OCR Text |
Show HOHT TOTJIE DEATH DKSPlriATK DATTLB DLTWEEN TWO HUOE dORILLAH 'a the llrarl ot Afrlnt for Iho I'oe- ertiloa ot a Mali. The Thrllll-it tie Di.rtlbMl hy an Aioer.r T re, ,l,i. (Bprrdal Letter.) An American traveler. Uapt Jack Rentnn who hat spent some time In Afrlei rollectlng animals for Inenag-erlee Inenag-erlee once witnessed n light between I wo gorillas In the wild of uppr tlulnei that for ferocity ha seldom been iqualrd one day while out In Ike wood he came to a clearing on th eilge of which he saw n big male gorilla goril-la On the other side of the open loir wss a female and th former was evl-deinl) evl-deinl) tusking court lo her. The male gortlta trying to attract the attention Of the frnial-. b) uncouth motions, waa eg nnlng lo advame rlnmsltr towards i her when suddenly a dull boom J boom sounded from far away In the foreet t'p to that Instant the male Corllla while savage looking, had air en no sign of being augry, but now all was changed Ills huge Jaws shut together to-gether with a snap Then through the llrnre which had (alien on the Jungle when the first sudden cballenc was beard ranie a sharp bark, followed by J a deep humming sound It waa tbe terrible battle call of a full-grown go ; rllla the cry sent out when he Is about to flgbi to the death for a male Suddenly Sud-denly there wa a little flurry at tbe left eu.l of the clearing, and the challenger chal-lenger broke through the buah Into plain tight lie wa worthy to do battle bat-tle with the first giant. I could see he was a veteran, with Die sears ot many battle on him III big llpe were rolled up In n grim ansrl showing show-ing broken teeth nnd grant gaps the result of former battles Ilotli gorll- Jaws of the old gorilla tearing out flesh and sinews a they were shoved away, but not un-grlpped Then the old fighter's right arm -.lowly nnd reluctantly re-luctantly unrolled from the other's neck Tbe younger gorilla had broken the death grip Iloth big fighter were momentarily free and stepped back to regain breath and repair Injuries Although Al-though wounded, ll was the younger gorilla that made the attack. This time he did not waste any efforts on blows with hla hug paws When they had approached almost within striking distance the younger ot tho Haulers made n roth lie received a blow un the head that would have crushed a man's skull It tea reel) ttsggered him Then both hi long rums wrapped thumaelve nbout his opponent's neck, and holding his an-tagonlil an-tagonlil tightly clapped he began hit-lag hit-lag with flern energy, not n steady gtlp-bltlng bile, but furious, tearing gnashing, which ripped skin nnd flesh from face and shoulder nnd client Th older gorilla was taken by surprlM at thl sudden rush and change of tnrtlca by til opponent Hut thongli at a disadvantage, dis-advantage, he wa too old a fighter In be easily dismayed Klrtl he secured grip on hi opponent thro-it, and training every muscle, tried to tear himself free from Ihe Infuriated grasp of the younger 1-aM. lie might as easily broken n steel cable as thn strangling hold of hla enraged opponent oppo-nent Then the older fighter relaxed his grip on the other's throit.sud plae l-tic boih bis human-like paws on the lounger's far, tried lo force hi head l-jrk Thl brought out n terrible trial of strength If the old gorilla could force th other's head baek, ha would be free and might perhaps break his enemy's neck l&ich of the huge fighters fight-ers seemed to show this and put forth all of their giant strength. Hack, sboutdsrs, arm ami neck worn called Into play, the heavy muscle rippling up and gstherlng Into big knots. Pur what was probably half a mln A PIQIIT TO TUB DKATII. las wore taller than the average man as they stood on their hind feet for battlo, but their enormous breadth of cheat nnd thoiildert made them look like squatting, hairy glnnta Neither of tbe big animals wasted time In preliminaries; pre-liminaries; they had worked hem-selves hem-selves up Into such an Insanity of rage that only killing would stlify Dach advancod on his hind Itrfs until with in six feet of the other. Then tho younger gorilla began to fight Stepping Step-ping forward with marvelous quickness quick-ness for such an ungainly animal, he struck a flalMIko blow with his huge paws. Had the blow gone home no mere flesh and blood, not even the big-boned big-boned frame ot his antagonist, could havo withstood It. Hut tho old gorilla hid been In loo many death grapples to be caught to early In tho fight liven at tho big arm swung around he sprang forward, coming In close so at to mist th full force ot the swing The next Instant he had swung hla own arm around the younger gorilla's ne k rn circling It with four feet of steel muscles mus-cles and holding hla enemy's head stilt upright, so that ho could not bring th terrible teeth Into play. Then the old gorilla opened his heavy Jaws and getting get-ting n firm grip on the right shoulder of the younger gorilla, held on like a bull dog, teaching hla way through the knotted muscle and sinews and shoulder shoul-der blade ot his opponent At the same time tbe left urm of tho old fighter wrapped Itself about the younger gorll la In a rib-breaking grip. It was ouly for an Instant, however, thai things looked to desperate for the younger fighter. Tho first gorilla iplemlld fighting ability and tremendous strength showed themselves Whirling up his left arm he fastened his long fingers about his "ntagonlut ihroat tnd tried to break his grip and shove his head back. At first the only effect ot this waa to make the old fellow tighten his grip on the others shoulder. shoul-der. Then the younger gorilla put forth all hla strength I could co the muscles of his arms, shoulders and back gather thcmselvos Into big knots and bunch up, aa If thoy would break through tbe skin. The murderous deep-set eyes started forward until they wero level with tho cheek bones A lait desperate effort, and the big bed went baok, the tightly doted ule, but teemed an hour, tho two scml-human scml-human shapes stood thero putting forth eiery energy. At last the younger young-er flghter'a fare was within two Inches of his opponent's head The younger gorilla made a supremo effort, twisted his head suddenly and before his opponent op-ponent could dodge bad fastened hla teeth In a du.itli grip on the throat of the veteran fighter. The veteran was borne backward, tarrying his foe down with blm Unlet he could looten tbe grip on his throat ha was doomed, and the old fighter knew It. Over nnd over on tho ground the two huge apes rolled, fighting desperately, but without sound save for tho shrill blstlng of tbclr breath aa It waa forced from thtlr heaving chests. The veteran of msny a hard-fought Junglo battle knew his own end had come. Up to this tlmo the battle had been fought ',1 sllo-ve. hut a&-th-ttfl'jdrniagave up tho contest con-test and felt the teeth of his antagonist antago-nist sinking deeper and deeper Into his throat, the pain was greater than ho could bear He broke Into a walling cry that echoed through tbe Jungles Again and again tho cry rose up and then finally died out. The fierce, bard fighting, hard biting younger gorilla had been working his way through hit antagonist's throat ond bod at last bitten through tho wind pipe. The great fight was over, and tho veteran of many similar contents bad met the fate he had meted out to others The last sUmPse. I had ot the conqueror was as, with tho glare ot battlo still In hit eyes and coiered from head to fool with his own blood and that of bit enemy, en-emy, he marched off In triumph toward her for whom he had fought so desperately des-perately nnd so well |