Free 10 Gorilla Adventure by Willard Price Page A

baboons, and other animals employ to locate underground water.
    Then he fixed upon a spot that suited him and began to dig. His great claw-like hands made excellent shovels. He soon had help. Baboons have a strong instinct for teamwork. In this respect they are quite different from some other animals, such as the hyena which is a loner, and seldom co-operates with other hyenas. If one baboon, especially a leader, starts a job the others will promptly join him.
    So a dozen hands scooped away the dirt and the well rapidly deepened. They kept at it until at a depth of about twelve feet water began to ooze into the pit. It was muddy at first, but the salt-filled male did not wait for it to clear. He drank deeply.
    The people of the village ran to get their calabashes and climbed down the sloping side of the well to capture the water that was now nearly two feet deep.
    The old chief thanked Hal and the villagers looked at him as if he were some sort of magician.
    There was only one thing wrong with that well. It brought in other baboons from the forest. Soon there were twice as many baboons as before, enjoying the water and eating the growing vegetables. People beat gourds and pans to frighten them off, but baboons do not frighten easily. Instead, they nipped the legs of their tormentors with their strong, sharp teeth.
    They even tore down a scarecrow that had been erected in the gardens to frighten them away. It had worked on most animals, but not baboons. The people looked again to Hal, the great magician. But the wizard had used up all his wizardry. He had no idea how to cope with this new situation.
    Help was to come from an unexpected quarter. It was the great Andre’ Tieg who would step in at the right moment to save the gardens and save the day.

Chapter 12
The spotted cat
    The huge wooden drum of the village began to boom. It was time for the ceremony when the new chief would replace the old.
    The people left the gardens and gathered in the open space at the centre of the village.
    The aged chief made a long and beautiful speech that brought tears to the eyes of those who listened. They loved him and were sorry to have him step down. But when his son came before them they welcomed him as their new master with a great clatter of gourds and pans. He made a short and modest speech praising the work of his father over the years and promising to do everything in his power to carry on his father’s work.
    There was good reason for the shortness of his speech. He was interrupted by the arrival of Tieg.
    Hal’s men were disappointed to see that Tieg brought no honey. As for the villagers, they were amazed by the appearance of this huge fellow with his bristling yellow moustache, his cockatoo hair, and his glass eye.
    But most of all they were conscious of a penetrating odour that seemed to bum the inside of their nostrils and start a fire in their heads. Those nearest to Tieg realized that the stench came from the big man’s tattered and stained clothing. They shrank away from him as if he had the plague. They held their noses - but they must breathe and when they did they were almost suffocated by the evil smell.
    They looked to Hal for help, but Hal was helpless. They turned to their new chief. Here was his first problem as headman of the village. Here was a test case. He must do something. If he succeeded he would be respected. If he failed he would start his rule with a black mark against him. Another even more serious problem confronted him - the problem of what to do to save the gardens from the baboons.
    The young chief, urged on by his people, approached Tieg. But when he came within ten feet of him he stopped. It was as if he had come up against a stone wall - an invisible wall of smell so sickening that he could not go farther. He looked around helplessly. He knew he was making a poor spectacle of himself as leader of his village.
    ‘I wish we could do something for him,’ Hal said.
    1 think I can,’ said