The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-07-06

4
| gether, being peaceful mates. They sour
/, ried and screamed about the great room
] full of cages. avoiding pursuit with deX
| trous lodging.
When some order had finally been re
| stored, and the firemen were leaving
| Poe Joined the three frightened ANNA
keepers who were counting the recap
| tured monkeys. lemurs. and marmosets
Thank Cod cried one, in German
None of the larger beasts had go
loose If Babo. the ape. or that tigel
over there had got out, Mein Gott
What a scene, What a scene there woult
have been"
One of the keepers dashed of at tina
moment toward the crocodile pond. en-
closed by a low wire fence. The croco'
diles were still in commotion. doubtless
due to the heating of the water in theil
pond and the cement which cropped ou'
dry near the railing. where they some
times lay, half out of water.
A cry came from him as he stopped
before single cage, the door nuns
open, swinging useless.
"Babo" he screamed. "Babo did es'
cape. Where is he?"
The appalled, keepers were dumb
founded: one rushed to the front door
to see if he had gone that way: another
ran Ife liic
chased off toward a gallery at the side,
where a huge Ham adryas baboon. who
had so far escaped notice. chung to a
wall support. uttering explosive, ear
cracking cries. The beasts had by no
means become quiet. A huge leopard
was cringing about his cage with
twitching whiskers, snarling and spit
ting: a great cage of Asiatic owls had
bristled and bulged to thrice their size
IN anger and were hooting horribly. A
sweat-dripping rhinoceros belched forth
an occasional roar that made the build
ing tremble, and two huge crocodiles in
the tank were lashing their tails and
beating about in a frenzy.
Christopher Poe, aroused by the
strange actions of these reptiles, step
ped to the wired Enclosure: one of the
huge pairs of jaws snapped at him as
he approached and the wicked little eyes
set bulgingly at the sides of the head.
cleaned cruelty. Warned back, Poe
stood at a slight distance, looking on at
the fierce foment within the pond. There
were three beasts, one lying close to the
railing. utterly silent, with the usual
malicious, hypocritical smile Of that rep
tile, when its jaws and eyes are shut in
Sleep Strange that it could sleep
through all the commotion. Poe sud-
denly started. Through the head of the
animal, just above one closed eye was
neat round hole. as though made by
bullet of high caliber: as the American
looked close he found that the hole was
full of slow. sluggish blood. clotted at
the top. a little of the thinner fluid drip
ping down the nose of the reptile and
along the scallops of his jaws, damned
as they were in that character
istic grim grin.
that the Eaenpr who had
rushed to the rear came back with big.
frightened eyes and held out a thick
steel window-bar, pointed at one end,
where it had fitted through a hole in the
iron re-enforced masonry. That end of
the rod was coated with thick blood for
six inches upward from the point.
"Babo jumped into the water from the
little hack window. ripped out these
bars" he cried in German. Look, 1t
is blood, He has used it to kill. or has
hurt himself with it,
Poe answered smoothly in the same
tongue. as though it were his Language:
But an ape does not swim il he can
help il. Ach, Colt! / do not know what
to make of it all
How did the fire start?' asked Poe.
THAT l do not know either
He interrupted himself to acquaint
with his discovery his two brother keep
ers, who came running UP. having re-
Gagged the Hamadryas baboon that had
attracted attention to himself by scream
ng from the gallery.
But what kind of an ape was Babo?'
asked Poe, feeling privileged through his
work in assisting with the recaging OF
the monkeys
oh, he was a bad one" said the first
keeper. We haven't had him more than
4 week. He was to be shipped to Amer
ca. He was big brute, four feet high,
an orang-outang; strong enough to twist
off that big lock to his cage, you Will
notice. Weighed 40 pounds Just came
from Borneo, seemed to be half tame,
but vicious; you never can tell about
hose orang-outangs. They bought him
from a native. The largest ever caught:
worth $1,000 or more. 1t will mean our
Jobs, the losing of him.
And here's another little loss" an
;wered Poe. soberly, taking the rod from
he second keeper and pointing to the
3ole in the crocodiles head.
"Mein GottI' cried the head keeper.
he second keeper, and the assistant. in
commiserating chorus.
1t was easy to see how the animal had
,een killed.
"Ach-' cried the head keeper, ..Babo
must nave Oll lOCh, ielcdSeQ
lis monkey friends in the big vivarium. |
nd then leaped for the window in the |
Jack, through which he escaped. He |
must have stumbled over the low fence |
o the sunken pond here; have always |
cared it myself. The crocodile. excited |
y the fire and all, must have snapped |
{ him. and Babo, maddened, struck him /
through the head full force with the
teeI rod he had jerked from the win
ow."
But that means Babo must have
one to the window first and procured
he steel bar" objected Poe. You
ant explain it that way; he wouldn't
e likely to go to the window and take
ut the steel bar and come back to
i'll the crocodile with it."
NO; 1t doesn't seem so. But. ach,"
ried the head keeper. here is an
Their $500 gone. 1t is a rare Asiatic
rocodile; lives only in salt water"
Better hoist it out" warned Poe,
5 the other crocodiles were still LASH
lg about, now and again striking with
leir tails the dead carcass. ''or the
ide won't be worth mounting"
The suggestion was acted upon at
nee, and few minutes later, by the ,
ID Of a pole or two and some rope .
lckle the monster lay without the {
closure.
Poe suddenly found himself alone
eside the ugly form on the floor. :
he keepers had been Interrupted By ;