Manape the Mighty
A COMPLETE NOVELETTE
_By Arthur J. Burks_
CHAPTER I
_Castaway_
_There, the words were written._]
[Sidenote: High in jungle treetops swings young Bentley--his humanbrain imprisoned in a mighty ape.]
Lee Bentley never knew how many others, if any, lived on after the_Bengal Queen_ struck the hidden reef and sank like a stone. He hadonly a hazy memory of the catastrophe, and recalled that when she hadstruck and the alarm had gone rocketing through the great passengerboat--though no alarm was really necessary because she went to piecesso fast--that he had leaped far over the rail and swam straight out,fast, in order to escape being dragged down by the suction of thesinking liner.
The screaming of frightened women and children would ring in his earsuntil the day the grave closed over him--screaming that was made allthe more terrible by the crashing roar of the raging black seas whichcame out of the darkness to make the affair all the more hideous, andto bear down beneath them into the sea the feeble struggling ones whohad no chance for their lives. Lifeboats had been smashed in theirdavits.
Bentley swam straight away after he was satisfied at last that hecould do nothing more. He had helped men and women reach bits ofwreckage until he could scarcely any longer keep his wearied arms tothe task of keeping his own head above water. He knew even as hehelped the white-faced ones that few of them would ever live throughit, but he was doing the best he knew--a man's job.
When absolutely sure that he could do nothing further, when he couldno longer hear cries of distress, or discover struggling forms in thesea which he might aid, he had turned his back on the graveyard ofthe _Bengal Queen_ and had struck for shore. He remembered thedirection, for before sunset that evening, in company with severalship's under officers, he had studied the navigation charts upon whicheach day's run of the _Bengal Queen_ was shown. Ahead of him now wasthe coast of Africa, though what part of it he knew but in the haziestway. He might not guess within a hundred miles.
* * * * *
One thing only he remembered exactly. The second officer had said,apropos of nothing in particular:
"This wouldn't be a happy place to be shipwrecked. This section of thecoast is a regular hangout of the great anthropoid apes. You know,those babies that can pick a man apart as a man would pluck the legsoff a fly."
Bentley had merely grinned. The second officer's remarks had soundedto him as though the fellow had been reading more than his fair shareof lurid fiction of the South African jungles.
However, apes or no apes, the shore would look good to Lee Bentleynow. And he fully intended making it. He knew he could swim for hoursif it became necessary, and he refused to think of the possibility ofsharks. If one got him, well, that was one of the chances one had totake when one was shipwrecked against one's will.
So he alternately swam toward where he expected to find land, andfloated on his back to rest.
"A swell ending to a great life, if I don't make it," he told himself."I wonder how the old man will take it when the world reads that the_Bengal Queen_ went down with all on board? He'll be relieved, maybe,for he was about ready to wash his hands of me if I can read signs atall."
* * * * *
It might be said that Bentley was his own worst critic, for he reallywas not a bad sort of a fellow. He was a good American, over-educatedperhaps, with a yen to delve into forbidden places usually avoided byhis own kind, and of digging into books which were better left withthe pages unturned. There were strange ruins in Africa, he knew. Hehad gathered a weird fund of information from such books as he couldunearth relative to ancient ruins and vanished races, to the luridaccounts of strange deaths of the various scientists who had takenactive part in the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamen.
There were queer things in the heart of darkest Africa, and suchthings intrigued him. He could take whatever chances with his life hesaw fit, for his only relative was a father, and he had never attachedhimself to any woman nor permitted any woman to attach herself tohim--because he could never be sure that her interest might notprimarily be in his bank account.
"If, as, and when," he told himself as he rode the waves through thenight, "I reach the coast I'll be tossed into black Africa in a way Iwas not expecting. Anyway, if I live through, I can at least go aboutmy work without the governor interfering. I only hope it won't be hardon the old fellow. He isn't a bad egg at all, and I guess I have givenhim plenty to think about and worry over."
He turned on his stomach again and struck out. He had managed to ridhimself of all of his clothing except his underwear. They had onlyweighed him down, and he recalled, with a wry grin, that Africa as awhole went in but little for the latest in men's sport wear.
* * * * *
It must have been a good hour since he had lost the _Bengal Queen_back there in the raging deep, that he heard the faint call throughthe murk.
"Help, for God's sake!"
He listened for a repetition of the call, minded to believe that hisears had tricked him. He fancied it had been a woman's voice, but nowoman could have lived so long in those raging seas, in which anymoment Bentley himself expected to be overwhelmed. For himself heregarded death more or less philosophically, but a woman out there,crying for help, was a different matter entirely. It tore at hisheartstrings, mostly because he realized his inability to be ofmaterial assistance.
He was sure that he had been mistaken about the cry, when it cameagain.
"For God's sake, help!"
It came from his left and this time it was unmistakable, piteous andunnerving. Lee Bentley had the horrible fear that he would never reachher in time to help--though what help he could give, when he couldbarely manage to keep himself afloat, he could not forsee.
He was swimming down the side of a monster wave. He could seesomething white in the trough, and he struggled manfully to makeheadway, while the angry waters tossed him about like a bit of corkand seemed bent on defeating his most furious efforts. He saw the bitof white ride high on the next wave, pass over it and vanish. He divedstraight through the wave as it towered over him. He came up, gasping,his hands all but clutching at a pair of hands that reached out of thewaters and grasped with a last desperate effort at the sky.
Ahead of the hands was a broken piece of oar. Those hands had justdespairingly relinquished their grip on the one chance of safety, ifany chance there could possibly be in that mad midnight waste.
He pulled on the wrists and a white face came to view. Wild, staringeyes looked into his. Black hair flowed back from a face whose lipswere blue and thin.
"Take it easy," he counseled. "Turn on your back and rest while I seeif I can get back your life-boat."
* * * * *
He captured the oar, and found it practically useless to sustain anyappreciable weight, but he clung to it because it was at least betterthan nothing at all. It had held the girl afloat for over an hour andmight be made to serve again somehow. With his left hand under thewoman's head and his right grasping the oar he turned on his back toregain his breath. He was deep in the water because the woman was nowalmost on top of him; but her face was above water. He knewinstinctively that she had fainted, and he was a little glad. If shewere the usual hysterical woman her fighting would drown them both. Asa dead weight she was easier to handle.
They drifted on, and hope began to mount high in the heart of LeeBentley--the hope that they might yet reach land. When, hours later,he could hear the roaring of breakers he was sure of it--if thebreakers could be passed in safety. After that their fate was in thelap of the gods.
The girl too must have heard, for she turned at last in Bentley's armsand began to swim for herself. She was a strong swimmer and the periodduring which she had been out of things had revived her amazingly. Sheeven managed a smile as she swam beside Bentley into the creamybreakers behind whi
ch they could make out the blackness of shore.
They were so close together that at times their hands touched as theyswam, and could make themselves heard by dint of shouting, though theyboth husbanded their strength and their breathing for swimming.
"I'm not dressed for company," he told her. "I left my tuxedo aboardthe _Bengal Queen_!"
It was then that her lips twisted into a smile.
"I wouldn't even allow my maid into my stateroom if I were dressed asI am at the moment," she answered strongly, "but we're both grown up Ithink, and there are times when conventions go by the board. We'llpretend it doesn't matter!"
Then mutually helping each other they fought through the breakers intothe calmer water behind, and managed at last to stand in water hipdeep, with the undertow dragging at their limbs. They looked at eachother and clasped hands without a word. They strode to the sandy beachbeyond which the jungle reached away to some invisible horizon, andcontinued on until they were at last beyond the reach of the waves.
* * * * *
They did not look at each other again, though Bentley did notice thather garb was as scanty almost as his own, consisting mostly of a slipwhich the water had pasted fast against her flesh. Beyond noting thatshe seemed to be young, Bentley did not intrude. Nor did he think ofthe future. It was enough for the moment that they had escaped themight of angry Neptune, god of the seas.
They dropped to the sands side by side, and the sands were warm. Thatthe jungle behind them might be alive with wild beasts they did notpause to consider. Bentley had gazed at the jungle a moment beforedropping down.
