Ouha, King of the Apes

by Félicien Champsaur

  Having approved the liquidation, Abraham took his business manager to Riddle-Temple, informing him on the way of all the events of the last few days. Archibald was particularly anxious to know whether Mabel Smith was well disposed in his favor, and whether she sometimes thought about her former flirt—to which the doctor replied that the young billionairess’s more recent flirt interested him more than the old one, but that, until Ouha returned, Archibald might perhaps have some success, for he was almost as good as the anthropoid.

  In that, the doctor was showing too much partiality to his friend the ape, for Archibald as a very handsome young man, who probably seemed too healthy to a Romantic spirit, but who was a superb specimen of modern beauty, vigorous, robust and accomplished in all sports. Undoubtedly, he lacked a little imagination, being primarily positive and practically-minded, but his gentle and obliging nature had once made him the slave of the spoiled child that Mabel Smith was.

  VI. The Rivals: John Bull and Uncle Sam

  When Archibald Wilson arrived at Riddle-Temple, he found a competitor there: a British resident of the island of Borneo, Sir Silven Gorden, a prosperous planter from the west coast. He had come as a neighbor to pay his respects to the new owner of Riddle-Temple, whom he was curious to visit. Harry Smith and his daughter, flattered in their vanity as artistic Maecenases, had given the visitor a good welcome.

  The resident certainly admired the restored temple, but he was even more impressed by the beauty of the young American woman. Thus, Mabel, who no longer had an admirer since Ouha’s escape, welcomed the Englishman with pleasure. When Goldry and Archibald arrived that evening, therefore, they found the new arrival installed and flirting with Mabel.

  At that sight, Wilson frowned, but Mabel, happy to see her former worshipper and already foreseeing, in the rivalry of the two young men, all sorts of scenes that would be amusing from her viewpoint, welcomed him with her most gracious smile. She struck up a conversation with him, from which Silven Gorden was necessarily excluded, because it was a matter of obtaining news of all her old friends in Philadelphia and society events that had taken place since the Smiths’ departure. Finally, when the young woman was satisfied, the conversation became generalized. Everyone, naturally, returned to the events of the day.

  “In the case,” Mabel joked, “it’s a veritable army that you’re raising against poor Ouha? Do you really think he’s so redoubtable?”

  “You ought to know, having seen him angry—and the two victims he claimed provided a demonstration of what our own fate have might been.”

  “The Muni-Wali brothers, who have pushed quite a long way into the virgin forest, say that the number of orangutans might be considerable and that it would be more than imprudent to venture there without being numerous and well-armed. Then again, remember that we don’t have any intention of fighting before having rescued Dilou. Her brothers consider that her life would be imperiled if the orangs were attacked violently. It will be bad enough to have to make the return journey under their pursuit.”

  “I’d like to get one of them in my power,” said Archibald. “I’m curious to know whether it could hold its own against this arm.” Proudly, Wilson made his biceps stand out. He was not reluctant to exhibit his strength in front of Gorden, the tall and slim British resident, who seemed by comparison only half a man.

  The Englishman smiled mockingly. “It’s vexing for humankind,” he said, “but I strongly doubt that you’d succeed. I even doubt that you’d prevail against certain gentlemen of my acquaintance.”

  Wilson burst out laughing. “I haven’t found my master in America.”

  “You’d have found him in England,” said Gorden, dryly.

  Archibald Wilson displayed a pink, slightly sanguine face, framed by ardent blond hair, with gray-blue eyes the color of steel, a straight nose rounded at the tip, a square chin: a truly Anglo-Saxon face, which American generations extended over two centuries had begun to harden. The short and sturdy neck was mounted on broad, square, athletic shoulders. He seemed energetic and gentle; he shook his head without saying anything, like a child who knew that the reprimand was merited.

