“What?” demanded Abraham, breathless with excitement.
Mabel rang a bell. “Johsa,” she said, to the domestic who presented himself, “bring in Master Ouha.”
A minute later, the Orang made a sensational entrance, dressed in a shirt and suit of white twill. He bowed, saluting with both arms forward, and walked over to Mabel, who offered him her hand. He took it, and raised it to his lips.
“My new flirt,” said Mabel, turning to Dr. Goldry. “My new flirt, my dear.”
IV. Ouha Flees and Abducts Dilou
In the two days that Abraham Goldry had been at Riddle-Temple, the doctor had only left his new friend, Ouha, in order to take the indispensable tour of the property with Smith and Mabel. The partly-restored temple—for the work was ongoing—had resumed its former appearance. The three stages of colonnades, cleared of parasitic plants, were now silhouetted against the transparent blue of the tropical sky in all their sculptural beauty.
Leaving in its original state the part doubtless consecrated to religious celebration, Harry Smith had had apartments installed in what must have been the priests’ and servants’ dwelling. Behind the truncated pyramid that formed the three stages of the temple extended an immense square with shady walkways, a oasis of coolness, surrounded by covered galleries supported by light pilasters, cut, carved and sculpted like precious jewels. On the far side of the square was a vast pool, dry now, but which the billionaire intended to return to its original purpose.
Then, to either side, were building in a marvelous millennial style, in harmony with the entirety of the edifice. It was there that Harry Smith had established his home: the section on the right for himself and his household, the one on the left for his future guests. Each of these wings must have lodged a thousand servants of the altars and the gods. Further away, behind the masters’ roofs, were hangars, store-rooms and elephant-stables. To judge by the number of stalls, there ought to have been nearly a hundred pachyderms there.
After having visited all that with Mabel and her father, Dr. Goldry repeated the visit with his hairy friend Ouha, whose guide he became. In his turn, he explained the details of Riddle-Temple, sometimes forgetting and chatting with Ouha as with one of his colleagues in Philadelphia. At any rate, the ape appeared to be listening to him with interest, never showing any gesture of impatience.
From the temple, the conversation passed to natural history, and the doctor studied his companion, while making him party to the interest he inspired in him.
“Do you know, my dear Ouha, that as soon as I knew about your presence at Riddle, I no longer had any thought or desire except with your intention. I ought to tell you that I’ve been working for a long time on a major treatise on the anthropoids, the precursors of humankind on our globe. I’ve always followed with great care, from near or far, everything that might inform us as to our origins. Is there an important relationship between Dr. Goldry and prehistoric humans? I’ve always been jealous of the discoveries made in Europe, especially in France.”
Taking the ape’s arm, he continued: “Can you imagine, my dear friend, that in 1908 in France, in the département of Corrèze, near a place called Chapelle-aux-Saints, two French priests were lucky enough to discover, almost on their doorstep, in a cavern into which no one had ever stuck his nose, the almost complete skeleton of a fossil human, whose skull was quite similar to yours in terms of volume and facial angle? Would you permit me to feel your cranium?”
Ouha consented, and even appeared to take a certain pleasure in allowing his skull to be handled.
“Yes, certainly, there’s a strong relationship. The more I look at you, the more astonished I am by your resemblance to our primitive ancestors. To begin with, there’s your stature; you’d be a giant, even among men, if your stance was a little more perpendicular. Lift up your torso like me—make an effort. There, stand up straight. You see—you’re a head taller than me now. Does that tire you, eh? Oh well, we’ll bring you to that straightness gradually. I’ll make you practice methodical gymnastics, and I’ll make you entirely into a man, or my name’s not Abraham Goldry. Then again, your face doesn’t have the stupid appearance of the majority of great apes. Your eyes, although terrible, have expression and look—at the moment, you’re smiling. Oh, what if it taught you to laugh? That’s characteristic of humans, you know. Would you like to try?”
“Ah! Ah! Ah! Ouha!” Ouha gave voice to a sniggering groan, strung out like a rumble of thunder.
“My God! You mustn’t laugh like thunder—you’ll make it rain.”