He had noticed but one thing--a moving light somewhere among thetangled mass, a light as of a monster firefly erratically dartingthrough the deeper gloom.
The girl--he had noted she was as much girl as woman--dropped to thesand and stretched herself out. Bentley looked about him for amoment, just now realizing what he had been through. Then he droppeddown beside the girl, and put one arm over her protectively, aninstinctive movement. The two were alone in an alien world, and eventhis slight contact gave Bentley a feeling of companionship he foundat the time peculiarly appealing.
The girl was in a drugged sort of sleep, but she stirred at the touchof his arm, and her hand came up so that her fingertips touched hischeek.
He slept heavily, while outside on the raging deep the storm swept onalong the coast, bearing with it the secret of the rest of those whoonly last night had looked forward to a pleasant voyage aboard the_Bengal Queen_.
The last thought in Bentley's mind was of that flickering light he hadseen. It was not important, but memory of it clung, and followed himinto his sleep with his dreams--in which he seemed to be following adarting, erratic light through a jungle without end.
He wakened with the sun burning his face and torso, and turned on hisstomach with a groan. The heat ate into his back unbearably and hefinally sat up, rubbed his eyes and stared out to sea. Then it allcame back and he looked about him for the girl. She had disappeared.
He rose to his feet and shouted.
An answering cry came back to him, and after a moment the girlappeared around a bend in a shoreline where she had been masked by awall of the jungle and came toward him. She was carrying something inher hands. When she stood at last before him he noted that she carrieda bundle of cloth that was dripping wet.
"We need something to cover us," she said simply. "I was tempted togarb myself, but I did not wish to seem like a simpering prudishfemale, which I'm not at all. So I brought my findings here so that wecould get together and fix up something to protect us from the sun."
"You're a sensible woman," said Bentley. "I've never understood whypeople should be so sensitive about their bodies. Mine isn't bad andyours, if you'll pardon me, is superb. That's not a compliment, just astatement of fact--which will help us to understand each other better.I've a hunch we're going to be some time in each other's company andwe may as well know things about each other. My name's Lee Bentley."
"Mine is Ellen Estabrook."
Solemnly they shook hands. And their hands clung convulsively, for asthough their handshake had been a signal there came a strange soundfrom the jungle behind them.
A burst of laughter that was plainly human--and another sound whichcaused the short hair at the base of Bentley's skull to rise, shiftoddly, and settle back again.
The sound was like the beating of a skin-tight drumhead by the fistsof a jungle savage. But if such it was the drum was a mighty drum, andthe savage was a giant, for the sound went rolling through the junglelike an invisible tidal wave of sound.
Both the laughter and the drumming ceased as suddenly as they hadsounded.
The man and woman laughed jerkily, dropped to the sand side by sideand considered the necessity of clothes.
CHAPTER II
_Into the Jungle_
They had to smile together at the results achieved with the bedraggledbits of cloth. Bentley suspected that they had been taken from bodieswashed ashore as gruesome reminders of the catastrophe which hadbefallen the _Bengal Queen_, and because he did suspect this he didnot ask questions that might cause Ellen to remember any longer thanwas necessary. Not that he doubted her courage, for she had provedthat sufficiently; and she had proved that she was sensible, with noneof the notions of the proprieties which would have made any other girlof Bentley's acquaintance a nuisance.
Their next concern was food, which they must find in the jungle, orfrom other wreckage cast ashore from the _Bengal Queen_. Now, hand inhand--which seemed natural in the circumstances--they began to walkalong the shore, heading into the north by mutual consent.
As they walked Bentley kept pondering on that strange laughter he hadheard and on the sound of savage drumming. The laughter puzzled him.If there were anyone in the jungle back of them, why had he or theyfailed to challenge them?
As for the drumming sound--Bentley remembered what the second officerhad said about this section of the coast. It was a bit of jungleinhabited by the great apes in large numbers. So, that drumming hadbeen a challenge, the man-ape's manner of mocking an enemy by beatinghimself on his barrel chest with his huge fists. But that the ape hadnot been challenging Bentley and the girl Bentley felt quite sure, asthe brute would certainly have shown himself in that case.
They trudged on through the sand, while the sun beat down unmercifullyon their uncovered heads. Ellen Estabrook strode along at Bentley'sside without complaint.
* * * * *
After perhaps an hour of this unbearable effort, when both felt asthough the sun had sucked them dry of perspiration, they encountereda rough footpath leading into the jungle. The path suggested humanhabitation somewhere near. The inhabitants might be hostile natives,even cannibals perhaps, but in this unknown land they would have totake a chance on that.
With a sigh of relief, and refusing to look ahead too far, or try toguess what lay in wait for them in the black mystery of the jungle,they turned into the footpath. The jungle was fetid and sweaty, buteven this was a relief from the intolerable sun which could not reachthem here because the jungle had closed its leafy arms over the trailinstantly. One could not tell from the path whether it had been madeby natives or by whites, for it was packed hard. It led straight awayfrom the shoreline.
"We'll have to keep a sharp lookout for possible poisoned springdarts, Ellen," said Bentley.
"I'm not afraid, Lee," she answered stoutly. "Fate wouldn't allow usto come through what we have only to end things with poisoned darts.It just couldn't happen that way!"
Thus simply they addressed each other. It seemed as though years hadbeen squeezed into a matter of hours. They knew each other as well asthey would, in other circumstances, have known each other after a yearof constant association. Here barriers of conventions were razed assimply and naturally as among children.
* * * * *
They had pressed well into the gloom of the jungle when the
firstsound came.
Not the laughter they had heard before, but the drumming. It was aheadand somewhat to the left, and as they stopped without speaking theycould distinctly hear the threshing of a huge body through theunderbrush. The sound seemed to be approaching and for a minute or sothey listened. Then the sound was repeated off to the right, a triflefurther away.
"Can you climb, Ellen?" asked Bentley simply. "This section is filledwith anthropoid apes, according to the second officer of the _BengalQueen_. We may have to take to the trees."
"I can climb," she said, "but from what I've studied of the habits ofthese brutes they do a great deal of bluffing before they actuallycharge, and may not molest us at all if we pay no attention."
Bentley felt almost nude because he had no weapons save his own fists.And he would not have admitted even to himself how deeply he wasconcerned over the girl. As far as he knew, this section might beentirely uninhabited. It might be given over entirely to theanthropoids. In this case he shuddered to think of what might happento Ellen Estabrook if he were slain.
He quickened his pace until Ellen kept stride with him withdifficulty. The object uppermost in Bentley's mind was to get as faraway as possible from the ominous drumbeats.
They rounded a bend in the trail and stopped stock-still.
Within fifty yards of them, blocking the trail, was a brute whosegreat size sent a thrill of horror through Bentley. It towered to theheight of a big man, and must have weighed in the neighborhood of fourhundred pounds. It was larger by far than any bull ape Bentley hadseen in captivity.
It had been waiting for them, silently, with almost human cunning; butnow that it was discovered the shaggy creature rose to his hind legsand screamed a challenge, at the same time striking his chest withblows of his hairy fists which rolled in a dull booming of soundthrough the jungle. At the same time the creature moved forward.
* * * * *
Bentley whirled to run, his hand clasping tighter the hand of EllenEstabrook. But they had not retreated ten steps down the pathway whentheir way was blocked by another of the great shaggy brutes. And theycould hear others on both sides.
Bentley's face was chalk-white as he turned to the girl. Her calmacceptance of their predicament, an attitude in which he could read noslightest vestige of fear, helped him to regain control of his ownnerves, which had threatened to send him into a panic. She evensmiled, and Lee felt a trifle ashamed of himself.
Now the crashing sounds were closing in. The two brutes before andbehind on the trail were pressing in upon them. But no generalheadlong charge had yet begun. Bentley looked around him, seeking atree with limbs low enough for them to reach and thus climb to safety.
"There's one!" cried Ellen. Tugging at his hand she began to run.
At the same moment the great apes bellowed and charged.
But the charge was never finished, for through the drumming of theirmighty fists on mighty barrel-like chests, through the sound of theircharge, through the crackling underbrush came again that sound oflaughter. There was fierce joy in the laughter, and the laughter wasfollowed by words of a strange gibberish which Bentley could notrecall as being from any language he had ever heard.
