Evening star., 1921-06-19
By Charles Mayer
illustrated by Will Crawford.

the tree. were huddled to-
gether. swaying back and
forth. Omar came with the
message that the space was cleared
for the tree to fall; l ordered tho net
carried to position and sent the two
headmen to place the natives at their
posts.
Dense clouds of smoke rolled up
from the smudges. enreloping the tree
completely and hiding the orang-od-
tanEs, who perched aloft, screaming
and coughing. l could get occasional
glimpses of them. as they sat there
hugGinE each other.
The big rattan nets were in place.
with the men holding them ready to
cast when the tree came down. other
men, armed with sharp-pointed poies'
stood behind, to pin the beasts down
If the nets did not fall in the proper
position. They were SO excited that
spent several minutes in casually
walking about. talking with them and
calming them. Ali trudged a few feet
behind me. carrying my express rife.
We cleared away the litter or tree
trunks and creepers from the spot
where the big tree was TO ran. so that
there might be nothing underfoot 70
interfere with rapid work: then l
gave the 81 gnal for the tom toms The
racket began again and the ere" OF
men detailed to cutting the tree ran
through the smoke barrier, waving
their paranSs and shouting. l stood
outside. near the net. watching the
orangs and keeping the men at their
stations. Omar was with ME. ana
Nunshce was with the men who were
Going the cutting. We could hear the
big knives hacking into the tree
y
A MESSENGER from Munshee came
"a with the word that the tree was
ready TO drop. l gave a hasty glance
around me. told the men to be on the
alert and sent him back with instruc-
tions to let the tree fall. Once again.
through the din of tom-toms and
shouts, We could hear chopping: the
Outangs screamed with terror and the
men with the nets crouched. ready to
spring. Slowly the tree toppled and
came down. gathering speed as II
cd. When it struck the entire jungle
seemed to be in upheaval.
The oranG-outanGs abruptly stop
ped their outcry. AS they hit the
ground. they were paralyzed with
fright. A net went sailing over them.
senses and began fighting. With
long. black. powerful arms they LASH
ed at the rattan: they leaped and
struggled, biting the ropes and tear
ing great gashes in their bodies. They
screamed and chartered furiously. One
of them reached out and grabbed Il
native by. the throat. whipping him
throug the air and breaking his neck.
The native struck the ground several
yards away. blood pouring from his
nose and mouth.
I yelled to the men to cast the Sec
ond net and secure IL to the tTees.
The orangs kept UP a constant battle.
lashing and heaving under the ropes
Their arms and legs became entan-
gled in the meshes OF the nets. and
they wasted their strength in
wrenching and squirming, while We
fastened them down. The natives.
crazy with excitement. pressed in
Our material had been put to the
greatest test and would hold the ami
mails. / knew. for they could not again
equal the struggle of the FIRST few
minutes. So. because ! wanted them
to have room to become thoroughly
tangled in the nets. l ordered the
ropes slackened tri1e.
Jut then. while ! was standing near
the nets. experimenting -ti,e work of
making them fast. huge paw sfOt
out and grabbed my ankle. ] was
jerked OFF the ground and. as ! fell.
my hands caught tie limb of tree. I
clung to it with all my strength. feel
ing my fingers weaken and slip while
the brute pulled. The joints at my hip
and knee panied me for an instant:
then my lcS became numb. The men
stood terrified and ] could not yell
at them: l felt myself growing dizzy
and ! simply wondered why some one
did not do something. Then Omar
grabbed club and pounded the
orang's arm: the pulling stopped. and
away from the nets. For several
minutes I was too groggy to know
what was happening. but the idea
that the natives might kill the orang-
outangs while l was disabled made
me sit up. They were standing there,
looking first at me and then at the
animals. wondering what to do / told
them ! was all right and l began feel
ing my leg. 1t was not broken, but
1t had been so badly wrenched that
j could not stand on it.
WHILE I sat on the ground direct
ing the work. the men gathered
the outside meshcs of the nets and ran
rope through them. Then. as the
other ropes were loosened. they pull
ed the moose close. and the two brutes
were in a sack. For the first time, I
had an opportunity to examine our
catch: they were the two biggest
orang-outanSs ever captured in Bor-
neo.
Gradually they exhausted them
selves and gave up the struggle.
They peered out through the neskes,
snarling at the men who came near
them and sometimes shooting. out a
long arm with the fingers opening
and closing. The natives souatted
about in a circle. watching the ami
mails and laughing.
When the men had rested, had
them build two litters of boughs-
enc for the dead man and the other
for me. Then we strung the net on
three long poles. to be carried by
twelve men. and started back to the
to tell the people of the kampong of
our success. l headed the procession;
then came the orang-outans, with
natives dancing around them and
beating TOM toms: then the dead man.
1t was necessary to stop often to
change the crews that were carrying
the litters and the animals-they
weighed over 500 pounds-and the en-
tire population of Omar's kampons
came out to meet US in the Jungle
before we had covered half the dis
tance. My coolie boy, who had re-
manned at the village. was ahead of
them all. He was one of the fastest
rickshaw men I have ever seen. and
day. He wanted to carry me in his
rms hack TO the village hut told