Kong poisoned

What he saw told him a great deal.
Kong lay recumbent, flat on his back, face upward, mouth agape. He seemed to be breathing through his open mouth, another sure sign of distress.
Doc stole another peek. Kong was oblivious to him. He stared upward, like a man expecting death, eyes focused on eternity. His great barrel chest worked like a slow bellows.
From time to time, a hairy paw moved, feeling along its fur, questing and removing a long needle-like dart when he found one. Kong appeared to have little strength for this procedure. Each dart, he tossed away without looking at it. Doc could see that there were many more darts yet to be discovered. Of Stormalong Savage, he had glimpsed no sign.
Withdrawing, Doc returned to the spot where his father and Chicahua crouched.
“Kong is dying,” Doc reported.


Doc Savage: Skull Island, Chapter 47