Free The Zoo at the Edge of the World by Eric Kahn Gale Page B

mobile carriers so we could wheel them up to the Sky Shrine for the next day’s circus show. Tim signaled Zargo to unlock the gate of the Monkey Maze. Leedo was breathing heavily, and I noticed that my hand was shaking. The maze is home to three orangutans and thirty-seven chimpanzees. Father ordered a whole mess of them from Africa and Borneo, thinking most wouldn’t survive the boat ride. They all did, and we were left with an almost unmanageable population. They starved out all the South American primates we lodged them with at the zoo, and Father was forced to construct this enormous exhibit just to handle them all.
    We’d never tried to take any out before. It struck me as strange that we’d captured a man-eating jaguar, been visited by a duke who Father apparently hated, and were pulling chimpanzees out of the Monkey Maze all in the same week.
    The key turned in the lock, and the gate swung open. I’d never actually been inside the maze proper before, just thrown food through the bars and let the apes sort for themselves who got to eat what.
    We call it a maze for a reason. When Father had the enclosure built, he dumped topsoil and planted trees all through the Monkey Maze. It was like a miniature jungle in there, with trees and vines growing all the way up the iron bars that covered the top. Some branches pushed their way between the bars, and we had to prune them from the roof of the cage so they didn’t bend openings with their growth.
    Chimps knuckle-walked toward the forested area at the center as the five of us entered.
    â€œMen coming in!” I heard one of them screech. There was ape laughter in the trees. It was an awful sound.
    â€œAll right, men.” Tim tried to keep his voice steady. “We move as a group and take one at a time.”
    â€œYes, Mr. Rackham,” Zargo said. Then he turned to Manray and said something in Arawak.
    â€œNo jungle talk,” Tim chided.
    â€œI was just relaying your order, sir,” said Zargo.
    â€œHow will he ever learn the Queen’s English?” Tim turned to Manray and pointed sharply at himself. “Listen to me. Follow me.”
    Leedo cast me an accusatory glance and huffed. As though Tim treated me any better!
    â€œTo the trees,” Tim barked, and we followed him, though I didn’t know what Tim’s strategy was. The majority of the apes were in the treed area, but it seemed like we’d have better luck catching stragglers who were meandering around the clearings.
    But we ended up under the trees.
    â€œWhat are you doing here, Marlin?” a chimp called down to me from a hidden branch.
    â€œLot of men with you,” said another. “Why do they have those catchers?”
    Each of us was armed with a large wooden bar that had a wire lasso on the end, much like the one I’d used to collar the jaguar. I suppose we were meant to snare apes with them, but in the dark, under the trees, they seemed useless.
    â€œOh, Mr. Tim,” Leedo said with a mix of irritation and fear. “We might have better luck catching monkeys in the clearing. Where, you know, we can see.”
    â€œQuiet!” Tim said. “You’ll give us away.” He crept between the trees, cautiously stepping over vines—believing, I guess, that the apes didn’t know where he was.
    â€œWalking pretty funny, that one is!” called down another chimp from a tree.
    â€œDon’t step on a flower!”
    â€œOr trip!”
    Blue Boy launched himself down from a branch and landed on Tim’s back, toppling him over in the dirt. Manray stabbed his lasso at the ape, but Blue Boy jumped away, and Manray only managed to club Tim in the calf with the rod.
    â€œOw!” Tim yelped. “Grab him!”
    Manray swiped again, but his lasso caught on a tree branch as Blue Boy scaled it, laughing to his friends, “Slow, aren’t they?”
    Tim refused Zargo’s help and picked himself up.