Chongo and Jimmy had a small campfire going. They had parked the jeep under some exotic-looking trees. Chongo intended to examine them more closely in the morning by climbing the tallest one and getting a good look around.

Jimmy had brewed some gloriously strong coffee, heavily flavoured with brown sugar. Chongo sipped it with great satisfaction.

"Mighty good brew," he remarked amiably. "It's amazin' how this stuff has gone all over the world. How long you people been drinkin' it?"

"A long time," said Jimmy. "It's one of the good things the white people brought when they took over here."

"Yeah." said Chongo. "There's always a few good things like that. My grandad never knew about coffee or fried eggs or newspapers or nothin' like that, but he knew all about jungle stuff. He could find food in places where a white man would starve to death. It wasn't cooked food, though. It was bugs and roots and stuff. Pretty healthy, actually."

Jimmy smiled, showing teeth that shone shockingly white in his dark face. "So your Grandad was a forest ape?"

"Yeah," said Chongo. "There was a lot more forest back then in central Africa. It's disappearin' fast now, and so are my people. They're gettin' wiped out. Some might call it 'progress'. I call it organized mass murder."

"So you moved in with the whites, same as I did," commented Jimmy. "You figured it was the best way to go."

"Yeah, I did." Chongo looked thoughtful. "The fact is, I was curious. I wanted to see if those big bwanas were really as all-powerful and superhuman and smart like they thought they was. I wanted to see if a chimp could learn to drive a car, add and subtract, talk on a telephone, swing an ax, and fire a gun. I caught a boat to the USA as soon as I could, and just learned things on the street. I learned fast. You had to learn fast if you wanted to make it."

"What's it like there?" asked Jimmy softly. "Is it like in the movies? Big cars and gangsters and airplanes and beautiful blonde women with bright red lips?"

Chongo laughed. "It is and it ain't. For those that got money it is all that and more. For those that don't...it's long hours, lousy jobs or no jobs at all, and a future that ain't too pretty."

"Just like here," said Jimmy.

"Yeah, only a whole lot more people and less open land. I'm in Chicago. You ain't seen a city like that. Like a giant anthill. It's beautiful and horrifyin' all at the same time. I like it. Chicago is home to me."

"Have you been to New York?"

"Yeah. Five years there. I was there when Kong cashed in his chips. Every ape knows exactly where he was on the day Kong died and when he first heard the news."

Jimmy's eyes went wide. "You mean King Kong, the biggest ape that ever lived!"

"The same," said Chongo. "He's gone now, but he'll always be the King. Elvis is nothin' next to Kong."

Jimmy lit up a smoke, and so did Chongo. They smoked for a bit in silence. The sky was very dark now, but lit by a million brilliant stars. A heavenly cathedral.

"Do you hate the white men?" asked Jimmy.

"That depends," said Chongo. "I don't hate all of 'em. I even like some of 'em. I could stand havin' a few less of them in charge of everything for a change. The fact is, there ain't no use hatin' what can't be changed. It just eats you up inside, and it don't do no one no good."

Jimmy nodded. "You speak wisely, brother." He yawned and stretched. "Tomorrow we reach the Darling River. Big river. I find a good crossing place. I think your Magenta she gone that way."

"Okay," said Chongo. "You're the man. Lead on." He had learned to trust Jimmy's judgement when it came to tracking. This was his country, and he knew it well.