Odyssey From Africa 3c4a

CHAPTER 3c continued Till he happened to encounter  A much stronger river hunter Hideous Jurassic lizard Pulled him down with no returning   Other crocodiles converging Made straight lines like silver arrows Churned and twisted in the water Then the other three turned homeward    Standing on the river's north bank Matto, Lisa held each other  Watched their parents struggle closer In their flimsy leaking vessel   Till at last they gained the shoreline And all four embraced each other  Wept for joy at their reunion  Then the children saw the monkey   As their parents told the story  Of their orphaned ape companion  Lisa tenderly bent down and Lifted up the baboon infant    "Can I have it as a pet, Mum?" "I don't think that is a problem" So the monkey was adopted  Lisa chose to call her Rosy     CHAPTER 4 The Eagle   With that crisis now behind them They continued trekking northward  Feeling great relief and gladness  Rosy scampered after Lisa   Kwona gave to Han the paired horns She had severed from the bull's head Han was curious at their shape, and Cut and trimmed them with his hatchet    He remembered watching children  Playing with a wood-carved wing shape How when thrown it flew while spinning Sometimes changing its direction    So he carved the pair of horns Into a wing-like aerofoil It was angled in its flat plane Forming straight symmetric sections   Then they tested this new wing-form Practiced how to throw it spinning So it first flew straight and level Then swerved up and back towards them   In their travelling that followed  This new boomerang proved useful Guinea fowl and grassland rodents  Could be killed at quite a distance    Han was skilled at fire-starting Matto tried to learn the method Which took patient dedication That the boy found hard to master   They would light a fire at evening Roast some bird or beast above it Sometimes vegetables and shellfish Then it smouldered through the night-time    On they walked through grassy scrubland  Sensed an inclination upwards In the distance seeing jungle Covering a hilly landscape    One day Lisa and her brother  Played at throw and fetch with Rosy They would toss a stick or seashell And the monkey would retrieve it    Then an eagle spotted Rosy  Started flying low toward them Swooping fast across the grassland  Seizing Rosy in its talons!   Han was watching as this happened  As the children cried in horror Quick the boomerang was readied Han took careful aim and cast it