Amused by his joke, the doctor laughed frankly in Ouha’s face—which appeared to displease the ape, for he grabbed the doctor by the collar, lifted him off the ground and shook him rudely. Then, doubtless understanding that he was not acting in a gentlemanly fashion, he put the scientist down and, bounding into an immense tamarind tree, disappeared into the foliage in the blink of an eye. The doctor readjusted his clothing, grumbling, after which he went back to his apartment.
He continued his monologue: “Make a note: laughter vexes the orangutan; he thinks he’s being mocked. Damn! What a grip!”
If Doctor Goldry had been able to follow his favorite, he would have had many other notes to make. Scarcely had the doctor disappeared than the quadrumane descended from his perch. His twill garments had suffered somewhat during his ascent; he began by taking them off, and, finding himself more comfortable, cut a few capers. Then, moving on all fours in order to go more rapidly, he headed toward the palisade. He knew that he had to act rapidly; his new friends were not in the habit of letting him out of their sight for long.
Having reached he barrier he headed, without hesitation, toward an enormous boulder lying at the foot of the stout beams that formed the Americans’ rampart. With an effort, he rolled the stone away and unmasked a hole deep enough to allow him to pass under the palisade. He leapt into the hole and made sure that it was easy enough to get out on the other side.
The sun was almost level with the horizon; in a few minutes, it would be dark. He left things as they were and went back to the habitation. On the way, he picked up his garments, which he put on dexterously. At that moment, the dinner-bell rang. He was just in time. For several days, Ouha had taken his place at table next to his friend Abraham, Dr. Goldry, who was teaching him to eat properly, in the European style. The orangutan had memorized the signal for meals quickly, and when the bell rang, they were sure of seeing him arrive. He was always welcomed by his masters like a spoiled child, especially by Mabel, who was full of attentions for her flirt—which annoyed Dr. Goldry.
The scientist said: “You’re brutalizing my pupil, Miss.”
Everyone took their places, and tucked into the evening meal cheerfully. In spite of the doctor’s remonstrations, Ouha sometimes forgot good manners and, when he dropped something, he picked it up with his feet and put it in his mouth—to Goldry’s great despair but the enthusiastic pleasure of Mabel and her father, who laughed wholeheartedly. The ape seemed astonished by these bursts of laughter, and looked at the diners with an irritated expression. The doctor told them about his adventure and the manner in which the ape had shaken him—which redoubled Mabel’s delight.
“Oh,” she said, “I can laugh. I’m convinced that my flirt won’t hold it against me. Isn’t that so, Ouha?” And she held out her hand.
Instead of kissing it, as he usually did, however, the ape pushed it away brutally.
Mabel frowned. “Did you see that vile beast? It seems that laughter displeases His Majesty Ouha. If gentleness doesn’t succeed with him, we’ll resort to the whip.”
“Come, come, my dear child—don’t get annoyed about such a little thing,” said Harry Smith. “You’ve been spoiled by human beings; don’t forget that you’re dealing with an ape, and that we haven’t had him long. With time, he’ll get used to our laughter, and won’t believe as Abraham says, that we’re mocking him. Isn’t that so, Ouha, old chap? You’ll forgive us, won’t you?”
Ouha
was definitely in a bad mood. He ground his teeth and, standing up to his full height, beat his breast with his sovereign fists.
“He’s furious!” cried the doctor, in despair. “Be careful—we’re unarmed. He could kill us all.”
In that attitude, Ouha was superb, but terrifying. His eyes were aflame. With one hand, he had seized the heavy stool that served him as a seat and began whirling it around his body. The two men had thrown themselves in front of Mabel, and were covering her with their bodies. It was a brief moment, but it seemed like hours to both of them. The ape seemed to be hesitating over the choice of his victim.
Meanwhile, Dilou had stood up. With her arms extended, the black princess implored the orangutan, shouting: “Ouha! Ouha! Ouha!”
That appeal halted the quadrumane’s gesture. He turned toward the woman and his fury appeared to calm down. With an imperious gesture, he summoned the young woman, who came to him obediently. He took her gently by the hand; then, facing up to the two men, he walked backwards to the doorway, went through it and closed the door behind him, leading Dilou, who seemed to be following him gladly.
