Even as he fought the beast, Billie realized that in
some manner the ape had learned to fear firearms, but whether it
had ever learned to use them he could not venture a guess. He
felt certain if he could draw the weapon and point it at the ape,
it would at once cringe in fear. What might happen if the ape
should get possession of it, he could only imagine.
For a youth of eighteen, there were few whom Billie met that were
his match physically, but this diminutive man-animal held him as
in a vise. Billie exerted every ounce of his strength to free
himself from the terrible hold, while the ape fought even more
fiercely to retain its grip and to gain possession of the weapon.
It was a weird and fearful struggle waged there in the stillness
of the tropical woodland--a stillness broken only by the
occasional wild scream of the ape, or the hoarse breathing of the
boy as he fought to free himself from that horrible grasp.
The struggle must have lasted for two or three minutes--to Billie
it seemed hours--when by a sudden wrench the lad managed to free
his left arm sufficiently to get the beast by the throat. For an
instant it loosed its hold on his right arm and that act decided
the battle.
Finding his right arm free, Billie seized his revolver and
without drawing it from the holster pulled the trigger.
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