When Sebastian, Dorabella and Edward heard the horrible Black Beard Gang approaching, they hopped over to the edge of their nest and peeked down quietly together.

“Do you think they’ll find us?” whispered Dorabella.

“They’ve never found us before,” said Edward. “But there is no guarantee they won’t find us this time.”

“I wish they would just leave us alone!” pouted Sebastian. “It’s not fair that they pick on us. We don’t bother them!”

“Of course, it’s not fair, Sebastian,” his sister lamented. “But that’s the way life is in the forest. Some are strong and some are weak. Some get to eat and some get eaten. We just have to accept it and keep hiding.”

Sebastian and Edward frowned. They didn’t like hearing it, but the truth was their sister was right. In this forest, there was no justice. There were no police officer animals. There were no courts or judges. There was nothing at all—nothing but bullies competing to see who could be the cruelest. For whoever was cruelest was always the most feared in the forest. And whoever was most feared could always get their way. The leader of the Black Beard Gang, Old Black Beard himself, was just one of many who were trying to fight their way to the top.

“Out of’r way ye scoundrels!” some of them yelled as they swung into the great tree. “Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh!”

“Make way for the king of the forest!”

They did everything they could to make sure everyone was good and miserable, as bullies do. They kicked! They spat! They pushed other animals down! They shoved! They called names! They also made a very great mess of the great tree wherever they swung to—ripping off the bark or tearing branches for fun.

One little tree frog got the worst of it. An ape reached into its little house hole, dragged it out by its legs, spun it round and threw it so far and so high that it looked like it disappeared into the clouds! Fortunately for our little friend, however, it ended up falling down safely onto a lily-pad in a pond a short ways away.

“Monsters!” cried young Sebastian, as he watched helplessly. He imagined himself being much bigger and liked it. “Why, if only I were an eagle, I would swoop down and peck those big bullies’ brains out! That would teach them! And then! Mmmm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm!”

Sebastian was trying to say, “and then lift them up high and drop them,” but couldn’t because Dorabella had covered his mouth with her wing.

“Shh! They’ll hear you!”

The family of birds, in what was once a cozy and safe nest, looked down together at the mayhem the tree was now in, searching and searching for the captives Edward had seen. And, sure enough, there they were on one of the branches, huddling and shivering together. But there was also something familiar about them. Sebastian squinted.

“Wait a minute!” He broke away from his sister’s grasp. “That’s Lumpy! And his friends! He often climbs up here and plays with me!”

“Sebastian Ploomberry!” said Dorabella. “You should not be playing with strange apes like that!”

“Lumpy’s not strange,” Sebastian replied. “He’s kind! And SO funny!”

“It’s true,” spoke another softer voice coming from behind all three of the birds. They spun around and looked up—and there on a branch they saw a butterfly and a squirrel.

“The Brumbledumbs,” said the butterfly, ever so softly, the way a butterfly would, “are a noble family who never try to hurt or steal from anyone. Your brother is perfectly safe around them. I assure you.”

“That’s right!” the squirrel added, in a squeakier and somewhat, I dare say, cheekier sounding voice. “Especially Lumpy!”

Edward was curious about why the butterfly and squirrel had come up so high.

“Are you two leaving the tree?” he asked.

“That’s the plan,” replied the squirrel with a chirp. “We’re going to live down by the waterfall.”

“You should come with us,” said the butterfly, batting her eyelashes.

“The waterfall?” Dorabella answered. “But you can’t live there!” She could hardly speak. “Th-th-th-that’s where the t-t-tiger lives . . .”

But the butterfly and squirrel didn’t even flinch.

“Not anymore,” the squirrel responded.

“Word has it, the tiger has been . . . taken care of . . . and that the animals there now roam freely and safely!”

“Really?” Dorabella asked.

“Mmmhmm,” both of them responded together.

Sebastian’s feathers pricked up in excitement and he burst past his sister from behind her.

“Ah-hah!” he cried out. “Mysterious disappearances! I told you HE was real, Edward! I told you!”

Edward rolled his eyes.

“Ah, so you’ve heard about it too, I see,” said the squirrel, scratching his chin.

“Heard about it?” said Edward. “It’s all the kid ever chirps about! Hero this! And savior that! I really wish he’d just—”

Sebastian cut him off before he could finish.

“Did you see him!? What did he look like? No tail or fur, right!?”

“Mmm . . . no . . . I didn’t see him,” answered the squirrel. “But I do know someone who did once . . .”

“Do you think he’ll come?”

The squirrel and the butterfly looked at each other and shrugged.

“I hope he does,” said Sebastian. He looked back down over the edge at poor Lumpy, surrounded by all those mean apes. “I know he will! He must!”

Speaking of Lumpy, reader, he was having quite the time down there as all this was happening. For Lumpy was not the sort of apeling who was captured so easily. One of the bad apes learned that when they tried to grab him and eat him up!

“How’d ye like to be my dinner! Yarrr!”

It reached out with its long arms and snagged Lumpy’s ankle. It picked him up and brought him right up close to its big, ugly face, where you could smell its rotten breath.

