Odyssey From Africa 6c

CHAPTER 6 (continued, c) Several of the primate children  Sat together in the branches  Of a tree; they did not notice  Danger silently approaching    Through the leaves a brown and yellow  Shiny scaly serpent slithered Closer to the young gorillas  Eyes unblinking glimmered palely   Then one of the watching mothers  Saw the snake and cried a warning  Hooting and gesticulating  Pointing out the present danger   Quick the boomerang was lifted By the same young male gorilla And he cast it at the tree-line Low and fast in deadly earnest   Curving up into the branches  Fast it rose toward the python But it missed by several hand-breadths Looping back into the clearing    As the young ones in the treetop Froze in nervous indecision  Matto now retrieved the wing-form Took deliberate aim and threw it   Once again its spinning banking Flight swerved up toward the serpent  This time smiting it amidships With a sharp resounding impact!   And the python lost its purchase  Flailed and tumbled through the branches  But its spine remained unbroken  So it fled into the greenness    Then a riotous celebration Sounded out from the assembly Happy pongid exclamations  Resonated through the jungle     Matto found himself a hero Several male gorillas bore him Through the crowd, above head level For a few ecstatic moments    Han then spoke some words to Matto Fatherly advice of wisdom  Who, now back on terra firma Looked around the crowded clearing    Noticed Kwona next to Lisa, Rosy the baboon beside them Who, like them, had managed to Elude the sabertooth cat hunters   Then a fuzzy black-haired youngling  Brought the boomerang to Matto Who then turned to the troop leader To the silverback gorilla    And presenting him the wing-form Signalled that he try to throw it So the huge gorilla took it Spreading murmurs of approval    Copying the throwing action  Of the boy some moments earlier  He then briskly threw the wing-form Not however straight and level   Quick inflection in the flight-plane Made it sharply bank and circle And the boomerang, careering, Almost struck a nearby female    Skimming through the hair-crest of a Matriarch of haughty bearing  Who was foremost of the harem Of the silverback troop leader   She then fixed on him a visage That portended trouble later! But the silverback's attention  On the boomerang was focused