The Broncho Rider Boys with Funston at Vera Cruz | Page 7

run.
Almost immediately he was aware of a soft pat-pat in his rear. He had heard a similar sound in the wilds of Wyoming and he recognized it at once.
It was the footfall of a four-legged animal.
"So!" he ejaculated. "I wonder what it is. If there were wolves down here I would say it was a wolf, but I don't believe there are." Then a minute later, "Well, whatever it is, I'm going to find out."
He whipped out his automatic and turned suddenly.
As before, not a single living thing was in sight, only in the grass a movement as before.
Without a moment's aim, he fired a single shot at the spot. It was an act born of fear and Billie knew it, but for the life of him he could not have done otherwise, so nervous had he become.
The report was followed by a cry of pain and an instant later there came running directly toward him out of the tall grass a figure so weird that Billie stood as one paralysed.
The figure was that of a man not more than two feet high, with long arms and a head of diminutive size. While it stood upright at times, at others it came forward on all fours. To Billie it seemed a cross between a man and a monkey.
Gathering his wits in an instant, Billie would have fired again--in fact, raised his revolver to do so, when the strange creature fell to its knees and raised its hands in supplication.
"By George!" exclaimed the lad as he stood with lowered weapon. "What kind of a thing is this? I wonder if it can talk?"
Then as he took a step toward it: "I'm not going to hurt you. Come here."
The creature arose to its feet and came slowly toward him. As it did so Billie noticed that blood was running from a wound in its scalp.
"Poor thing," he said. "That must have been where the bullet hit him. It was a close shave."
"Can you talk?" he finally asked.
The strange creature turned its head to one side and eyed him closely, but no sound came from its lips.
"It must be an ape of some sort," mused the boy; "but how did it become so tame?"
He slowly returned his automatic to its holster, thinking in the meantime how he could dress the creature's wound; but no sooner had his hand left his weapon than the ape sprang at him with the utmost fury. It landed on his shoulder, wound its legs about his neck, and with its long arms made a wild grab for the revolver.
Then began a strange and terrible struggle for the possession of the weapon. Even as he fought the beast, Billie realized that in some manner the ape had learned to fear firearms, but whether it had ever learned to use them he could not venture a guess. He felt certain if he could draw the weapon and point it at the ape, it would at once cringe in fear. What might happen if the ape should get possession of it, he could only imagine.
For a youth of eighteen, there were few whom Billie met that were his match physically, but this diminutive man-animal held him as in a vise. Billie exerted every ounce of his strength to free himself from the terrible hold, while the ape fought even more fiercely to retain its grip and to gain possession of the weapon.
It was a weird and fearful struggle waged there in the stillness of the tropical woodland--a stillness broken only by the occasional wild scream of the ape, or the hoarse breathing of the boy as he fought to free himself from that horrible grasp.
The struggle must have lasted for two or three minutes--to Billie it seemed hours--when by a sudden wrench the lad managed to free his left arm sufficiently to get the beast by the throat. For an instant it loosed its hold on his right arm and that act decided the battle.
Finding his right arm free, Billie seized his revolver and without drawing it from the holster pulled the trigger.
At the sound of the shot, the ape uttered a plaintive cry, relaxed its hold upon the lad and fell upon its knees on the ground with its hands raised in supplication as previously.
"I ought to shoot you," declared the lad between his gasps for breath as he drew the weapon from its holster and pointed it at the animal, "but I won't. I'll take you with me and maybe I can sell you for enough to pay me for the scare you've given me. Now, march!"
He pointed with his finger down the track, but the beast would not stir.
"Don't you intend to do what I tell you?"
The animal perked up his head and kept his eye upon the