The great apes paused. Out of the jungle to the right of the fugitivesburst a white man. He was well past middle age, for his white hairhung almost to his shoulders, which were stooped with the weight ofyears. He was a wisp of a man whose smooth shaven face was apple-red.His eyes were black and expressionless as obsidian, and when Leeencountered the full gaze of them he was conscious of that feelingwhich he had experienced at various times in his life when he knewthat some deadly reptile was close by.
"Stand still a moment!" cried the old man. His voice was strangelyhigh-pitched and cracked.
* * * * *
From his right hand a whip with a long lash uncurled like a snake.
This he swung back and hurled to the front, and the snap of it waslike a pistol shot. The great ape on the path ahead cowered back,bearing his fangs, roaring in anger. But that he feared the whip ofthe old man was plain to be seen. The crashing sound in the jungledied away rapidly, immediately the first report of the whip lashsounded in the trail.
Fearlessly the little man dashed upon the first of the great brutesthe castaways had seen. His lash curled about the great beast's body,and the animal bellowed with pain. It clawed at the lash, but was notfast enough to capture it. In the end the brute broke and fled.
The animal which had blocked their path in the rear had alreadydisappeared.
Now the little man came back to face the fugitives, and his lips wereparted in a cordial smile. He coiled his whip and tucked it under hisarm. He was dressed in well worn corduroy with high boots that wererather the worse for wear. Bentley saw that his lips were toored--like blood--and somehow he disliked the man instantly.
"Welcome to Barterville," said the old man. "It has been years since Ihave seen any of my own kind. People avoid this section of thejungle."
"I don't wonder," said Bentley, sighing deeply with relief. "Thosebrutes would make anybody keep away from here, if they knew aboutthem. I thought they had us for a few minutes. They planned an ambushalmost as well as human beings could have done it--but that's absurdof course, merely a coincidence."
* * * * *
"Coincidence?" snapped the old man, a hint of asperity in his words."Coincidence? I see you do not know the great apes, sir. I have alwaysmaintained that apes could be trained to do anything men can do. Ihave maintained that they have a language of their own, and even waysof communicating without words, a sort of jungle writing which men ofcourse have never yet learned. I've devoted my life to learning thesecrets of the great apes, their life histories, and so forth. I amProfessor Caleb Barter!"
"Professor Caleb Barter!" ejaculated Ellen Estabrook. "Why I've heardof him! He went on an expedition among the great apes ten years agoand was never heard of again."
"I am Caleb Barter," said the old man. "I decided to disappear fromthe world I knew, to let other fool scientists think me dead in orderthat I might continue my investigations without molestation. And now Ihave almost reached the place where I can go back to civilization withinformation that will startle the world. There yet remains oneexperiment. Now I hope to make that experiment. No! No! Don't ask mewhat it is. It is my secret and nobody will ever wrest it from me."
Bentley studied the old man. He seemed slightly demented, Bentleythought, but that might be merely the mental evolution of a man whohad made a hermit of himself for so many years--if this chap actuallywere Professor Barter.
"Professor Barter," went on Ellen, "was the scientific leader of hisday. Others followed where he led. He made greater strides in surgeryand medicine, and in unravelling the mysteries of evolution, thananyone else up to his time. Of course I believe you are ProfessorBarter. My name is Ellen Estabrook, and this gentleman is Lee Bentley.We believe ourselves to be the only survivors of the _Bengal Queen_.Perhaps you can lead us to food and water?"
"Yes, oh yes! Indeed. One forgets how to be hospitable, I fear. I amsorry to hear there was a wreck and that lives were lost--but it maymean a great gain to the world of science. I am happier to see youthan you can possibly know!"
* * * * *
Bentley felt the cold chills racing along his spine as he listened tothe old man's flow of words. He behaved well, but Bentley could feelin spite of that, that there was a hidden current of menace in the oldman's behavior. He wished that Ellen would keep him talking, wouldsomehow make sure of his identity. Perhaps the same thought was in hermind, for it had scarcely come to him when the girl spoke again.
"Before he disappeared Professor Barter wrote a learned treatise on--"
"I am Professor Barter, I tell you, young woman. But if you wish proofthe title of the treatise was 'The Language of the Great Apes.'"
Ellen turned quickly to Bentley and nodded. She was sa
tisfied that theman was the person he claimed to be. He didn't ask how Ellen happenedto know about him, and Bentley himself considered the proof entirelylacking in conclusiveness. Anyone might know about the last treatiseof Barter.
However, they could but await developments.
They followed Barter along the trail. Now and again apes challengedfrom the jungle, and Barter answered them with that strange laughterof his, or with a flow of gibberish that was like nothing human.
Bentley shivered. Barter, by his laughter, was identifying himself tothe great anthropoids. But with his gibberish was he actuallyconversing with them?
"This experiment of yours," said Bentley when the period of silencebecame unbearable, "--won't you tell us about it?"
The old man cackled.
"You'll know all about it--soon! You'll know everything, but thesecret will still rest with Caleb Barter. Do not be too curious, myfriends."
"We are anxious to reach civilization, Professor," said Bentley,deciding to be placative with the old man. "Perhaps you can arrangefor guides for us?"
Barter laughed.
"I could not permit you to leave me for some time," he said. "I wantyou to witness my experiment. The world would never believe me withoutthe evidence of reliable witnesses."
Barter laughed again.
* * * * *
They entered a clean clearing which was a riot of flowers. At thefurther edge was a log cabin of huge proportions. The whole thing hada decidedly homely appearance, but it was a welcome sight to thecastaways. There were cages in which strange birds chattered shrillyin their own language at sight of the three. A pair of tame monkeyschased each other on the roof of the house, whose corners were almosthidden by climbing vines whose growth one could almost see.
Barter led the way at a swift walk across the clearing and into thehouse.
Bentley gasped. Ellen Estabrook exclaimed with pleasure.
The reception room was as neat as though it received the hourlyattentions of a fussy housewife. It was cozily furnished, yet it wasevident that the furniture had been made on the spot of rough woodand skins of various animals. Deep skin rugs covered the floor andwalls. There were three doors giving off of the reception room, allthree of which were closed.
"You are not married?" he asked the two.
"No!" snapped Bentley.
"That center door leads to your room, Bentley. The one next to it isfor the young lady. The other door? Ah, the other door my friends!That door you must never open. But to make sure that curiosity doesnot overcome caution, let me show you!"
* * * * *
They followed him to the door. He swung it open.
Both visitors started back and a gasp of terror burst from the lips ofEllen Estabrook. Beads of perspiration burst forth on Bentley.
They saw a huge room. In one corner was a bed. The other held a greatcage--and in the cage was an anthropoid ape larger even than the greatbrute they had met on the trail!
Barter laughed. He stepped into the room, uncoiled his whip and hurledthe lash at the cage. A great bellowing roar fairly shook the house,while the brute tore at the bars which held him prisoner until thewhole massive cage seemed to dance. Barter laughed and continued togoad him.
"Barter," yelled Bentley, "stop that! If that beast should ever happenaccidentally to get free he'd tear you to pieces!"
"I know," said Barter grimly, "and that's part of the experiment! Nowwe shall eat, and you, young lady, shall tell me what other foolscientists had to say about me after I disappeared--to escape theirparrot-like repeating of my discoveries!"
Bentley started to offer protest as Barter began preparation for themeal, which obviously was to be taken in the room which held the cageof the giant anthropoid, but Ellen put her fingers to her lips andshook her head. Her eyes were dancing with excitement.
CHAPTER III
_A Night of Horror_
The meal consisted of various fruits, some meat which Bentley couldnot identify, and wild honey which was delicious. The bread tastedqueer but was distinctly edible. The castaways ate ravenously, buteven as he ate Bentley noticed that Ellen's face was chalky pale, andthat in spite of a distinct effort of will she simply had to look atintervals toward the great beast in the cage.
Caleb Barter sat with his back to the animal. Bentley sat at the leftof the old scientist, Ellen Estabrook at his right. The great beastwas quiet now, but he squatted within his prison and his red-rimmedeyes swerved from one person to the other in the room with a peculiarintentness.
