Samuel T. Philander

Philander is the long-suffering companion and foil to Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, dragged along on the expedition that strands the Porter party in Africa. His testy relationship with the professor — decades of devotion punctuated by icy threats and boyhood nicknames like 'Skinny' — reveals two old friends who have forgotten how to be human with each other. When a lion traps them in a tree, their squabble over cowardice and credit becomes one of the novel's funniest and most tender scenes, and their rescue by an unseen agency plants the first hint that something extraordinary watches from the branches.