, 1916-11-09

ned together. Then n OF them stood
beside Challenger. You'll smile,
young reIlah, but pom my word they
might have been kinsmen. 1 couldn't
have believed 1t il l hadn't seen it with
nv own eyes. This old ape mamie
was their chief-was a sort OF red
Challenger. with every n of our
friends beauty points, only just a trifie
more so. He had the short body. the
big shoulders, the round chest, no neck,
a great ruddy frill of a beard, the tuft-
ed eyebrows, the What do you want.
hang you!' look about the yes and
the whole catalogue. When the ape
man stood by Challenger and put his
paw on his shoulder the thing was
complete. Summerlee was a bit hys-
terical. and he laughed till he cried.
The ape men laughed, too. or at least
they put up the devil of a cacklin', and
they set to work TO drag us of through
the forest. They wouldn't ouch the
guns and things-thought them danger
GUS, | expect-but they carried away
all our loose food. Summerlee and
1 got some rough handlin' on the way
there's M skin and my clothes to
prove it-for they took us a bee line
through the brambles, and their own
hides are like leather. Blu Challenger
was all right. Four of them carried
him shoulder high, and he went Ike a
Roman emperor"
''They got us soon to this town of
theirs, about a thousand huts of
branches and leaves in a great grove
of trees near the edge of the cliff. It's
three or four miles from here. The
filthy beasts fingered me all over, and
] feel as If l should never De clean
again. They tied US up-the fellow
who handled me could tie like a bo'sun
and there we lay with u toes up
beneath a tree while a great brute
stood guard over us with a club in his
hand. When ! say we l mean Sum
merlee and myself. Old Challenger
was up a tree eatin' pines and havin'
the time of his life. I'm bound to say
that he managed to get some fruit to
us, and with his own hands he loos-
ened our bonds. If you'd cen him
sitting up In that tree hobnobbin' with
his twin brother and singin' in that
roIlin' bass Of his, Ring Out, Wild
Bells cause music of any kind seem
ed to put EN- In n good humor, you'd
have smiled. but we weren't in much
mood for laughin', as You can guess.
They were inclined within limits to let
him do what he liked, but they drew
the line pretty sharply at US. 1t was a
mighty consolation to us all to know
that you were runnin' loose and had
the archives in your keepin'.
"Well, now. young fellah, I'll tell
you what will surprise you. You say
you saw signs of men and fires, traps
and the like. Well, we have seen the
natives themselves. Poor devils they
were, down faced little chaps, and had
enough to make them SO. 1t seems
plateau-over yonder, where you a
the caves-and the ape men hold this
side, and there is bloody war between
them all the time. That's the situation
80 far as ! could follow 1t. Well. yes
terday the ape men got hold of a dozen
OF the humans and brought them in as
prisoners. You new heard such a
jabbertn' and shriekin' In your life.
The men were little red fellows and
had been bitten and clawed 50 that
they could hardly walk. The ape men
put two of them to death then and
there-fairly pulled the arm on one of
them-it was perfectly beastly. Plucky
little chaps they are and hardly gave a
squeak. But 1t turned us absolutely
sick. Summarize tainted, and even
Challenger had al much as he could
stand. ! think they have cleared, don't
your
We listened intently, but nothing
ave the calling Of the birds broke the
deep peace Of the forest Lord Roxton
went on with his story.