"I'd swear that beast can almost read our thoughts!" ejaculatedBentley at last, after he had somewhat sated his appetite.
Barter smiled with those too-red lips of his.
"He can--almost. You'd be surprised to know how nearly human the greatapes are, and how nearly human this particular one is. Ah!"
"What do you mean, this particular one?" asked Bentley curiously. "Hedoesn't look any different to me from the others I've seen except thathe is far and away the largest."
"I don't see why you should be so curious," said Barter testily. "It'snone of your business you know--yet."
"What do you mean?" demanded Bentley, nettled by Barter's tone.
"Lee, hush," said Ellen. "Professor Barter is not on trial for anycrime."
Bentley looked at her in hurt surprise, inclined to be angry with herfor the tone she was taking, but he saw such a look of appeal in hereyes that he choked back the words that rushed to his lips forutterance. He was decidedly on edge, more, he felt, than he shouldhave been despite what they had gone through. When their eyes met hesaw her glance quickly toward the ape, and noted a frown of worrybetween her brows.
* * * * *
Bentley glanced at the ape. The brute now was staring at the girl in away that made Bentley's flesh crawl. It was preposterous of course,but he had the feeling, something which seemed to flow out of thatmighty cage like some evil emanation from a dank tarn, that the apeknew the girl's sex--and that he desired her! It was horrible in theextreme to contemplate, yet Bentley knew when he glanced swiftly atthe girl that she had sensed the same thing and was fighting to keepthe natural horror she felt at such a ghastly thought from beingnoticeable. It was absurd. The ape was a prisoner. But....
"Professor Barter," said Bentley, "you're accustomed to being withthis brute, but it isn't so nice for us, especially for MissEstabrook."
Barter now frowned angrily.
"My dear Bentley," he said with that odd testiness which he hadassumed toward Bentley before, "I refuse to have any interference withmy experiment. This is part of it."
"You mean--" began Bentley.
"I mean that I'm training that ape--I call him Manape--to behave likehuman beings. How better can he learn than by watching our behavior?"
"Just the same," said Bentley, "I don't like it."
"It's all right, Lee," said Ellen quickly. "I don't mind."
But Bentley knew that it wasn't all right, and that she did mind,terribly.
* * * * *
Barter finished eating. Bentley had noticed that despite the longyears he had been a virtual hermit, Barter ate as fastidiously as heprobably had done when he had lived among his own kind. He pushed backhis chair with a swift movement.
Instantly the roaring of Manape rang through the room. The great bruterose to his full height and grasped the bars of his cage, shaking themwith savage fury. He glared at his master and bestial rage glitteredfrom his red-rimmed eyes. He was a horrible sight. Ellen Estabrook,with no apology, stepped around the table and crouched wide-eyed inthe arm of Lee Bentley.
"Lee," she said, "I'm terribly afraid. I almost wish we had trustedourselves in the jungle."
"I'll look out for you," he whispered, as Barter turned his attentionto the great ape.
But Bentley was watching the animal. So was Barter. The eyes of thescientist were shining like coals of fire. For the moment he app
earedto have forgotten his guests.
"It is a success!" he cried. "As far as it goes, I mean!"
What did Barter mean? Seeking some answer to the enigma, Bentleystudied the ape anew. Now he was positive of another thing: Manape wasscarcely concerned with Barter, whom he appeared to hate with anutterly satanic hatred. His beady eyes were staring at Bentleyinstead!
"The brute is jealous of me!" thought Bentley. "Good God, what does itmean, anyway?"
Barter turned back to them and all at once became the genial host.
"Shall we return to the other room?" he asked politely.
* * * * *
It was a relief to the castaways to put that awful room behind them.Barter closed and barred the door with deliberate slowness.
Why had this old man shut himself away from civilization like this?How long had he held this great ape in captivity? What was the purposeof it? What experiment was he performing? What part of it had thecastaways been witnessing that they had not recognized? Bentley,recalling the distinct impression that the ape had stared at Ellenalmost with the eyes of a lustful man, and had even appeared to bejealous of him because the girl had gone into his arms--Bentley felt ashiver of revulsion course through him as it struck him now how_human_ the regard and the jealousy of the creature had been!
He felt like clutching at the girl and racing with her into thehazards of the jungle. But he remembered the anthropoids out there,and Barter's peculiar domination of the brutes.
Barter was now watching the two with interest, studying them in turnspeculatively, unmindful of the impertinence of his studious regardand silence.
"I have it!" he said. "Will you two be good enough to excuse me? Youwill need rest, I am sure. I am going away for a little time, but Ishall return shortly after dark. Make yourselves at home. Butremember--don't enter that room!"
"You need not worry," said Bentley grimly. "I sincerely hope we takeour next meal in some other room."
Barter laughed and passed out of the door without a backward glance.
From the jungle immediately afterward came the drumming of the greatapes, and now and again the laughter of Barter--high-pitched at first,but dying away as Barter apparently moved off into the jungle.
* * * * *
"Ellen," said Bentley quickly, "I don't know what's going on here, butI'm sure it's something sinister and awful. Let's take a look at ourrooms. If there isn't a door between them which can be left open,then you'll have to spend the night in my room while I remain awake onguard."
"I was thinking of the same thing, Lee," she whispered. "This placegives me the horrors. Barter's association with the apes is a terriblething."
Hand in hand they stepped to the door Barter had designated as that ofEllen Estabrook's. Bentley opened it cautiously, heaving a sigh ofrelief to find it empty. He scarcely knew what he had expected. Therewas a connecting door between the two rooms, open, and they peeredinto the chamber Bentley was to occupy.
Back they came to her room, to stand before a window which gave onto ashadowed little clearing in the rear of the cabin.
"Look!" whispered Ellen.
There was a single mound of earth, with a white cross set over it, onwhich was the single word: Mangor.
It might have been a word in some native dialect. It might have beensome native's name. It might have been anything, but, whatever it was,it added to the sinister atmosphere which seemed to hang like an evilmist over the home of Caleb Barter.
"That settles it, Ellen," he said. "You'll spend the night in myroom."
Ellen retired in Bentley's room, closing the door which led to theadjoining room, and Bentley walked back and forth in the receptionroom, waiting for Barter to return. When darkness fell he lighted thelamps he had previously located. Their odor caused him to guess thatthe fuel they used was some sort of animal fat. In the strange glowfrom the lamps, his shadow on the walls, as he walked to and fro, wasgrotesque, terrible--and at times a grim reminder of the great apes.It caused him to consider how, after all, human beings were akin togorillas and chimpanzees. Somehow, now, it was a horrible thought.
* * * * *
The night wore on and Bentley's stride became faster. Now and again hepeered into the girl's room. She was sleeping the sleep of utterexhaustion and he did not waken her. Bentley felt it was near midnightwhen Barter returned, his return heralded by a strange commotion inthe clearing, and the frightful drumming of the great apes--or atleast _one_ great ape. Bentley shuddered as the animal behind thelocked door answered the drumming challenge with a drumming thunder ofhis own.
Barter came in, and Bentley accosted him at once.
"See here, Barter," he began. "I don't like it here. There's somethingstrange going on in this clearing. Miss Estabrook and I wish to leaveimmediately in the morning! And that grave behind the cabin, who orwhat is it?"
Barter studied the almost trembling Bentley for all of a minute.
"That grave?" he said at last, with silken softness. "It's the graveof a jungle savage. He died in the interest of science. As for you,you'll leave here when I bid you, and not before, understand? I've aguardian outside that would tear both of you limb from limb."
But Bentley caught and held fast to certain words the scientist hadspoken.
"The savage died in the interest of science?" he said. "What do youmean?"
Barter smiled his red-lipped smile.
"I took the savage and Manape, who wasn't called Manape then, andadministered an anesthetic of my own invention. You've heard that Iwas a master of trephining? No matter if you haven't heard, the wholeworld will know soon! While the native and the ape were underanesthesia I transferred their brains. I put the black man's brain inthe skull pan of the ape, and the ape's brain in that of the savage.The ape lived--and he is Manape. The savage, with the ape's brain,died, and I buried him in that grave you asked about!"