  Silven Gorden, therefore, contrasted with the American. Tall and thin, he was all bone and muscle, pale blond, his bronzed complexion making the faded color of his hair stand out even more, with a long hooked nose. When he smiled, the thin lips of the sons of Albion allowed a glimpse of teeth that might break iron. His sloping shoulders supported long arms terminated by long, slender hands. Although he did not have the athletic appearance of his rival, he must, all the same, have been a sturdy companion. His mind, more alert and caustic than that of the phlegmatic Archibald, rendered his conversation more attractive and picturesque. If Archibald had the beating of him for physical beauty, Gorden could battle advantageously in terms of intelligence.

  VII. Mabel Smith

  Between those robust men—for Goldry and Harry Smith were also solid fellows—Mabel, slender and radiantly blonde, exquisite in a light Cashmere dress tightened at the waist by a pale green ribbon, came and went lightly, playing her role as mistress of the house, seconded by Betty Symian, serving tea or liqueurs, according to the taste of her guests. In truth, Mabel was reminiscent of a dainty fairy plying her artifices, all grace and beauty, between giant admirers.

  That elegant maiden, however, accustomed to all sports, hid muscles and nerves of steel beneath her delicate appearance. She was tall and slender, with an improbably thin waist, a stem to the blossoming of her superb bosom, with firm and full lines, in which the twin cups of her breasts could be divined beneath the symmetrical folds of the corsage. Her neck was slim and graceful, a colonnette of immaculate flesh supporting the delicate oval of her face, her forehead narrow and rather high, framed by the soft diadem of her hair. Her darker eyebrows, broadly arched, shaded superb eyes with pale violet irises and a straight nose with pink nostrils, parted at the base., along with the small, delicately-curved mouth with strong lips, testified to curiosity and sensuality, as the gaze advertised dreams, and the forehead and the definite arc of the chin a firm and tenacious will, especially in its caprices.

  VIII. The Spoiled Child

  “So you believe, doctor,” queried Silven Gorden, “that your search in the forest will be successful?”

  “Certainly,” Goldry replied. “We’ll be numerous, and we’ll have Malays with us who have already hunted great apes.”

  “Will you be joining the expedition, Mr. Smith, my dear neighbor?”

  “I had every intention of doing so, at first, but I can’t leave my daughter here alone.”

  “What are you saying, Papa? I have no intention of remaining at Riddle-Temple; I’m going with the expedition.”

  “Do you think that’s wise, Miss Mabel?” exclaimed Gorden. “These forests are almost inaccessible to seasoned men.”

  “This time, Mabel, I can’t give in to your desire,” said Harry Smith, authoritatively. “It would be madness, and your presence among the hunters would be a hindrance rather than a help.”

  “You’re joking, Papa dear. In what respect aren’t I worth as much as the doctor? Is my godfather seasoned? And yet he wouldn’t surrender his place for an empire.”

  “Your father’s right,” Archibald put in. “You know that I appreciate your performance in all sporting exercises better than anyone, but this isn’t a matter of one day of fatigue. The pursuit might last for weeks, and that requires too much endurance.”

  Betty Symian thought she ought to intervene. “Your father and Archibald are right. It’s not an exercise for a young woman.”

  Pale with anger, Mabel retorted; “For a start, you can wait to give your opinion until someone asks you for it.”

  “Mabel, Mabel!” said Smith severely.

  “You’re all annoying me. Truly, do you think that I’m going to stay here weaving a tapestry, like Penelope, while men are in peril? No matter what the dangers are, I want to run them.”

  “Bravo!” cried Gorden. “An Amazo
n couldn’t put it better. What the hell, gentlemen—we’ll be sufficiently numerous to capture an ape and protect a woman. For myself, I admire and approve of Miss Smith.”

  Archibald frowned; his rival was supporting Mabel in order to advance in her esteem. “If you’re going to take that tone,” he said, “I approve too. I didn’t know that Gorden was going to be part of the expedition.”

  “I hadn’t decided yet, Miss Smith’s attitude has made me understand that it would be shameful not to do so.”

  “Miss Mabel,” Betty risked saying again, “there are perils greater than you seem to believe. The forests of Borneo are full of the unexpected. You’re going in order to capture an orangutan, but there are also tigers, wild elephants, snakes...”

  “Oh, Miss Mabel is a woman,” Gorden put in, “and since our mother Eve, her pretty descendants have had no fear of the serpent.”