“Yesss . . .” the beast croaked slowly, glaring at him. “Ye will be tasteyyy . . .”

Everyone who was watching thought Lumpy was a goner for sure—especially his two friends, who were each so scared they could hardly even stand. But Lumpy managed to struggle free!

“Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!” yelped his captor. “That little bugger bit me!”

Lumpy stuck his tongue out at him. But to get revenge, the big ape kicked him really hard, which sent Lumpy rolling like a little furry soccer ball, down the branch and crashing into the trunk of the tree. That was about when all the ruckus ended, and the evil ape king, Old Black Beard, called for everyone to stop. His voice was scary, but intelligent-sounding, rolling his r’s and puffing up his chest, like he fancied himself to be some kind of royalty.

“Enough! There shall be no eating of the spoils! These meddling rrr-rascals must suffah a different fate! Gather rrr-ound then, everrr-yone and listen to what I say!”

The Black Beard Gang did as they were told, and soon everyone was sitting around the ape king in a circle, as though they were in a theatre watching a play. The Life Tree was big enough to fit everyone. When the apes finally settled, Old Black Beard cleared his throat and continued, seeming to want to give a speech. Sebastian and the rest of the birds and animals listened in, wondering what he had planned.

“Ahem ahem . . . Brrr-others! Countrymen! Comrrr-ades!” he yelled. “Today has been a grrr-eat victory for The Black Beards! We have conquered the territory of the tortoises! Swept thrrr-ough the valley of the so-called vulture king! And have crrr-ushed all who have stood in our way! The forrr-est belongs to us now! Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh!”

Everyone but the good animals in the tree cheered and beat their chests.

“Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh!”

Oh, the nerve they had in saying that, reader! It made all of the other animals feel so angry! They didn’t belong to him! And neither did their homes! But, on the other hand, that was the rule . . . wasn’t it? With no one around to stop them, the strongest got to do what they wanted. And if you tried to resist or complain or show any sign of rebellion . . . well, that usually meant death.

The king continued.

“But! Our work is not over, com-rrrades! No! For although we have achieved victory, there still rrr-emain some who rrr-esist us! Animals like the DUMB DUMB family!” Old Black Beard said the name wrongly like this on purpose, reader, just to annoy animals like Sebastian—and it worked. “Who grrr-eedily store up bananas, and try to hide them when it’s time to share! Liars! Cheaters! Frauds! All of them! How dare they not share, comrades! Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh! How dare they not share!” More cheers followed before he continued. “Ahem! Which is why, comrades . . . we have captured some prrr-inces of the DUMB DUMB family! To make an example of them! So they never trrr-y it again! And to rrr-emind all of you other pathetic crrr-eatures listening what will happen to you, too . . . if you choose to rrr-esist us, as well! Ooh Ahh!”

The entire Black Beard Gang cheered for a third time, repeating the king like parrots and drumming on the branches. It could be heard for miles throughout the whole valley and made all of the weaker animals despair. There were many long faces and frowns in the Life Tree that day.

But then . . . another voice suddenly spoke up from the crowd of apes that didn’t sound at all like the others. Far from being confident and bully-like, it was a voice that trembled in fear. It was something that none of the smaller animals had ever seen before.

“B-b-but!” it cried, quivering and shivering. “W-w-what about . . . the . . . the . . . Phantom Ape? I’ve heard i-i-it eats animals who hurt o-o-others like that . . .”

He looked over his shoulder, scared that something might be lurking behind him. Others in the gang began doing the same.

“Yes, I’ve heard that too!” you could hear some of them whisper.

“Isn’t that what happened to Johnny?”

“I heard it breathes fire!”

“I heard it walks on water!”

“I heard it—”

And so on. It was clear, reader, that the ape king had completely lost control of his gang. He clenched his fists and growled in frustration. Only our young Sebastian seemed to know what everyone was suddenly so worried about.

“Phantom Ape?” he thought as he listened. “I wonder if that’s the Black Beard Gang’s name for . . . Yes, it must be!”

Old Black Beard snarled and sneered some more. Then, he shouted to get everyone’s attention. It was the second time that week the mysterious creature had come up, and it was really beginning to get on his nerves.

“Enough! Silence! Order!” he growled while flinging about his arms. “Do not be fooled by these stories you have heard about phantom apes! They are all lies! Lies, I tell you! Do you hear me? ‘Tis a myth! A legend! Common fables, made up by the weak crrr-eatures to make themselves feel better as we rule them! And that’s all! Yes! The only ape anyone needs to be afrrr-aid of . . . is me! And today I shall prrr-ove it to you once and for all!”

There was a brief silence after that as the animals on both sides began to wonder what the old ape king might have meant. Prove it? How would he do that?

“Brrr-ing out the Stomper!”

“The Stomper?” whispered Dorabella to her brothers. “Who’s that?”

Sebastian and Edward looked at each other equally as puzzled. They had no idea.

“Oh, I don’t like the sound of this . . .” she whimpered.

Then, everyone heard a loud sound they recognized from before.

Boom . . .

