The hunters’ raid on the island

The hunters’ raid on the island turns Kensuke’s long-standing fear of human visitors into an immediate threat to the animals he has made his family. When he recognizes a junk offshore, he abandons the prospect of signaling for rescue and organizes the orangutans’ retreat to the cave. The hunters leave after shooting in the forest; two gibbon mothers are found dead, while Kikanbo is eventually reunited with Kensuke. The raid’s aftermath brings grief, relief, and a practical resolve to better protect the animals if the hunters return.

Warning and recognition

One morning Stella’s barking draws Michael outside the cave house. She is high on a hill, alert to a small junk far out at sea. Michael sees the vessel as a chance to summon help and urges Kensuke to light the rescue fire. Kensuke refuses to act on that hope before examining the boat. He returns for his binoculars and studies it carefully, while Michael grows impatient at the delay.

The sight of the junk changes the meaning of the rescue opportunity. Kensuke identifies it as the same boat used by the hunters who had previously killed gibbons and taken their babies. He warns Michael that the armed men have come back. For Kensuke, this is not an abstract danger: the island’s orangutans may be shot, and the visitors may discover him as well. The boat therefore demands concealment rather than a signal.

Gathering the orangutans

Kensuke’s response relies on the relationship he has built with the orangutans. He enters the forest singing, and they emerge in small groups until fifteen have gathered. Four are initially missing. As Kensuke continues singing, three more appear, including Tomodachi; only Kikanbo remains unaccounted for.

The delay becomes more urgent when they hear an outboard motor start at sea. Kensuke keeps calling and singing for Kikanbo, but eventually decides they cannot wait longer. He leads the orangutans toward the cave, still singing and guiding one by the hand. Michael brings up the rear, trying to keep the younger animals moving; some stop to play, so he carries two in his arms. He continues looking and calling for Kikanbo, who does not join them.

The raid and its losses

The motor stops, and the sound of men’s voices and laughter comes from outside. Michael runs toward the cave with the orangutans clinging to him. As they reach shelter, the first shots ring out. Birds and bats rise from the forest, and the people and animals gather at the back of the cave while shooting continues.

Tomodachi is especially agitated, but all the orangutans need reassurance. Kensuke keeps singing softly as they huddle together. Michael stays with them, holding Stella close while she growls, and the younger orangutans press against him. The singing becomes a form of comfort during the attack, but it cannot make the outcome certain: nearby shots and distant cries tell Michael that the hunters have reached their targets.

After the voices and most of the shooting move away, Kensuke keeps the group inside for hours. He waits even after they hear the outboard motor start, and only lets them emerge when the junk is already well out to sea. The delay has kept the orangutans sheltered during the raid, but it cannot undo what happened elsewhere in the forest.

Kikanbo and the aftermath

Kensuke and Michael search the island and call for Kikanbo, but find no sign of him at first. Kensuke goes off alone, and Michael later discovers him kneeling beside the bodies of two dead gibbon mothers. Kensuke’s eyes show his grief and bewilderment. The two bury the animals at the edge of the forest; in that moment, Michael has no words, and Kensuke has no songs left to sing.

On their sorrowful walk home along the beach, Kikanbo suddenly rushes out of the trees, scattering sand, and climbs up Kensuke’s leg to wrap himself around his neck. His return turns the search’s uncertainty into relief, though it does not erase the deaths of the two mothers. That night Kensuke and Michael sing “Ten Green Bottles” repeatedly over their fish soup. Their singing serves both as a wake for the gibbons and as a celebration that Kikanbo is back.

Changed precautions

The raid continues to trouble Kensuke in the following weeks. He makes a stout bamboo cage at the back of the cave to shelter the orangutans more securely if the hunters return. He repeatedly thinks about what he should have done before and how difficult it would have been to forgive himself had Kikanbo been taken. He also wishes the gibbons would come when he sang, as the orangutans do, so he could protect them too.

Michael and Kensuke also cut branches and brush and stack them outside the cave entrance, ready to disguise the opening. These changes make the raid consequential beyond the immediate danger: the cave becomes a more deliberate refuge, and Kensuke’s care takes the form of preparation as well as song. The hunters have left, but the possibility of their return shapes how the two now defend the island’s animal community.