  “This is no time for joking, sir,” said the governess, severely. “It’s not only ferocious animals; those are the least dangerous. There are, above all, apes that are as wicked as men. Remember Dilou.”

  “That’s true,” confessed the Englishman. “Orangutans adore women. Not a month passes among our neighboring islanders, without a Malaysian woman being carried off by apes. But I won’t go back on my opinion. There will be enough of us to protect Miss Smith.”

  “Oh!” said Mabel. “You think that Dilou…?”

  “It’s certain,” said Smith. “Without that, would she have had so much power over Ouha? Besides, she went with him of her own free will.”

  “All that’s just tales to frighten little girls. You’re all bad boys to oppose me like this. What I’ve resolved to do, I’m sticking to.”

  “Oh, Miss Mabel, the orang will carry you off and keep you. You’ll be his wife! The mere idea doesn’t frighten you?”

  “You’re going a little crazy, my dear. Know that Ouha never looked at me lustfully. He sought to please me, and that’s all.”

  “I’ve never forbidden you anything, Mabel,” Smith put in, “and you’ve always been free to make your own decisions—but who will look after Riddle-Temple? If you’re going, I’m going too.”

  “Leave the house in the care of Mistress Symian. If we don’t come back, she’ll inherit it, which will cause her to forgive her wayward pupil everything.”

  “Oh, Miss,” stammered the governess, “you know very well that when I oppose your whims, it’s for your own good.”

  “I know that, my dear Betty, and I beg your pardon for my harsh words. I won’t do it again.” She embraced the old lady, coquettishly, and then said: “Well, then, when are we leaving?”

  “That depends on Major Bennett. As soon as he arrives with his Malay hunters.”

  “In that case,” said Gorden, “I’ll have time to go home and come back with my continent of volunteers. I think I can bring fifty, as many Europeans as indigenous servants.”

  “Good, good!” exclaimed Mabel, sketching a few dance steps. “Ouha and the orangutans have only to hold still.”

  “My word,” said Gorden, “it will be an opportunity to purge the island. These great apes, which are scarcely found anywhere but Borneo, are too dangerous!”

  Mabel smiled. “No more so than humans.”

  IX. Ouha! Ouha! Ouha!

  From then on there was feverish activity. Harry Smith and Archibald were continually shuttling between Riddle-Temple and White House, to which Major Bennett had returned from Sumatra. He had hired twenty Malays, who, to the great satisfaction of his shrewish wife Meg, had no right to set foot in the house and were camping in huts they had built for themselves in a matter of hours.

  The Malays certainly had the appearance of true pirates, a profession that their ancestors had followed, and which they had replaced with that of hunting, the only one suited to their savage nature. Small and wiry, their noses flattened over broad mouths that opened like dark gulfs, their teeth were rendered jet-black by the use of an abominable drug composed of betel and chalk, which also made their gums bleed.

  Their leader, To Wang, after a few skirmishes with Dutch justice, had escaped and taken refuge in the forests of the heartland. By means of his courage and skill, he had rapidly built a reputation, and that petty celebrity had put him at the head of the caste of “the Damned,” a pirate band of the Malaysian islands, the bane of the civilized population. Thanks to his authority over the Damned, To Wang had several times averted revolts by those unfortunates, moved by famine to the pillage of plantations; in gratitude for his services, the Dutch government had forgotten the terrible pirate’s former conduct and left him at liberty. Major Bennett had had occasion to use the good offices of the Malay himself, and, knowing him to be capable of great utility, had engaged him as captain and charged him with the recruitment of the little troop.

  Two of the hunters, Sing Mah and Ehhi Facu, had brought their wives, and one of the youngest, Eg Merh, his sister Rava, who, extraordinarily, was relatively pretty. Thus, Rava was the queen of the encampment, the other hunters all having the hope of pleasing her.