Boom . . .

Boom . . .

“Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh!”

Boom!

Boom!

“Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh!”

What was that? An elephant? A hippopotamus? The birds and squirrels in the great tree were all confused. And why was it that now, after hearing that awful noise, the Black Beard Gang all started smiling and laughing again?

“Bah hah hah hah!”

“Ooh ooh! Ah ah!”

“Hoo hoo hee! This will be good!”

“Yes! The Stomper! Muah hah hah!”

And then they saw it, reader! The biggest, strongest, ugliest, stupidest-looking ape ever to walk in that wild valley, swinging through the branches toward them, with poor, poor little Lumpy straight in its path.

“By my tail! Do you see the size of that monster?” Sebastian yelled. “Lumpy! Look out! Run away! Hurry!”

“Oh, please hush, Sebastian!” whispered Dorabella. “You never can just be quiet, can you? Shh!”

When the beast landed onto the branch Lumpy and his friends were on, it felt like an earthquake. The whole tree shook and trembled. Lumpy sat like a toddler at the giant’s feet, each of which were bigger than he was! The giant, Stomper, had a long beard, a round fat belly, with two legs as thick as the branch he was standing on. And all that drool! The foul creature looked down at Lumpy cross-eyed and laughed the stupidest-sounding laugh you ever heard—like this:

“Ho! Ho! Ho! . . . Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! . . . Ho! Ho! . . . Ho! Ho! . . . Me, Stomper! Me hungry. Me stomp on little apes and make food. Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh! Ho! Ho! Ho!”

You see what I mean?

“Who shall I stomp first? This one? That one? Or this little runt right here! Ho! Ho!”

Lumpy gulped again, for of the three captive apes “the littlest” was in fact him. And this time he was too scared to try and run away or fight.

“No matter,” said the giant ape. “I can stomp all of ‘em at once, they’re so tiny . . . Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!”

The king laughed together with Stomper. So did the rest of the gang. It made the birds, squirrels and everyone else feel like it was even more hopeless. Everyone, that is, except for Sebastian. Though, even he was beginning to have doubts now. He looked around frantically for any sign of the hero he believed in, but saw no one.

“Blast! Where is he!?”

Time was running out.

“Now,” announced the evil king proudly. “Let this be a reminder to all of you weak cr-r-reatures!” He raised his hand, preparing to give Stomper the signal. “And a lesson for your children! And your children’s children! About what happens when you step out of your place! And forget that your r-r-role in the forest is to serve animals like me! Bah, hah hah hah! Bah! Hah hah hah! Hah hah!”

The gang all laughed with him, and started mocking them more:

“Bah hah hah hah! Look at them all! Look how scared the little babies are! How pathetic!”

“Yeah! Crying for their mommies and daddies! Ooh, hoo hoo!”

“Or their make-believe hero! Looks like he’s not coming!”

“Because he isn’t real!”

“No one’s coming!”

“Stomper’s going to crush you!”

“Yeah! And make you even uglier!”

“Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh!”

“Oh ho! Look at their faces! What’s wrong, babies? Aw, I think they’re going to cry! Haw! Haw! Haw!”

And so on and so forth, reader. It was terrible! They sounded so stupid. Yet none of the good animals had anything at all they could say back, or do. What could they? Maybe Old Black Beard was right. Edward began to feel sorry for making fun of Sebastian. For deep down, he realized that he wanted there to be a hero, just like everyone else did. Stomper raised his foot and waited for the signal to stomp.

“It’s a shame,” Edward lamented. “I really liked Lumpy and his friends. I only wish I could have had the chance to say goodbye to them . . .” He let out a sad, sad sigh.

“Oh Lumpy,” added Sebastian, about to break into tears. “I’m so sorry. Goodbye, my friend . . .”

Dorabella was so sad that she could hardly make a sound. All she could do was cover her eyes with her wings and squeak. “I can’t watch!”

That just left Stomper, Lumpy and his friends. The little apes hugged each other—thinking it would be their last moment alive. The Black Beard Gang all beat their chests and pounded on the branches of the tree, like a drum roll: “Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh!” Finally, the evil king dropped his hand, giving the signal to squash them!

“Ho, ho, ho . . .” laughed Stomper. “Ho! Ho! Ho!” His foot was up and over top of them! “HO! HO! HO!” But . . . he didn’t end up stomping with it.

“Wait!” yelled Sebastian suddenly, at the top of his little lungs, throwing up his wings. He saw something! He saw something approaching! Moving really fast! And I mean, really fast! Swinging through the branches! It was getting close! “Wait, everyone! Look!” He pushed his brother aside and ran to the other edge. A few others began to notice too. “Look! Look, everyone! Look up there! It’s him! It’s really him! Look! Look!”

Everyone turned their heads and gazed up, astonished!

“Oh, no! No!” the Black Beard Gang thought. “No! No! It couldn’t be! It couldn’t! It could NOT!” But it was! The mysterious creature! The Phantom Ape! It swung in and landed into the tree. Their worst nightmare! They saw it now, with their own eyes! And now, reader, it was their turn to be afraid.