It was with difficulty, however, that Akut kept the boy from rushing
into the midst of the dancing anthropoids--an act that would have
meant the instant extermination of them both, since the hysterical
frenzy into which the great apes work themselves during the
performance of their strange rites is of such a nature that even
the most ferocious of the carnivora give them a wide berth at such
times.
As the moon declined slowly toward the lofty, foliaged horizon of
the amphitheater the booming of the drum decreased and lessened
were the exertions of the dancers, until, at last, the final note
was struck and the huge beasts turned to fall upon the feast they
had dragged hither for the orgy.
From what he had seen and heard Akut was able to explain to Korak
that the rites proclaimed the choosing of a new king, and he
pointed out to the boy the massive figure of the shaggy monarch,
come into his kingship, no doubt, as many human rulers have come
into theirs--by the murder of his predecessor.
When the apes had filled their bellies and many of them had sought
the bases of the trees to curl up in sleep Akut plucked Korak by
the arm.
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