* * * * *
With a cry of horror Bentley turned and fled from Barter as though theman had been His Satanic Majesty himself. He entered the room withEllen and barred the door behind him. He likewise barred the doorwhich led to that other room. Now in total darkness it was all hecould do from clambering on the bed where Ellen slept, and begging herto touch him--anything--if only to prove to him that there still weresane creatures left in a mad world.
Outside Barter laughed.
"Oh, Bentley," he called after a long interval of silence, "do youlike the odor of violets? Goodnight, and pleasant dreams!"
What had Barter meant?
Again assuring himself that the connecting door could not be opened ifanything or anybody tried to enter that way, Bentley flung himselfdown before the door which gave on the reception room. He had nointention of sleeping. But in spite of himself he dozed off, though hefought against sleep with all his will.
Strange, but as he gradually slipped away into unconsciousness he wascognizant of the odor of violets--like invisible tentacles whichreached through the very door and wrapped themselves gently about him.
His last conscious thought was of Manape, the ape with the brain of ajungle savage. But in spite of the vague feeling of horror he couldnot fight off the desire for sleep.
CHAPTER IV
_Grim Awakening_
Bentley returned to consciousness with a dull headache. He rose to asitting posture and looked dully about him. Dimwittedly he tried torecall all that had passed since he had last been awake. He knew hehad gone to sleep under the door in the room where Ellen had slept.Yet he was not there now. He peered about him.
He recognized the room.
Yonder was the table where they had eaten last night, or yesterdayafternoon. Yonder was the bed he guessed Barter customarily used, andhe shuddered a little as he fancied a man sleeping in the same roomwith that ghastly travesty which was neither ape nor human--Manape.The creature's name was simple, being simply "man" and "ape" joinedtogether to fit the creature
perfectly--too perfectly. Barter's bedhad been slept in, but Barter was nowhere to be seen. Where was he?How came Bentley in this room? Barter had forbidden him to enter theplace at all, on any pretext whatever. Had he walked in his sleep,drawn by some freak of his subconscious mind into the room of Manape?
Slowly, afraid to look yet forced by something outside himself, heturned his eyes toward the corner where the beast's cage was.
The cage was empty!
The door of it was open!
Stunned by his discovery, wondering what had happened during thenight, Bentley looked about him. He noticed the long narrow table atthe end of the cage, and the white covering it bore. He recognized itinstantly as an operating table, and wondered afresh.
Where was Barter?
* * * * *
Bentley raised his voice to shout the scientist's name. But before hecould himself recognize the syllables of the scientist's name, throughthe whole room rang the bellowing challenge of a giant anthropoid ape.Bentley cowered down fearfully and looked around him. Where was theape that had uttered that frightful noise? The sound had broken inthat very room, yet save for himself the room was empty.
Bentley turned his head as he heard someone fumbling with the door.
Barter entered, and his face was a study as his eyes met those ofBentley. Bentley noticed that Barter held that whip in his hand,uncoiled and ready for action.
What was this that Barter was saying?
"I warn you, Bentley, that if anything happens to me you are doomed.If I am killed it means a horrible end for you."
Bentley tried to answer him, tried to speak, but something appeared tohave gone wrong with his vocal cords, so that all that came from hislips was a senseless gibberish that meant nothing at all. He recalledthe odor of violets, Barter's enigmatic good-night utterance withreference to violets, and wondered if their odor, stealing into theroom where he had gone on guard over Ellen, had had anything to dowith paralyzing his powers of speech.
"I see you haven't discovered, Bentley," said Barter after a moment ofsearching inspection of Bentley. "Look at yourself!"
Surprised at this puzzling command, Bentley slowly looked down at hischest. It was broad and hairy, huge as a mighty barrel, and his armshung to the floor, the hands half closed as though they graspedsomething. Horror held Bentley mute for a moment. Then he raised hiseyes to Barter, to note that the scientist was smiling and rubbing hishands with immense satisfaction.
* * * * *
Bentley started across the floor toward a mirror near Barter's bed. Herefused to let his numbed brain dwell upon the instant recognition ofhis manner of progress. For he moved across the floor with a peculiarrolling gait, aiding his stride with the bent knuckles of his handspressed against the floor.
He fought against the horror that gripped him. He feared to look intothe mirror, yet knew that he must. He reached it, reared to his fullheight, and gazed into the glass--at the reflection of Manape, thegreat ape of the cage!
Instantly a murderous fury possessed him. He whirled on Barter, toscream out at the man, to beg him to explain what had happened, whythis ghastly hallucination gripped him. But all he could do wasbellow, and smash his mighty chest with his fists, so that the soundwent crashing out across the jungle--to be answered almost at once bythe drumming of other mighty anthropoids outside, beyond the clearingwhich held the awful cabin of Caleb Barter.
He started toward Barter, still bellowing and beating his chest. Hisone desire was to clutch the scientist and tear him limb from limb,and he knew that his mighty arms were capable of ripping the scientistapart as though Barter had been a fly.
"Back, you fool!" snarled Barter. "Back, I say!"
The long lash of the whip cracked like a revolver shot, and the lashcurled about the chest and neck of Bentley. It ripped and tore like ahot iron. It struck again and again. Bentley could not stand the awfulbeating the scientist was giving him. In spite of all his power hefound himself being forced back and back.
* * * * *
He stepped into the cage, cowered back against its side. Barter dartedin close, shut the door and fastened it. Then he stood against thebars, grinning.
"Nod your head if you can understand me, Bentley," he said.
Bentley nodded.
"I told you I would yet prove to the world the greatness of CalebBarter," said the scientist. "And you will bear witness that what Ihave to tell is true. Would you like to know what I have done?"
Again, slowly and laboriously, Bentley nodded his shaggy head.
Barter grinned.
"Wonderful!" he said. "You see, you are now Manape. Yesterday you hadthe brain of a black man, and to exchange your brain with Manape's ofyesterday would not have served my purpose in the least. So I had tofind an ape of more than average intelligence. That's why I spent somuch time in the jungle yesterday. I needed a brain to put in the bodyof Lee Bentley's--an ape's brain. Your body is a healthy one and I didnot think it would die as the savage's did. I was right. It is doingsplendidly. It would interest you to see how your body behaves with anape's brain to direct it. Your other self, whom I call Apeman, isunusually handsome. Miss Estabrook, however, who does not know whathas happened, has taken a strange dislike to the other you! Splendid!I shall study reactions at first hand that will astound the world!
"But remember, whatever your fine brain dictates that you do, don'tever forget that I am the only living person who can put you to rightsagain--and if I die before that happens, you will continue on, tillyou die, as Manape!"
* * * * *
Barter stopped there. Bentley stiffened.
From the room where he knew Ellen Estabrook to be came her voice,raised high in a shout of fear.
"Lee! Please! I can't understand you. Please don't touch me! Your eyesburn me--please go away. What in the world has come over you?"
Bentley listened for the reply of the creature he knew was in theother room with Ellen Estabrook.
But the answer was a gurgling gibberish that made no sense at all! Hisown body, directed by the brain of an ape, could not emit speech thatEllen could understand, because the ape could not speak. The ape'svocal cords, which now were Bentley's, were incapable of speech.
How, if Barter continued to keep Ellen in ignorance of what hadhappened, would she ever know the horrible truth--and realize thedanger that threatened her?
"Don't worry for the moment, Bentley," said Barter with a smile. "I amnot yet ready for your other self to go to undue lengths--though Idislike intensely to leave the marks of my whip on that handsome bodyof yours!"
Barter slipped from the room.
Bentley listened, amazed at the clarity with which he heard everyvagrant little sound--until he remembered again that his hearing wasthat of a jungle beast--until he knew that Barter had entered thatother room.
Then came the crackling reports of the whip, wielded mightily by thehands of Barter.
A scream that was half human, half animal, was the result of thelashing. Bentley cringed as he imagined the bite of that lash which hehimself had experienced but a few moments before.
"Professor Barter! Professor Barter!" distinctly came the voice ofEllen Estabrook. "Don't! Don't! He didn't mean anything, I am sure. Heis sick, something dreadful has happened to him. But he wouldn'treally hurt me. He couldn't--not really. Stop, please! Don't strikehim again!"
