received his tobacco, and turned to make the leap back.

"When Peters mentioned to me the circumstance of this leap, it was only
because he had at the time it was made been so interested in the
incident of getting the tobacco, that he never forgot the occurrence; in
fact, it seems to have impressed his mind and memory almost as deeply as
did the old man with the 'snow-drift beard and the eyes of a god.'

"I attempted to get out of Peters just how he made the leap--whether
with the legs, or the arms, or both as an impelling force; but it was no
use. I believe that he does not himself know--he did it by an animal
instinct, and that is all there is to be said. The old fellow does not
really know his age, but I should place it, at the present time, at from
seventy-eight to eighty years, which, if correct, would indicate that he
was twenty-eight or thirty at the time he was in Hili-li. He must have
been as strong generally as three average men, and in the arms as strong
as five or six such men. You remember telling me yourself how he twisted
that iron poker, and broke the oak pole; and that was the act of an
invalid nearly eighty years of age. Oh, he must have been a Samson at
twenty-eight, and as agile as a tiger. What I could draw out of him
concerning the leap, reminded me of descriptions I have read of the
_Simiidae_--particularly of the Borneo orang-outang.

"But to return: The party separated from Medosus, who, when about two
hundred feet away, shouted back, 'You'd better stay with us, Diregus. We
do not here have to hide away when we play--or at--' (mentioning the
names of two very rough games prohibited by law on all the islands of
the Hili-li Kingdom--games corresponding to our foot-ball and our
wrestling). The party continued up the mountain-side, resting as they
felt the need of rest. No preparation for the darkness of night was