  The animation at White House was soon increased by numerous convoys bringing the necessary food, weapons and tools. Harry Smith had telegraphed America to order sticks of dynamite and various items of apparatus for frightening the apes—powerful batteries, for instance, designed to activate projectors—not to mention two machine-guns with their murderous chaplets. All of that arrived quite rapidly. Nevertheless, the expedition could not get under way before two months, at least—which is to say, two months after Ouha’s escape.

  As time went by, Bennett sent the men and the equipment to Riddle-Temple, with the exception of the Damned, who were not to leave until the last day, in order that they should not come into contact with the other Malays, who considered them to be impure. Fortunately, there was no lack of room at Riddle-Temple, but—oh, what profanation!—they were obliged to lodge men and equipment in the temple itself. Finally, a troop of three hundred coolies arrived from Java, who would fulfill the function of beasts of burden in the forest.

  The contingents of the small army were thus enumerated as follows: three hundred coolie porters; twenty-three Malay hunters, three of them women; fifty woodcutters brought by the Muni-Wali brothers; fifty Europeans recruited by Silven Gorden, belonging to twenty nations, adventurers having traveled just about everywhere, all sturdy and capable of any kind of work provided that they were well-paid; and, finally, fifteen domestics from Riddle-Temple, brought by Smith to serve him and his daughter.

  On the day fixed for the departure, the major, the two Muni-Wali brothers and Silven Gorden summoned To Wang, and the five men held a council. That was the fourteenth of April. Two days later, Bennett, the Muni-Walis, Gorden and To Wang carried out an inspection of all the equipment, which they divided up between the porters. Each coolie received a load of thirty kilos; there was, therefore, a total of nine thousand kilos, eight thousand of which were food—rice, biscuits and various canned goods—and alcohol, including palm-wine. In addition, there were twenty kilos of quinine. The materiel comprised weapons, ammunition, hatchets, pickaxes, spades, rope and string. The quantity of foodstuffs was mediocre, scarcely twenty kilos per man, but they hoped to find fresh meat on the journey, for game was abundant—at least, it was around Riddle-Temple.

  After having carefully discussed the column’s marching orders, the leaders would set off on campaign. To Wang would head the march with his men, and the Muni-Wali brothers would follow him with their woodcutters, to clear the route. Then would come Gorden and his adventurers; then the group of amateurs, Harry Smith, his daughter, Archibald, Dr. Abraham Goldry and the master’s servants; and finally, the coolie porters.

  The Malays, charged with finding traces of orangutans, were the expedition’s true guides. They were to precede the bulk of the army by a day and mark out the passage that the woodcutters would clear. In case of emergency, the two bodies would concentrate at the center and organize a defense. Major Bennett had judged that it was as
well to anticipate an attack, and the brothers Joshua and Jacob were of the same opinion. Every time the caravan would be constrained to camp, in order to rest or hunt for provisions, a broad area around the tents would be cleared in order to avoid surprises.

  Everything having been agreed and organized, Harry Smith wanted to bring everyone together on the eve of the departure for a magnificent meal, by way of a stirrup-cup. For that feast, the masters were installed on one of the terraces of the temple, and all the others in the central courtyard. Only the Malays refused, preferring to eat and drink in their huts. The men of impure caste were voluntarily placing themselves outside the society. Dr. Abraham Goldry, dreaming of equality even with the apes, made every effort to persuade them to join in with the communal joy, but it was a waste of his eloquence.

  After the copious feast, replete with gaiety, Harry Smith thought he ought to make a speech to his gusts, and, leaning both hands on the stone balustrade, after coughing and spitting, he said:

  “Companions, the American flag has been insulted in my person by…” (he hesitated) “…by a man of the woods. Ought I, isolated in this scarcely-civilized land, submit to this insult by ignoring it? Perhaps, it had only been words, I would have excused it and not sought any reparation. But my guest and friend, Dr. Abraham Goldry, citizen of the United States, has been insulted like me, and my daughter, who had offered a hand to that man of the woods, has also been maltreated. Furthermore, a young black princess whom I had welcomed and was to return to her family has been abducted and carried off by that…by that…by that individual. Thus, two honorable families have been challenged. For myself, as I’ve said, I would have forgiven the insult, the Divine Master having said…having said…that…having said...”