The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-03-12
CHAPTER l.
In the WiIds.

no business to tell it to me or to
any other. l may credit the Sc
ductive influence Of an old vim
tage upon the narrator for the begin
ming Of it and my own skeptical in
credulity during the days that follow
ed for the balance of the strange tale.
l do not say the story is true, for l
did not witness the happenings which
it portrays.
diary Of a man long dead and the rec
ords Of the colonial office dovetail per-
fectly with the narrative Of my con-
vivial host, and so l give you the story
as l pieced it out from these several
various agencies.
II you do not find it credible, you
will at least be as n with me in ac-
kno wledging that it is unique, remark
able and interesting.
From the records Of the colonial Of
fee and from the dead mans diary we
learn that a certain young English no.
bleman, whom we shall call John Clay
ton. Lord Greystoke. was commission
ed to undertake a peculiarly delicate
investigation of conditions in a British
west coast African colony from whose
natives another European power was
known to be recruiting soldiers for Its
army. which latter it used solely for
the forcible collection Of rubber and
ivory from the savage tribes along the
Kongo and the Aruwimi.
We learn also that on a bright May
morning in 1888 John, Lord G~reystoke,
and his bride. Lady Alice. sailed from
Dover on their way to Africa.
A month later they arrived at Free
town, where they chartered a small
sailing vessel, the Fuwalda, which was
to bear them to their Anal destination.
And here John, Lord Greystoke, and
Lady Alice. his wife. vanished from
the eyes and from the knowledge Of
me
Two months after they weighed an
Choir and cleared from the port OF
Freetown, a half dozen British war
vessels were securing the south Allan
tic for trace Of them or their little YES
sci, and it was almost Immediately that
the wreckage was found upon the
shores Of st. Helena which convinced
the world that the Fuwalda had gone
down with all on board. and thus the
search was stopped ere 1t had scarce
begun.
We know now that the crew of the
Fuwalda mutinied, slew her officers
and spared John Clayton and his wife
because of a favor done to the leader
of the mutineers by Clayton. Later
the crew. fearing discovery. set John
Clayton and his wife ashore on the
wild west coast Of Africa. giving them
sufficient arms and tools to enable
them to maintain life with work.
Near the shore Clayton built a little
cabin for himself and his wife. They
endured much hardship. seeing no hu-
man creature, but watched often by
the giant apes which infest that region.
One day Clayton imprudently left his
wife alone. and she was attacked and
injured by one of the great apes. Clay
ton slew the beast and bore his wife
back to the cabin.
That night a little son was born In
the tiny cabin beside the primeval for
est, while a great tiger screamed be-
fore the door and the deep notes of
the lions roar sounded from beyond
the ridge.
Lady Greystoke never recovered
from the shock of the great apes at
tack, and. though she lived for a year
after her baby was born. she was nev-
er again outside the cabin. nor did she
ever fully realize that she was not in
England.
In other ways she was quite rational.
and The Joy and happiness she tool In
the possession Of her little o and the