But the sound of the lash continued.
"Stop, I tell you!" Ellen's voice rose to a cry of agonized entreaty."Don't strike him again. See, you've ripped his flesh until he iscovered with blood! Strike me if you must strike someone--for withall my heart and soul I love him!"
CHAPTER V
_Fumbling Hands_
Now Bentley was beginning to realize to the full the horrible thingthat had befallen himself and Ellen Estabrook. He knew something else,too. It had come to him when he had heard Ellen's words nextdoor--telling Barter th
at she loved the creature Barter was beating,which she thought was Lee Bentley. That creature was Lee Bentley; butonly the earthly casement of Lee Bentley. The ruling power ofBentley's body, the driving force which actuated his body, was thebrain of an ape.
As for Bentley himself, that part of him of which he thought when hethought of "I," to all intents and purposes, to all outer seeming, hadbecome an ape. His body was an ape's body, his legs were an ape's,everything about him was simian save one thing--the "ego," thatsomething by which man knows that he is himself, with an individualidentity. That was buried behind the almost non-existent brow of anape.
In all things save one he was an ape. That thing was "Bentley's"brain. In all things save one that creature in the room with EllenEstabrook was Bentley. Bentley, driven to mad behavior by the brain ofan ape!
The horror of it tore at Bentley, as he still thought of himself.
"If I were to get out of this cage," he told himself voicelessly, "andwere to enter that room with Ellen, she would cower into a corner interror. She would fly to the arms of that travesty of 'me,' for shethinks it is 'I' in there with her because it _looks_ like me."
Now that Ellen was beyond his reach, more beyond his reach than if shehad been dead, he realized how much she meant to him. In the few madhours of their association they had come to belong to each other witha possessiveness that was beyond words. Thinking then that thetravesty in there with her--with Bentley's body--was really Bentley,to what lengths might she not be persuaded in her love? It was aghastly thing to contemplate.
* * * * *
But what could Bentley do? He could not speak to her. If he tried shewould race from him in terror at the bellowing ferocity of his voice.How could he tell her his love when his voice was such as to frightenthe very wild beasts of the jungle?
Yet....
How could he allow her to remain with that other Bentley--that bodywhich perhaps was provided with a man's appetites, and the brain of abeast which knew nothing of honor and took what it wished if it werestrong enough?
There was one ray of hope in that Barter had hinted he would protectEllen from the apeman. That meant physically, with all that mightindicate; but who could compensate her for the horror she must beexperiencing with that speechless imbecile she thought was Bentley? Ifthis thing were to continue indefinitely, and Ellen were kept inignorance, she would eventually grow to hate the "thing"--and if ever,as he had hinted, Barter were to transfer back the entities of the manand the ape, Ellen would always shudder with horrible memories whenshe looked at the man she had just now admitted she loved.
Bentley was becoming calmer now. He knew exactly what he faced, andthere was no way out until Barter should be satisfied with his madexperiment. Bentley must go through with whatever was in store forhim. So must the ape who possessed his body--and in the very natureof things unless Bentley could train himself to a self-savingdocility, both bodies would repeatedly know the fiery stinging of thatlash of Barter's. Bentley could control himself after a fashion. Theape might be cowed, but long before that time arrived, Bentley's bodywould be made to suffer marks they would bear forever to remind him ofthis horror.
"I must somehow manage to continue to care for Ellen," he toldhimself. "But how?"
* * * * *
He scarcely realized that his great hands were wandering over hisbody, scratching, scratching. But when he did realize he felt sick,without being able to understand how or where he felt sick. If he feltsick at the stomach he thought of it as his own stomach. When hethought of moving the hairy hands he thought of his hands. He grinnedto himself--never realizing the horrible grimace which crossed hisface, though there was none to see it--when he recalled how men of hisacquaintance during the Great War, had complained of aching toes atthe end of legs that had been amputated!
He was learning one thing--that the brain is everything that matters.The seat of pain and pleasure, of joy and of sorrow, of hunger and ofthirst even.
Bentley waddled to the door of the cage. He studied the lock whichheld him prisoner, and noted how close he must hold his face to see atall. All apes might be near-sighted as far as he knew; but he did knowthat this one was. Perhaps he could free himself.
He tried to force his massive hands to the task of investigating thelock. But what an effort! It was like trying to hypnotize a subjectthat did not wish to be hypnotized. A distinct effort of will, liketrying to force someone to turn and look by staring at the back ofthat someone's neck in a crowd. It was like trying to make an entirelydifferent person move his arm, or his leg, merely by willing that hemove it.
But the great arms, which might have weighed tons, though Bentleysensed no strain, raised to the door and fumbled dumbly, clumsily. Hetried to close the gnarled fingers, whose backs were covered with therough hair, to manipulate the lock, but he succeeded merely infumbling--like a baby senselessly tugging at its father's fingers, theexistence of which had no shape or form in the baby's brain.
But he strove with all his will to force those clumsy hands to do hisbidding. They slipped from the lock, went back again, fumbled over it,fell away.
"You must!" muttered Bentley. "You must, you must!"
He would discover the secret of the lock, so that he would be able toremove it when the time was right--but so slow and uncertain andclumsy were the movements of his ape hands, he was in mortal fear thathe would unlock the door and then not be able to lock it again, andBarter would discover what he had in mind.
* * * * *
But he struggled on, while foul smelling sweat poured from his mightybody and dripped to the floor. He concentrated on the lock with allhis power, knowing as he did so that the lock would have been but asimple problem for a child of six or seven. It was nothing more than abar held in place with a leather thong. But the powerful fingers whichnow were Bentley's were too blunt and inflexible to master the knotBarter had left.
Bentley paused to listen.
From Ellen's room came the sound of weeping. From the front room cameBarter's pleased laughter as he talked with the thing which so muchresembled Bentley. That was a relief--to know that his other self hadbeen at least temporarily removed from any possibility of injuringEllen.
In Bentley's mind were certain pictures of Barter. He saw him plainlyon his knees begging for mercy, while Bentley's ape hands choked hislife away. He saw him tossed about like a mere child, and casuallytorn apart, ripped limb from limb by the mighty hands of Manape.
"God," he told himself, refusing to listen to the slobbering gibberishwhich came from his thick lips when he addressed himself, "I can donothing to Barter--not until he restores me properly. If he is slain,it is the end for me, and for Ellen! He is a master, no doubt of that.He anesthetized me through the door with something of his ownmanufacture that smelled like violets, and put my brain in Manapeafter removing from Manape the brain of the savage. Then he removed anape's brain from a second ape and put it in my skull pan--all withinthe space of a few hours! Yet his knowledge of surgery and medicine issuch that even in so short a time I suffer little from the operation,save for the dull headache which I had on awakening, and which I nowscarcely feel at all."
* * * * *
He straightened, close against the bars, and began again to fumblewith the leather thong which held him prisoner. In his brain was thehazy idea that he might after all make a break for it, and carry Ellenaway to a place of safety, taking a chance on finding his way backhere to force Barter to operate again and restore him to his properplace. But would not Ellen die of fright at being borne away throughthe jungle in the arms of an ape? Was there any possibility of forcingBarter to perform the operation? No, for under the anesthetic again,Barter, angered by the thwarting of whatever purpose actuated him,might do something even worse than he had done--if that were possible.Again, even if he reached civilisation with Ellen, every human handwould be turned against him. Rifles would hurl their
lead into him.Hunters would pursue him....
No, it was impossible.
Bentley, Ellen, and the Apeman--his own body, ape-brained--were butpawns in the hands of Barter. Barter might be actuated by a desire toserve science, that science which was alike his tool and his god.Bentley scarcely doubted that Barter believed himself speciallyordained to do this thing, in the name of science; probably,unquestionably, felt himself entirely justified.
Plainly, now that Bentley recalled things Barter had said, Barter hadwaited for an opportunity of this kind--had waited for someone to betossed into his net--and Ellen and Lee, flotsam of the sea, had comein answer to the prayer for whose answer Barter had waited.
It was horrible, yet there was nothing they could do--at least, tofree themselves--until it pleased Barter to take the step. It camethen to Bentley how precious to them both was the life of CalebBarter. He could restore Bentley or destroy him--and with him thewoman who loved him.
