Year: 1875

and would have faced a dozen OF his
own species without particle Of fear
had circumstances demanded it, but he
felt bitterly incapable of wrestling with
such foe as the one now sitting before
the ruddy chamber fire. after a little
while the creature lifted the infant from
the cradle and placed it with infinite
tenderness upon the hearth.ruG. 1t
then proceeded to make rigid exami-
nation of the chid's limbs, so soft and
plump, and so devoid OF all hrsute de.
coraton. 1t was this fact that probably
amazed and staggered the examiner
most. He no doubt retained some recol-
lection of the young progeny of his own
kith and kin in the days of his liberty
in the distant African forests, but never
before had he gazed upon a little ala
baster form like this. So gently had he'
removed the baby from its cot, and so
consderate did he conduct h is research
es, that its sleep survived the process.
Apparently satisfied in the extreme
with his investigation, the monster
monster with touch SO delicatel-trans-
ferred his attentions to general scru-
| tiny of the chamber in which he now
found himself, without invitation, and
possibly with greater emotions of sur
prise than those experienced by the far
mer. If that could be.


Furniture was certainly novel
spectacle, for in his recent home dead,
leafless tree was the sole decorative ar
ticle and ho now roamed the room with
such look of critical acumen that he
strongly resembled an auctioneer's
clerk taking an inventory of the house,
hold property. The old.fashioned bed
in which the farmer lay, in speechless
suspense, was evide ntly destined to
come last upon the intruder's cata logue
but come it did, and the terrible brute,
exceeding in height the average human
race, and with evidence of innate
strength equally in excess, now stood
at the farmers side. The visitor re-
mained there but moment, yet to the
farmer, who had affected to be sound
asleep, it was no such brief period of
time, All at once timid cry from the
tiny child, who evidently preferred the
coseyness of its cradle to the discom-
forts of the hearth rug, altered the pro-
gramme instantly. The baboon i'm
mediately deserted the father and ran
to the side of the awakened child.


The nurse, from her room above, had
heard the cry, the doors being purpose
ly open, and she prepared to decend
the narrow stairs. But the wretched
father could no longer support the aw-
full tension, in which his nerves had been
held during the last ten minutes, and he
gave vent to a wild ,half-fantic shout.
The monster was terrified and instantly
prepared for escape. He leaped along
the room to the housekeeper's staircase,
where he encountered the unsuspecting
old lady. More than the grim outline
of the brute could not have been visible
in that darkened stairway. The nurse
and the brute appeared to have closed
in fixed embraced, for insthat position
they struggle, and fell to the foot of
the staircase. Then the brute olsen
taugled itself from the old woman's
hold and effected his escape from the
house.


The scene which ensued can scarcely
be imagined. The nurse lay appar-
emily dead upon the ground, and the
farmer stood by her unable at the mo-
ment to render her any assistance. 1t
seemed to him most like horrible dream
but the PROSTATE form of The house.
keeper and the presence of the child
upon the hearth-rug proved too clearly
the substantial reality of the occur
rences.


|
sufficiently to minister to the nurses
requirements he found that her nervous
system had received an irreparable
shock from which she never recovered.
Shepas sed from one horror into another,
AMI never regained enough conscious
neis to understand what her mysterious
antagonist had been.


In the course of the following day the
old woman died. On the morning after
the occurrence of these events diligent
search was made for the missing brute,
whose escape had soon become known
when the keeper commenced his daily
rounds. They had not to search far /.
They found the animal disporting in an
adjoining wood and enjoying to the
fullest extent his regained liberty. 1t
was quite evident that he would not re-
sign that liberty without hard strug>