Wild Life under the Equator

We left the gorilla scene I have just described to you in the preceding chapter, and made for our camp. As we came in sight of it Querlaouen gave the peculiar whistle agreed upon to announce our arrival, and soon after we saw the head of Gambo and Malaouen peeping out above the fence, also the heads of the two boys Njali and Nola.

The ladder was handed down to us; soon we were inside, and, before I knew it, Malaouen was hugging me as hard as he could; when he had done, and before I had time to breathe and free myself from his embrace entirely, I was hugged by friend Gambo. The boys jumped around, and there was tremendous excitement in the camp. The poor fellows had been very anxious, and did not know what had become of us. When night came they became very uneasy; perhaps we had been killed by the Ashankolo Bakalai, or by some wild beasts.