Ki-Gor and the Nirvana of the Seven Voodoos | Page 4

and stared around him into the
impenetrable blackness of the night. What had made him wake up, he
didn't know. But a deep-seated sixth sense within him told him that
somewhere in the darkness, some unseen danger was lurking. The little
fire was almost out, only a few embers left glowing redly. Without
relaxing his watchful glare, Ki-Gor reached out and dropped some dry
fagots on the coals. In a few seconds a rewarding flicker of flame
mounted and lighted up the ground enclosed by the boma. Helene
stirred and turned her face away, but did not wake up. With the
increased light, Ki-Gor peered carefully in all directions but could see
nothing. He tested the still night air with his sensitive nostrils. He
thought he caught a faint whiff of a familiar smell, but he was inclined
to disbelieve the evidence of his nose. It was gorilla-smell.
It couldn't be gorilla, Ki-Gor told himself. The only place he had ever
seen gorillas was far away on the West Coast. And during the last ten
days, as he and Helene had trekked eastward toward the great
mountains of East Africa, he had not come across the slightest evidence
that pointed to the presence of the giant apes. He tested the air again,
but the elusive smell had gone. Ki-Gor stood up and stared out into the
night.
Suddenly his keen eyes caught a faint glitter of reflected light.

Somewhere out there, a pair of cruel eyes were watching the boma.
Quickly, Ki-Gor piled more fagots on the fire, and as the flames leaped
higher, he strained forward trying to make out the outlines of the
creature that belonged to that pair of eyes. After a few seconds, he was
able to distinguish a huge mass from the surrounding darkness.
Whatever the animal was, it was enormous. Suddenly the mass moved,
and slowly approached the fire. The blood ran cold in Ki-Gor's veins. It
was a gorilla!
Ki-Gor reached down, shook Helene's shoulder roughly, and seized the
blade of the assegai. He wished with all his heart that he had finished
making a haft for it.
Slowly and purposefully, the gorilla moved forward, until he stood
right at the edge of the boma. As the firelight illuminated his hairy
outlines, he looked to be by far the biggest gorilla Ki-Gor had ever seen.
And then suddenly it struck Ki-Gor that this was no ordinary gorilla.
This hulking creature looked man-like, and yet at the same time, subtly
more bestial than a true gorilla. His little eyes glittering wickedly, the
man-ape seemed strangely unafraid.
A frightened gasp from behind him told Ki-Gor that Helene was awake.
"Ki-Gor!" she whispered. "What does that monster want?"
"I don't know," Ki-Gor muttered, "but don't be afraid. Maybe he wants
antelope meat."
Ki-Gor bent down without taking his eyes off the gorilla-man, and
tossed a slab of meat past his head. The gorilla-man paid no attention.
And then as Ki-Gor straightened up, the fang-toothed beast deliberately
picked up one of the loose thorn bushes that made up the encircling
boma, and flipped it expertly aside. As Ki-Gor gazed in astonishment,
another bush went the same way, and the gorilla-man shuffled
confidently through the opening straight toward the fire.
His spine prickling, Ki-Gor stepped back a pace and shifted his grip on
the assegai blade. Then, with a wild yell, he leaped high into the air and

forward. He launched a mighty kick with both of his powerful legs
straight at the gorilla-man's murderous face. The gorilla-man grunted
with the force of the pile-driver blow and rocked backwards on its
heels.
Ki-Gor landed lightly on his feet and instantly struck with the assegai
blade in his right hand. It was a lightning thrust, the sharp blade
slashing at the monster's throat. The gorilla-man backed away with a
growl and swung a thick, hairy arm with incredible speed. But Ki-Gor
dodged the crushing blow, and countered with his blade at the vast
abdomen. The beast howled with rage and pain and backed out of the
boma. A thin trickle of blood began to flow from the folds of its throat.
Stealthily, Ki-Gor reached down and seized one end of a long fagot, the
other end of which was blazing in the fire. With a swift motion, he
flung the burning brand straight at the gorilla-man's head. Again the
cruel-faced beast gave ground with a howl, and frantically brushed off
the flaming fagot.
As he did, Ki-Gor charged him. Twice the sharp blade bit deep into the
hairy arm, and again Ki-Gor dodged out of reach. But the man-ape
appeared to have had enough. Growling horribly, he retreated to the
edge of the ring of light shed by the campfire. There he stopped and
slowly beat his breast. Ki-Gor walked coolly