into the village street.
Kovudoo marshaled his fighting men
about him and, leaping and yelling to
arouse their courage, offered q briS-
Ting. spear-tipped front TO the charg-
ing horde.
Korak, as he had led the march, led
the charge. The blacks were struck
with horror and dismay ut the sight Of
this white-skinned youth at the head
Of Il pack of h,deous balloons.
For an instant they held their
ground, hurting their spears once at
the advancing multitude. But before
they could fit arrows to their bows
they wavered, gave and turned in ter
rified rout. Into their ranks, upon
their backs, sinking strong fangs into
the muscles of their necks, sprang the
balloons, and first among them, most
ferocious, most bloodthirSty. most ter
rible, was k0rak, the Killer.
At the village gates, through which
the blacks poured in panic, korak left
them to the tender mercies of his al
lies and turned himself eagerly toward
the hut In which Merlem had been a
prisoner.
1t was empty. One after another
the filthy interiors revealed the same
disheartening fact-Meriem was in
zone Of them. That she had not been
taken by the blacks in their flight from
the village korak knew, for he had
watched carefully for glimpse Of her
mon the fugitives.
To the mind of the ape man, know
Ing as he did the proclivities of the
savageS, there was but a single eX-
planation-Meriem had been killed and
eaten. With the conviction that Me
riem was dead, there surged through
Korak's brain a wave of blood-red
rage against those he believed to be
her murderers. In the distance he
could hear the snarling Of the balloons
mixed with the scream of their vie
tins, and toward this he made his
way.
In the distance KovudoO was gath
ering his scattered tribesmen and TAX
ing account Of injuries and losses. His
people were panic-stricken. Nothing
could prevail upon them to remain
longer in this country. They would
not even return to the village for their
belongings. Instead they insisted upon
continuing their flight until they had
put many miles between themselves
and the stamping ground of the white
demon whose hordes had so bitterly
attacked them.
And thus it befell that Korak drove
from their homes the only people who
might have aided him In Il search for
Meriem and cut off the only connect
Ing link between him and her from
w~homsoever might come in search Of
him from the douar of the kindly Bwa-
ma who had befriended his little Jungle
sweetheart.
1t was a sour and savage korak who
bid farewell to his baboon allies upon
the following morning. They wished
him to accompany them, but the ape
man had no heart for society. Jungle
life had encouraged ta%citurnity in him.
His sorrow had deepened this to II sui
ZEN moroseness thai could not brook