Read Online Forest of the Pygmies by Isabel Allende - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Isabel Allende
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might bite us. . . .”
Nadia leaned down toward the trapped animal and began to talk to it as she did with Borobá.
“What is it saying?” Alexander asked her.
“I don’t know whether it understands me. Not all apes speak the same language, Jaguar. On the safari I could communicate with the chimpanzees, but not the mandrills.”
“Those mandrills were scoundrels, Eagle. They wouldn’t have listened to you even if they did understand you.”
“I don’t know the language of these gorillas, but I suppose it must be something like that of other apes.”
“Tell it to stay quiet, and we’ll see if we can free it from the net.”
Little by little, Nadia’s voice calmed the imprisoned animal, but when they tried to come closer, it bared its teeth again and growled.
“It has a baby!” Alexander cried.
The gorilla’s offspring was tiny—it couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old—and it was clinging desperately to its mother’s shaggy coat.
“We need to go get help. We’re going to have to cut the net,” Nadia decided.
They hurried back to the river as quickly as the terrain allowed and told the rest of the party what they had found.
“That animal could attack us,” Brother Fernando warned. “Gorillas are peaceful, but females with young are always dangerous.”
Nadia, however, had already laid her hands on a knife and started back, so everyone followed her. Joel could scarcely believe his good fortune: He was going to photograph a gorilla after all. Brother Fernando armed himself with his machete and a long stick. Angie carried the revolver and the rifle. Borobá led them straight to the trap, but when the gorilla saw herself surrounded by human faces she became frantic.
“This is a time when Mushaha’s tranquilizer gun would come in very handy,” Angie observed.
“She’s terribly afraid. I’ll try to get near her; you wait back there,” Nadia directed.
Everyone stepped back several feet and crouched down among the ferns as Nadia and Alexander moved forward inch by inch, pausing, waiting, creeping a little closer. Nadia kept up a constant, soothing monologue, which seemed to calm the poor trapped animal, because after several minutes, the grunting stopped.
“Jaguar, look up there,” Nadia whispered into her friend’s ear.
Alexander looked up and high in the treetop saw a black, shiny face with close-set eyes and flattened nose observing them attentively.
“It’s another gorilla. And it’s much bigger than this one!” Alexander replied, also in a murmur.
“Don’t look it in the eye. That’s a threat to them; it might get angry,” she counseled.
The other members of the group also saw the great ape, but no one moved. Joel’s hands were tickling to focus his camera, but Kate dissuaded him with a sharp glance. The opportunity to be at such close proximity to these large creatures was so rare that they couldn’t ruin it with a false move. A half hour passed and nothing happened; the gorilla in the tree did not move from its observation post, and the figure entangled in the net below was silent. Only her agitated breathing and the way she was holding her baby close betrayed her anguish.
Nadia began to crawl toward the trap, watched by the terrified female from the pit and by the male overhead. Alexander followed with the knife in his teeth, feeling vaguely ridiculous, as if he were in some Tarzan movie. When Nadia reached out to touch the netted animal, the tree branches where the larger gorilla sat swayed ominously.
“If he attacks my grandson, kill him right where he sits,” Kate breathed to Angie.
Angie didn’t respond. She was afraid that even if the animal were only three feet away she wouldn’t be able to shoot it: The rifle was trembling in her hands.
The female never took her eyes off Nadia and Alexander as they crawled toward her, but she seemed a little more calm, as if she had understood the reassurances that Nadia repeated over and over that those
Nadia leaned down toward the trapped animal and began to talk to it as she did with Borobá.
“What is it saying?” Alexander asked her.
“I don’t know whether it understands me. Not all apes speak the same language, Jaguar. On the safari I could communicate with the chimpanzees, but not the mandrills.”
“Those mandrills were scoundrels, Eagle. They wouldn’t have listened to you even if they did understand you.”
“I don’t know the language of these gorillas, but I suppose it must be something like that of other apes.”
“Tell it to stay quiet, and we’ll see if we can free it from the net.”
Little by little, Nadia’s voice calmed the imprisoned animal, but when they tried to come closer, it bared its teeth again and growled.
“It has a baby!” Alexander cried.
The gorilla’s offspring was tiny—it couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old—and it was clinging desperately to its mother’s shaggy coat.
“We need to go get help. We’re going to have to cut the net,” Nadia decided.
They hurried back to the river as quickly as the terrain allowed and told the rest of the party what they had found.
“That animal could attack us,” Brother Fernando warned. “Gorillas are peaceful, but females with young are always dangerous.”
Nadia, however, had already laid her hands on a knife and started back, so everyone followed her. Joel could scarcely believe his good fortune: He was going to photograph a gorilla after all. Brother Fernando armed himself with his machete and a long stick. Angie carried the revolver and the rifle. Borobá led them straight to the trap, but when the gorilla saw herself surrounded by human faces she became frantic.
“This is a time when Mushaha’s tranquilizer gun would come in very handy,” Angie observed.
“She’s terribly afraid. I’ll try to get near her; you wait back there,” Nadia directed.
Everyone stepped back several feet and crouched down among the ferns as Nadia and Alexander moved forward inch by inch, pausing, waiting, creeping a little closer. Nadia kept up a constant, soothing monologue, which seemed to calm the poor trapped animal, because after several minutes, the grunting stopped.
“Jaguar, look up there,” Nadia whispered into her friend’s ear.
Alexander looked up and high in the treetop saw a black, shiny face with close-set eyes and flattened nose observing them attentively.
“It’s another gorilla. And it’s much bigger than this one!” Alexander replied, also in a murmur.
“Don’t look it in the eye. That’s a threat to them; it might get angry,” she counseled.
The other members of the group also saw the great ape, but no one moved. Joel’s hands were tickling to focus his camera, but Kate dissuaded him with a sharp glance. The opportunity to be at such close proximity to these large creatures was so rare that they couldn’t ruin it with a false move. A half hour passed and nothing happened; the gorilla in the tree did not move from its observation post, and the figure entangled in the net below was silent. Only her agitated breathing and the way she was holding her baby close betrayed her anguish.
Nadia began to crawl toward the trap, watched by the terrified female from the pit and by the male overhead. Alexander followed with the knife in his teeth, feeling vaguely ridiculous, as if he were in some Tarzan movie. When Nadia reached out to touch the netted animal, the tree branches where the larger gorilla sat swayed ominously.
“If he attacks my grandson, kill him right where he sits,” Kate breathed to Angie.
Angie didn’t respond. She was afraid that even if the animal were only three feet away she wouldn’t be able to shoot it: The rifle was trembling in her hands.
The female never took her eyes off Nadia and Alexander as they crawled toward her, but she seemed a little more calm, as if she had understood the reassurances that Nadia repeated over and over that those
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