Suppose, came Bentley's sudden thought, Barter should think ofperforming a like operation on Ellen--using in the transfer the brainof a female ape? God!...
He prayed that the thought would never come to Barter. He was afraidto dwell upon it lest Barter read his thought. He might think of itnaturally, as a simple corollary to what he had already done. Bentleythen must do something before Barter planned some new madness.
* * * * *
He sat back and bellowed savagely, beating his chest with his mightyhands.
Instantly the outer door opened and Barter came in.
Bentley ceased his bellowing and chest pounding and sat docilelythere, staring into the eyes of Barter.
"Have you discovered there is no use opposing me, Bentley?" said theprofessor softly.
Bentley nodded his shaggy head. Then by a superhuman effort of will heraised the right arm of Manape and pointed. He could not point theforefinger, but he could point the arm--and look in the direction hedesired.
"You want to come out and go into the front room?"
Bentley nodded.
"You will make no attempt to injure me?"
Bentley shook his head ponderously from side to side.
"You would like to see the Apeman?--the creature that looks so muchlike you that it will be like peering at yourself in the mirror? Or,rather, as it would have been yesterday had you looked into a mirror?"
Bentley nodded slowly.
"You understand that no matter what the Apeman does, you must not tryto slay him?"
Bentley did not move.
"You understand if you destroy Apeman's body, you are doomed to remainManape forever, because the true body of Lee Bentley will die and beeventually destroyed?"
Bentley nodded. He felt a trickle of moisture on the rough skin abouthis flaring nostrils and knew that he was weeping, soundlessly.
* * * * *
But there was no pity in the face of Barter. He was the scientist whostudied his science, to whom it was the breath of life, and he sawnothing, thought of nothing, not directly connected with his"experiment."
"You give me your word of honor as a gentleman not to oppose me?"
It was odd, an almost superhumanly intellectual scientist asking foran ape's word of honor, but that did not occur to Bentley at themoment, as he nodded his head.
Barter still held his lash poised. He unfastened the leather thongwhich held Bentley prisoner and swung wide the door. Then he turnedhis back on Bentley and led the way to the door.
Bentley followed him on mighty feet and bent knuckles into the roomwhich had first received Lee and Ellen when they had entered the cabinof the scientist.
Bentley would have gasped had he been capable of gasping at what hesaw.
In a far corner, cowering down in fear at sight of Barter and hiscoiled whip--was the Bentley of the mirror in his stateroom aboard the_Bengal Queen_, and before that.
It was an uncanny sensation, to stand off and peer at himself thus.
Yonder was Bentley, yet _here_ was Bentley, too.
* * * * *
Then he noted the difference. The face of that Bentley yonder wastwisted, savage. _That_ Bentley had seen Manape, and the teeth wereexposed in a snarl of savage hatred. There a man ape stared at anotherman ape, and bared his fangs in challenge. The white hands of Bentleybegan to beat the white chest of Bentley--to beat the chest savagely,until the white skin was red as blood....
The Bentley buried within the mighty carcass of an anthropoid apewatched and shuddered. That thing yonder was dressed only in abreech-clout, and the fair flesh was criss-crossed in scores of placeswith bleeding wounds left by the lash of Barter. The Apeman's browswere furrowed in concentration. The human body made ape-likemovements.
Bentley knew that soon that creature, forgetting everything save thathe faced a rival man ape, would charge and attempt to measure thepower of Manape--fang against fang. The white form rose.
Barter caused his whiplash to crack like an explosion.
"One moment," he said. "Back, Apeman! I'll bring Miss Estabrook.Perhaps she can placate you. She has a strange power over you both!"
Bentley would have cried out as Barter crossed to unlock Ellen's door,but he knew that he could not stop Barter, and that his cry wouldsimply be a terrible bellow to frighten the woman he loved when sheentered the room.
The door opened. White, shaken, her eyes deep wells of terror, circledwith blue rings which told the effect of the horror she hadexperienced, Ellen Estabrook entered.
And screamed with terror as she saw the hulking figure of Manape.Screamed with terror and rushed to the arms of the cowering thing inthe corner!
CHAPTER VI
_Puppets of Barter_
The thing that Barter then contrived was destined to remain forever inthe memory of Bentley as the most ghastly thing he had everexperienced. Ellen hurried into the arms of that thing in the corner.Gropingly, protectively, the white arms encompassed her. But they wereawkward, uncertain, and Bentley was minded of a female ape or monkeyholding her young against her hairy bosom.
Barter turned toward Bentley and smiled. He rubbed his hands togetherwith satisfaction.
"A success so far, my experiment," he said. "The human body stillanswers to primal urges, which are closely enough allied to those ofour simian cousins that their outward manifestations--manual gestures,expressions in the eyes et cetera--are much the same. When the two arecombined the action approximates humanness!"
That travesty yonder pressed its face against Ellen, and she drewback, her eyes wide as they met those of the white figure which heldher.
"I am all right," she managed, "please don't hold me so tightly."
She tried to struggle away, but Apeman held her helpless.
"Barter," yelled Bentley, "take her away from that thing! How can youdo such a horrible thing?"
At least those were the words he intended to shout, but the sound thatcame from his lips was the bellowing of a man ape. That other thingyonder answered his bellow, bared white teeth in a bestial snarl.Barter turned to Bentley, however.
"You want me to take her away from Bentley and give her to you?"
Bentley nodded.
His bellowing attempt at speech had sent Ellen closer into the arms ofBentley's other self--henceforth to be known as Apeman. Bentley haddefeated his own purpose by his bellow.
* * * * *
"Miss Estabrook," said Barter softly, "nothing will happen to you ifyou stand clear of your sweetheart...."
Nausea gripped Bentley as he heard Apeman referred to as Ellen'ssweetheart, but now he remembered to refrain from attempting speech.
"But," went on Barter, "Manape has taken a violent dislike to Bentley,and may attack him if you do not stand clear. Manape likes you, youknow. You probably sensed that last evening?"
Ellen visibly shuddered. She patted the shoulder of Apeman andstepped away, toward a chair which Barter thrust toward her.
She pressed her hands to her throbbing temples, visibly fighting tocontrol herself. Her whole body was trembling as with the ague.
"Professor Barter," she said at last. "I am terribly confused, andmost awfully frightened. What has happened here? What dreadful thinghas so awfully changed Lee? I talk to him and he answers nothing thatI understand. Is it some weird fever? At this moment I have thefeeling that that brute Manape understands more perfectly than Lee,and the idea is horrible! I love Lee, Professor. See, he hears me sayit, yet I cannot tell from his expression what he thinks. Does hedespise me for so freely admitting my love? Has he any feeling aboutit at all? Has his mind completely gone?"
"Yes," said Barter, with a semblance of a smile on his lips, "his mindhas completely gone. But it is only temporary, my dear. You forgetthat I am perhaps the world's greatest living medical man, and that Ican do things no other man can do. I shall restore Lee wholly toyou--when the time comes. It is not well to hasten things in cases ofthis kind. One never knows but that great harm may be done."
"But I can nurse him. I can care for him and love him, and help tomake him well."
* * * * *
Barter looked away from Ellen, his eyes apparently focussed on a spotsomewhere in the air between Apeman and Manape.
"Would that be satisfactory to Bentley, I wonder?" he said musingly,yet Bentley recognized it as a question addressed to him. Bentleylooked at the girl, but her eyes were fixed--alight with love whichwas still filled with questioning--on Apeman. Bentley shook his head,and Barter laughed a little.
"You know, Miss Estabrook," he went on, "that a strange malady likethat which appears to have attacked Lee Bentley should be studiedcarefully, in order that the observations of a savant may be given tothe world so that such maladies may be effectually combatted infuture. This is one reason why I do not hasten."
"But you are using a sick man as you would use a rabbit in alaboratory experiment!" she cried. "Can't you see that there arethings not even you should do? Don't you understand that some thingsshould be left entirely in the hands of God?"
"I do not concede that!" retorted Barter. "God makes terrible mistakessometimes--as witness cretins, mongoloid idiots, criminals, and thelike. I know about these things better than you do, my dear, and youmust trust me."
