Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1917-10-20

the mate and the two sailors who had
arrived with the officers.
In each instance he sighed and passed
on, returning at length to Paulvitch's
side, where he squatted down once
more, thereafter evincing little or. no
interest in any Of the other men and
apparently forgetful of his recent bat
tie with them.
When the party returned aboard the
Marjorie W., Paulvitch was accompa-
MED by the ape, who seemed anxious
to follow him. The captain interposed
no obstacles to the arrangement, and
so the great anthropod was tacitly adj
mitted to membership in the ships
company.
Once aboard lie examined each new
face infinitely. evincing the same dis
appointment in each instance that had
marked his scrutiny of the others.
The officers and scientists aboard Of
ten discussed the beast, but they We're
unable to account satisfactorily for the
strange ceremony With which he greet
ed each new face. Had he been discov-
cred upon the mainland or any other
place than the almost unknown island
that had been his h0me they would
have concluded that he had formerly
been pet of man, but that theory was
not tenable in the face of the isolation
of his uninhabited island.
He seemed continually to be search
ing for some one, and during the first
days of the return voyage from the
leland he was often discovered nosny
about in various parts of the ship, but
after he had seen and examined each
face Of the ships company and explor-
ed every corner of the vessel. he lapsed
into utter indifference of all about him.
Even the Russian ELECTED only casual
interest when he brought him food. AT
other times the ape appeared merely
to tolerate him.
lie never showed affection for him or
FOR anyone else upon the Marjorie w
Nor did he at any time evince any in
dication of the savage temper that hat
marked his resentment of the attack
OF the sailors upon him at the time
mat he had come among them.
Most of his time was spent in the
eye of the ship, scanning the horizon
ahead as though he were endowed
with sufficient reason to know that the
vessel was bound for some port where
there would be other human beings to
undergo his searching scrutiny. All in
ALL Ajax, as he had been dubbed, was
considered the most remarkable and in
telligcnt ape that anyone aboard the
Marjorie w, had ever seen.
Nor was his intelligence the only re-
markable attribute he owned. His
stature and physique We're, for an ape,
awe-iVspring. That he was old was
quite evident, but If his age had i'm
paired his physical or mental powers
in the slightest IT was not apparent.
And so ut length the Marjorie w.
came to England, and there the officers
ana the scientists, filled with compass
sion for the pitiful wreck of man
they had rescued from the jungles, fur
nished Paulvitch with funds and bid
him and Ajax Godspeed.
Upon the dock and all through the
journey to London the Russian had his
hands full with Ajax. Each new face
% the thousands that came within the
anthrnpoid'S ken must be carefully
scrutlnized. much to the horror of many
of his victims. But at last, failing ap-
parently to discover whom he sought,
the great ape relapsed into morbid APP
difference, only occasionally evincing
interest in Il passing face.
In London Paulvitch went directly
with his prize to Il famous animal
trainer. This man was much impressed
with Ajax, with the result that he
agreed to train him for a lions share
of the profits of exhibiting him and in
the meantime to provide for the keep
of both the ape and his owner.
And so came Ajax to London, and
there was forged another link in the
chain OF strange circumstances that
were to affect the liN's of many people.
o.. (TO BE CONTlNUED)
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