Evening star., 1922-02-19

rough voice. and when assented: This
manager for the Jungle Duke. Maybe
you've heard of him."
YES" 1 uttered family. somewhat
taken aback. What about this2s" ;
"Ain't you the cousin Of the scientist
that was murdered?"
Yes"
well, listen here! Me and the Duke
want to see you-bad. The Dukes try
in hard to talk. and he writes that he's
got to see you at once. Wait minute,
now! This amt no press agent stunt -
The mans voice was agonized. prof
fessor. this is straight goods? Wed see
you tonight. only We got to do two act
at the Orpheum and there's big forfeit
clause If We skip a show. Can we come
to your place in the morning"
X X X
HNJY dear Mr.. Scofield," I answered
with a short laugh. I'm not In
the least interested in educated mon-
keys" The words gave me a sudden
twinge. as l thought of my late cousin
81 think that
Don't say no. for Gods sake" cried
the professor you don't know what's
back of this request! I amt intrudin',
mind; it amt me at all. It's the Duke
himself. We read about you in the
papers. He wants to tell you somethin'
terrible bad. If you'll make date
"All right" said. Then. tomorrow
morning.
He uttered a long breath like sigh of
relief, thanked me fervently, and rang
off,
I turned from the instrument. smiling.
OF course, l had heard of the Jungle
Duke! Every one had heard of him. He
had jumped into prominence within the
past fortnight as worlds wonder!
This. gorilla-for such he was-had
appeared under the management of
Professor" Scofield. his educator
Now, this Scofield was a rough, un-
tutored man, yet his protege displayed
most amazing powers. The Jungle
Duke came upon the stage like any
man, walking erect. although not with
out a tendency to drop forward; he not
only handled himself like man through
many tests, such as eating and drink
ing. but he went to a blackboard and
engaged in mathematical work, also
writing English perfectly. Any one from
the audience who asked him questions
at once received an answer correctly
and legibly written on the blackboard.
The inference was that this gorilla
understood English and so forth.
had saep loSa loft flaws
One was that Scofield had hypnotized
tine brute's mental ability and harnessed
it. To this Scofi ield pointed out that he
himself was uneducated: he said that
he had taught the gorilla English, and
that the Jungle Duke had progressed.
that was all. The opinion was that
Scof1eld lied like a trooper, and was
merely playing the part of a rough
neck, in reality controlling the gorilla
by mesmeric power.
And this Jungle Duke was about to
pay me a visit! I laughed, and took
for granted Scofield was working some
publicity dodge Heaven forgive me
for that assumption.
Precisely at 10 on the following morn
ing they arrived. Scofeld, large man
with a red face and an air Of rough
good humor. alighted from a taxicab.
followed by the animal. I was aston
ished to see that, despite his stoop. the
Jungle Duke bore himself well. He was
dressed in tailored morning dress, and
carried a stick very jauntily. He ac-
companied sconeld up the steps, while
the taxi driver stared. and pushed the
electric bell.
My housekeeper admitted them to the
study. where I was waiting. Scofeld
came in first. shook hands vita me, and
then turned to the gorilla, who was
looking at me with unblinking gaze.
"This is Professor Nevill,' he said.
Shake hands. Duke"