noon
All the balance of that night the ape-man swung rapidly through the upper and middle terraces of the forest . When the going was good there he preferred the upper branches of the giant trees , for then his way was better lighted by the moon ; but so accustomed were all his senses to the grim world of his birth that it was possible for him , even in the dense , black shadows near the ground , to move with ease and rapidity . You or I walking beneath the arcs of Main Street , or Broadway , or State Street , could not have moved more surely or with a tenth the speed of the agile ape-man through the gloomy mazes that would have baffled us entirely . At dawn he stopped to feed , and then he slept for several hours , taking up the pursuit again toward noon . Twice he came upon natives , and , though he had considerable difficulty in approaching them , he succeeded in each instance in quieting both their fears and bellicose intentions toward him , and learned from them that he was upon the trail of the Russian . Two days later , still following up the Ugambi , he came upon a large village . The chief , a wicked-looking fellow with the sharp-filed teeth that often denote the cannibal , received him with apparent friendliness .