The two friends looked at one another.
“Fortunately, the gates are closed. We’ll settle the matter by means of a torchlight search. This time, we’ll lock the fellow up more solidly until he’s more fully domesticated.”
“That’s all right,” said the doctor. “I had a real scare. What a bad idea it was, Miss, to burst out laughing! It was going so well. We’d been chatting like two good friends. Anyway, let’s hope that he calms down. Thanks to Dilou, we’ve got away clean.”
“Poor girl. She thought she’d been liberated from her tyrant.”
“Hmm!” said the doctor. “Tyrants are loved.”
“Let’s call our men and start searching for Ouha. Perhaps he’s simply gone back to his room.”
Precipitate footsteps were heard. The domestics came in tumultuously. They were all armed.
“Allah be praised!” cried the butler. “Your Excellencies are safe.”
The waiters at the dinner had seen the orang and the woman flee. Two of them had tried to oppose their passage, but the ape, seizing them by the throat, had banged their heads together, fracturing their skulls. The others had run away, sounding the alarm, and everyone had raced to help their masters. Immediately, Harry organized the search. They were equipped with torches and ropes, for the two Europeans intended to capture the orang alive—which caused the Malays to murmur at first, although the promise of a generous reward caused them to change their opinion.
They began by visiting the residential quarters; then, certain that the orang must be within the enclosure, they all organized themselves into a single line equipped with torches, in order not to leave any space unexplored, the most distant going along the fence.
“Halt!” cried Tu Wang, the butler.9 “The hunt is over; they prey has gone through the fence.”
They all gathered at the location of the passage hollowed out by the wily quadrumane. Shreds of twill garment were lying in the hole.
The doctor leapt into the excavation and came out on the other side. Everything in the forest was silent.
“Ouha!” shouted the doctor. “Ouha! Come back!”
Far away, from the treetops, a cry replied to him, ironic and threatening: “Ouha! Ouha! Ouha!”
“Come back in, my friend,” Harry Smith ordered. “A pursuit by night would be pure folly. Come back in and let’s discuss the matter.”
The hole was covered up again with the rock displaced by the orangutan, which three men had difficulty putting back in place.
Everyone went into the drawing-room, where Mabel Smith was waiting in company with Betty Symian, her lady companion.
“Well, what’s become of your friend Ouha?” Mabel asked the doctor, who seemed consternated.
“We arrived too late, alas. The fellow had prepared his escape—and that plan denotes an almost human intellect on his behalf. I’ve been too confident of his docility. I think, in sum, that he was only waiting for an opportunity to give us the slip.”
“Yes, and to get his woman back.”
“The annoying thing is that I was in too much of a hurry to write to Dilou’s brothers. They’ll come to find her, and we won’t be able to hand her over.”
“Why? Have you given up on taking possession of Ouha again?”
“It’s easy to see that you’ve never penetrated very far into the mystery and dangers of the savage thousand-year-old forests of Borneo.”
“Well, for my part, I, Dr. Abraham Goldry, swear that I won’t leave Borneo without Ouha or one of his peers, if it costs me my life.”
“In that case, we’ll have you here for a long time.”
“After all,” said Mabel, “Do you intend to imprison yourselves in Riddle-Temple? Why not hunt the orangutan as one hunts tigers and elephants?”
“We don’t have to go far to find elephants and tigers, while these great apes can draw us all the way to the Devil.”
“Well, I’ll go to the Devil if I have to,” exclaimed Goldry, “and I’ll make the expedition at my own expense. Tomorrow, I’ll go have a chat with Bennett.”
V. Preparations for War
The next day, as he had promised the previous evening, Abraham Goldry set off for White House in order to consult Major Bennett about the projected expedition.
As soon as the latter understood, he pulled a face. “My dear friend,” he said, “on due reflection, this isn’t a campaign to undertake lightly. I don’t think the hunt is possible with our mean alone. It requires men accustomed to that kind of sport, and they’re rare. Nevertheless, if you’re utterly determined...”
