Well, it wasn’t exactly rain. These were the apes they had seen two days earlier. In an interview after the event, Tugg denies that they were the same ones, but no one could deny that it was the same Blacki that challenged the Emela, seeking to protect the men. No one had seen him before, but as soon as the barrage had ended, there he was. With a sharpened wooden spear, he dropped down in front of the beast and screamed the challenge.

The Emela didn’t know what to think. It probably wasn’t threatened. It reminded Hezzy of a kitten with a slice of lunch meat. A little growl came from it, and it continued to eat the Elephant. Blacki showed he was serious. He looked to the trees.

“AAHHEEHAHAHAAAAAAA!” He cried. He was joined by four more Blackies who fell from the trees like silent shadows. Each were as big, and they each had spears. The Emela stopped eating, took one step back and gave a deep and quiet growl. Alright, things were serious.

On cue, the apes in the trees screamed and threw rocks again. The Blackies balked and stabbed the air with their spears, one of them connecting with the side of the Emela, to show they meant business. An over-the-top scream of rage from the great horned beast and a shaking of the head. It snorted and hooted, sniffed the elephant, and trotted away.

In comparison, the Emela would have crushed the Blackies, for it was the size of a full grown elephant itself, but maybe letting it get large enough of a meal had been the plan of the Blackies in the first place.

Hezzy and Tugg, having taken off their masks, slowly stood. In an unexpected turn, they had been saved by one of the most mythical beings on earth. After all they had been through in Missouri, the impact wasn’t lost on them. God had a sense of humor after all maybe.

“Uh. Well howdah there.” Hezzy said, with his palms up in the air. “You good little sasquatches huh?” He brought up his bag. “Y’all want some candy?” He slowly undid a side strap and got out a large bag. Reaching in, he pulled out a small bag and got four Baby Ruth bars. He opened one up, pulled it in half and took a bite. “It’s good.” He offered the opened one to the largest Blacki, the one they had seen at the campsite. The Blackie took the candy bar and sniffed it.

After a cautious lick, it devoured the entire thing and opened up another one.

“Oaaaah!” one of the other Blackies demanded. The big one relented and gave two out to the other four, throwing the other one up into the trees. The tree-apes caught it and chattered happily. He looked slowly and deeply at Tugg, blinked once and placed the spear on the ground. He kicked it towards them and only until Tugg climbed out of the roots and picked it up was the beast satisfied. The others were forced to do the same. Pick up the spear you fool. Look, you need to protect yourself out here. Don’t you know any better? It told them with its eyes. Once the humans had the spears, the Blackies walked off in the direction of the elephants and didn’t look back. It was then that we all noticed that the little tree apes had disappeared from the trees as well. The five men were alone.