Page:Dumas - Tales of Strange adventure (Methuen, 1907).djvu/129

Rh for the honour of science, it was not so quite. After a ten minutes' bout, with battered fingers and bruised flanks and bleeding face he began to give ground; but his only object was to reach a tree, up which he scrambled as quick as lightning—not however to stay there, but in order to spring down upon me from above. Luckily I saw the movement and guessed his purpose; I drew my knife and held it above my head at the full stretch of my arm. Attack and defence were simultaneous. I felt an overwhelming weight crash down on my head. Both of us rolled over on the ground, but I was the only one to regain my feet. The knife had pierced his heart.

"The beast uttered a yell, bit at the grass with his teeth, tore up the earth with his nails, gave two or three convulsive movements, and expired.

"'Oh! a very fine thing this sport,' I cried, 'if ever they catch me at it again, the devil fly away with me!'

"'Then are you sorry you came? ' said a gentle voice behind me.

"'Great heavens! no,' I said, turning round, 'since I have been able to do you a service, my pretty child. But the deuce! how came you to be in the woods, what pleasure can you find in living with a monkey, and how is it you speak French? '

"'I am in the woods because I have been carried off there; I found no pleasure in living with an ape, for did I not call you to rescue me, and I speak French because I was maid with Madame de La Géronnière.'

"'Then,' I cried, 'you are called Shimindra?'

"'Yes.'

"'You are the girl who disappeared some two months ago?'

"'Yes, but now tell me, how do you come to know my name and my story?'

"'Why, because Monsieur de La Géronnière told me both, of course.'

"'So you know Monsieur de La Géronnière? '

"'I am shooting with him. He is in the forest now, but whereabouts I have no notion; for I must tell you frankly, I have utterly lost my bearings.'

"'Oh! don't let that trouble you, I know my way quite well.'

"'But as you knew your way, why did you not come back home.'

"'Because night and day that odious beast never lost sight of me. I had made a score of futile attempts to escape; and if Providence had not brought you to this brook, most likely I should never have seen the homes of men again.'

"'Well,' I told her, 'if you take my advice, charming Shimindra, we will go back now to the homes of men, as quick as may be; for I confess I shall feel much safer there than here.'

"'So be it, I am ready; but first let me tell you a secret which will reward you for the gallant act you have just done. The horrible orang-outang you have just saved me from belongs to the very species of apes you have been told of as that from which the purest and best bezoar is obtained.'

"'Really and truly?'

"'You may assure yourself of the truth of what I say, while I go and repair the disorder of my dress with the help of a few cocoa-nut leaves.'

"I looked at the graceful Shimindra, and seeing that her toilet did indeed claim some attention, I nodded my assent. Then, full of curiosity and hope and fear, I once more unsheathed the knife which had already stood me in such good stead during the day's adventures and proceeded to the examination of my enemy's body.

"Shimindra and I found in the animal's intestines a beautiful blue stone veined with gold and as big as a pigeon's egg. It was one of the finest bezoars you could wish to see.

"'Now,' said Shimindra, 'if I may give you a piece of advice, it is to make no boast to anybody of possessing such a treasure; else you will not keep it long, even if they have to murder you to get hold of it.'

"I thanked Shimindra for her warning. Then, as the girl had by this time plaited herself quite a pretty and coquettish petticoat out of cocoa-nut leaves, and there was nothing to detain either of us in the woods—on the contrary, I was extremely anxious to be quit of them.,—I begged Shimindra to act as my guide and show me the shortest way back to the house. Two hours later we arrived at Hala-Mala to the great surprise and delight of all assembled there, who thought I had surely shared Shimindra's supposed fate, and now saw me return in her company.'