“I am,” said the doctor, coldly. “The short time I’ve spent with Ouha didn’t permit me to study him in depth. It’s precisely his escape the makes me so keen to recapture him, for it denotes an intelligence well above that of his peers, and I’m convinced that with a little education, I could bring that anthropoid close to our own humanity.”
“Do you think that would be an advantage for him?”
“Don’t joke about it!”
“All right! I’ll organize the expedition—but I warn you that I expect to be part of it.”
A domestic handed a card to the major. As soon as he had cast a glance at it he said: “Send them in. Here’s reinforcements arriving—Dilou’s brothers.”
Two young men appeared. The major made the introductions: “Joshua and Jacob Muni-Wali, the brothers of the woman abducted by Ouha; the famous Dr. Abraham Goldry of Philadelphia. Gentlemen, we have bad news to give you. After a sojourn of a month in the home of my friend Harry Smith, your sister has fallen back into the power of her abductor. Dr. Goldry will tell you about the whole adventure while he takes you to Riddle-Temple, if you want to go to the theater where the events took place.”
“And I assure you, gentlemen,” Goldry put in, “that I intend to devote myself, body and soul, to the recapture of the abductor of your sister Dilou.”
“I thank you on behalf of myself and my brother,” said Joshua, “and we too will take part in that enterprise. With Mr. Cernum, we devote ourselves to the exploitation of precious wood, and we’ve already driven ten miles into the forest; in the course of our work we’ve had dealings with troops of great apes. That’s to tell you that we’re trained in that kind of hunting, and that our collaboration, augmented by fifty of our woodcutters, will be appreciable.”
“Bravo!” said Bennett. “We’ll contribute twenty Malay hunters. In addition, I’ll appeal to a few of my friends. I think that, all being well-armed, we’ll arrive at a successful result. In the meantime, gentlemen, you’re my guests. Be welcome.”
Meg—Mrs. Bennett—having been informed, came in angrily, as was her habit.
“So you’re going off adventuring again, as always? I told you that these Smiths would cause us all kinds of trouble. And hasn’t this Dr. Goldry buried enough Christians? Now he has to occupy himself with apes. He’d do better to
go live with the animals—he wouldn’t have far to go to become as stupid as them.”
Nevertheless, having complained, that Xantippe made haste to ensure that her guests did not lack anything. Besides which, the two brothers immediately won her sympathy. Meg was not insensitive to physical beauty, and the sons of the former negro king were magnificent specimens of the mixture of African and Asiatic blood. Both were gigantic in stature and built like Antinous; only the faces left a little to be desired, having nothing of the Classical type of Apollo. Their education, quite complete, combined with a keen natural intelligence, rendered their conversation interesting.
Both brothers were married, to two Irish sisters who had come to Borneo with their parents, political refugees. For years, the MacGregors had been leaders of the revolutionary party and hereditary enemies of old England. On coming to Brunei for the ale and consignment of wood, Jacob Muni-Wali had made the acquaintance of Paddy MacGregor, who took him home. There he had met Mary and Betty. He fell in love with the former, judged that the latter would be to his brother’s taste, and negotiated the two marriages. MacGregor, delighted to find a god match for his two eldest daughters at the same time—he had eight in all—accepted immediately. Jacob wrote to his brother, and a fortnight later, they were married, and had returned to Bha-rang-si, the Cernum residence.
On learning that her guests were married to two of her compatriots, Meg was transported by pleasure; immediately, the two Muni-Wali brothers, Joshua and Jacob, were considered members of the family.
After that, the expedition was rapidly organized. Bennett left for the island of Meng, where he knew that he would find the elite of Malay hunters, former pirates for the most part, but men of unlimited courage and endurance. The two brothers went back to Bha-rang-si to confer with their former masters, James and Lloyd Cernum, who were now their associates, with regard to the number of men that they could have at their disposal.
It was agreed that the general rendezvous would be at Riddle-Temple. Just as Abraham Goldry was about to go back, a new guest arrived at White House in the person of Archibald Wilson, who arrived with a leather briefcase under his arm in order settle up with the doctor for the liquidation of his medical practice in Philadelphia. Goldry thus learned that he was the possessor of a hundred and thirty thousand dollars, which Archibald was carrying in his briefcase.
Ouha, King of the Apes Page 3
