It was wondrous practice for them both.
The boy brought into play wrestling tricks that he had learned at
school, and many of these Akut learned to use and to foil. And
from the ape the boy learned the methods that had been handed down
to Akut from some common ancestor of them both, who had roamed the
teeming earth when ferns were trees and crocodiles were birds.
But there was one art the boy possessed which Akut could not master,
though he did achieve fair proficiency in it for an ape--boxing.
To have his bull-like charges stopped and crumpled with a suddenly
planted fist upon the end of his snout, or a painful jolt in the
short ribs, always surprised Akut. It angered him too, and at
such times his mighty jaws came nearer to closing in the soft flesh
of his friend than at any other, for he was still an ape, with an
ape's short temper and brutal instincts; but the difficulty was in
catching his tormentor while his rage lasted, for when he lost his
head and rushed madly into close quarters with the boy he discovered
that the stinging hail of blows released upon him always found
their mark and effectually stopped him--effectually and painfully.
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