MICHAEL CRICHTON

The gorillas might be only a few feet away, concealed in the dense foliage, andthey wouldn’t know it until it was too late.They walked on.Munro thought if they could reach the eastern slopes of Mukenko, they wouldbe all right. The gray gorillas were localized near the city, and would not followthem far. One or two hours walking, and they would be beyond danger.He checked his watch: they had been gone ten minutes.And then he heard the sighing sound. It seemed to come from all directions.He saw the foliage moving before him, shifting as if blown by a wind. Only therewas no wind. He heard the sighing grow louder.The column halted at the edge of a ravine, which followed a streambed pastsloping jungle walls on both sides. It was the perfect spot for an ambush. Alongthe line he heard the safeties click on the machine guns. Kahega came up.“Captain, what do we do?”Munro watched the foliage move,, and heard the sighing. He could only guessat the numbers concealed in the bush. Twenty? Thirty? Too many, in any case.Kahega pointed up the hillside to a track that ran above the ravine. “Go upthere?”For a long time, Munro did not answer. Finally, he said, “No, not up there.”“Then where, Captain?”“Back,” Munro said. “We go back.”When they turned away from the ravine, the sighing faded and the foliageceased its movement. When he looked back over his shoulder for a last glimpse,the ravine appeared an ordinary passage in the jungle, without threat of any kind.But Munro knew the truth. They could not leave.3. ReturnELLIOT’S IDEA CAME IN A FLASH OF INSIGHT. “IN the middle of the camp,”he later related, “I was looking at Amy signing to Kahega. Amy was asking himfor a drink, but Kahega didn’t know Ameslan, and he kept shrugging helplessly. It214