"Oh, if I only knew what was right. Poor Lee. You lashed him so, andhis body is awful with the scars. Was that necessary?"
"Insane persons are not to blame for their insanity," said Bartersoothingly. "Yet sometimes they must be handled roughly to preventthem from causing loss of life, their own or others."
* * * * *
Now the eyes of Ellen came to rest on Manape.
They were fear filled at first, especially when she discovered thatthe little red eyes of Manape were upon her. But she did not turn hereyes away, nor did Manape. She seemed dazed, unable to orient herself,unable to distinguish the proper mode of action.
"That ape in repose is almost human," she said wearily, her browpuckered as though she sought the answer to some unspoken questionthat eluded her. "I am not afraid of him at this moment, yet I knowthat in a second he can become an invincible brute, capable of tearingus all limb from limb."
"Not so long as I have this whip," said Barter grimly. "But Manape isdocile at the moment, and it is Bentley who is ferocious."
Apeman was still snarling at Manape, lending point to Barter'sstatement. Barter went on.
"You know," he said, "apes are almost human in many respects. Manapelikes you, and I doubt if he would attempt to hurt you. If he knewthat you cared for Bentley there, he would most assuredly try to befriendly to Bentley also. Perhaps you can manage it. Apes are capableof primitive reasoning, you know. Go to Manape. He won't injure you,at least while I am here. Stroke him. He will like it. He is a friendworth having, never fear, and one never knows when one may need afriend--or what sort of friend one may need."
Ellen hesitated, and her face whitened again.
Barter went on.
"Go ahead. It is necessary that Manape and Bentley remain heretogether for a time. Manape will be locked up, but if he happens tobreak loose there is nothing he might not do. With Bentley in thecondition he is he would be no match for Manape. But if Manape thoughtyou desired his friendship for Bentley...?"
* * * * *
There he left it, while Bentley wondered what new horror Barter wasplanning. He yearned for Ellen to come to him. But, if he strodetoward her now, how would Barter explain that Manape had understoodhis words? No, Ellen must take the step, and each one would behesitant, as she fought against her natural revulsion at touching thisgreat shaggy creature which was Manape to her, and Bentley to himself.
Slowly, almost against her will, Ellen rose and moved across the floortoward Bentley. Apeman growled ominously. He rose to his feet, hisarms writhing like disjoined, broken-backed snakes across his scarredchest.
Apeman took a step forward. Barter did not notice, apparently, for hewas watching Manape as Ellen approached.
She came quite close. Slowly she put forth her hand to touch theshaggy shoulder of Manape. Bentley, seeking some way, _any_ way, toreassure her, put his great shaggy right arm about her waist for themerest second.
Then Apeman charged, bellowing a shrill crescendo that was half human,half simian.
Before Bentley could realize Apeman's intentions, Apeman had clutchedEllen about the waist and dashed for the door of the cabin. He wasgone, racing across the clearing with swift strides, bearing the girlwith him.
Bentley whirled to pursue, but Barter had beaten him to the door andnow blocked it, whiplash writhing, twisting, curling to strike.
"Back, Bentley! Back, I say! In a moment you may follow--as part of myexperiment. But remember--the end must be here in this cabin, and youmust remember everything, so that you can tell me all--when you arerestored!"
Bentley cowered under the lash. His whole shaggy body trembledfrightfully.
From the jungle toward which Apeman was racing come the roaringchallenge of half a dozen anthropoids.
CHAPTER VII
_Lord of the Jungle_
Apeman, never realizing that his actual strength was that of but apuny human being, was racing with Ellen Estabrook into the very midstof animals which would tear him to bits as easily as they would tearany human being to pieces. Apeman, being but an ape after all, wouldmerely think that he was joining his own kind, bearing with him a matewith white skin.
But to the other apes he would be a human being, a puny hairlessimitation of themselves which they would pounce upon and tear asunderwith great glee. Apeman would not know this: would not realize hislimitations. He would try to take to the upper terraces of the jungle,to swing from tree to tree, carrying his mate--and would find the bodyof Bentley incapable of supporting such an effort. Apeman would be achild in the hands of his brethren, who could not know him. Apemancould probably speak to them after a fashion, but his gibberish wouldcome strangely perhaps unintelligibly, through the mouth of Bentley.They would suspect him, and destroy him, and with him Ellen Estabrook,unless other apes discovered also her sex and took her, fighting overher among themselves.
Bentley made good time across the jungle clearing. Behind him came thevoice of Barter in final exhortation.
"Your human cunning, hampered by your simian body, pitted against thehighly specialized body of your former self, in turn hampered by thelack of reasoning of an ape--in a contest in primitive surrounding fora female! A glorious experiment, and all depends now upon you! Youwill save the girl who loves you and whom you love, but you mustreturn to me and be transferred before you can make your love known. Ishall wait for you!"
In Bentley's brain the shouted words of Barter rang as he hurried intothe jungle in pursuit of Apeman. Ellen Estabrook was crying: "Hurry,Lee, hurry!"
* * * * *
Yet she was really yelling to Apeman, the man-beast which c
arried her,bidding him race on to escape the pursuit of Manape, in whom shewould never recognize the man she loved. She must have thought thatBentley had taken a desperate chance to escape the clutches of Barter,and that Barter had set his trained ape to pursue them. What elsecould she think? How could she know that she was actually in the powerof an ape, and that her loved one actually pursued to save her? Withevery desire of her body she was urging Apeman to take her away fromManape. But she must also have heard the challenges of the man apes inthe jungle ahead. She was looking back over Apeman's shoulder,wondering perhaps if Barter would again come out to save them from theanthropoids.
Bentley could guess at her thoughts as he raced on in pursuit ofApeman.
Would he be in time? Even if he were, Apeman himself would turnagainst him. If he were to try to aid Ellen she would fight againsthim, believing him an ape. And how could he fight? Would his brain beable to direct his mighty arms and his fighting fangs in a battle withthe apes of the jungle?
As he thought of coming to grips with the apes on equal terms,something never in this world before vouchsafed to a human being, hefelt a fierce exaltation upon him. He felt a desire to take part inmortal combat with them, to fight them fist and fang, and to destroythem, one by one. He had their strength and more--he had the cunningof a human being to match against the dim wits of the apes. He had achance.
But he must protect not only Ellen, but Apeman. Both Ellen and Apemanwould be against him. Ellen would fear him as an ape that desired her.Apeman would fight against him as a rival for the favors of a she....
And he must harm neither. His own body, which Apeman directed, mustbe spared, must be kept alive--while every effort of Apeman would beto force Bentley to slay!
It was a predicament which--well, only Caleb Barter had foreseen it.
* * * * *
The bellowing of the apes was a continuous roar on all sides now.Bentley felt a fierce sensation of joy welling up within him and heanswered their bellowing with savage bellows of his own. His legs wereobeying his will. His knuckles touched the ground as he raced on allfours.
He could hear the shriek of Ellen there ahead, and knew that Apemanand the girl were surrounded--that he must make all possible speed ifhe were to be in time.
Apeman and his captive were on the trail, trapped there just as Apemanhad started into the jungle. Apeman had lifted Ellen so that her handsmight have grasped a limb; but the girl had refused to attempt toescape by the trees if her "lover" remained behind. She had crumpledto the ground, and Apeman, snarling, smashing his chest which was sosickly white as compared to the chests of the other apes, had turnedupon his brethren. They hesitated for a moment as though amazed at theeffrontery of this mere human.
Then a man ape charged. Apeman met him with arms and fangs, andBentley saw Apeman's all too small mouth snap out for the vein in theneck of Apeman's attacker. The ape whose brain reposed in Apeman hadbeen a courageous beast, that was plain. But he was fighting for hisshe.
And he did not know his limitations. Apeman was bowled over as thoughhe had been a blade of grass, and the great ape was crouched over him,nuzzling at his white flesh when Bentley-Manape arrived.
With a savage bellow, and with a mighty lunge, Bentley leaped uponthe attacker of Apeman. His arms obeyed him with more certainty now,perhaps because the matter was so vitally urgent. Bentley's brain knewjiu-jitsu, boxing, ways of rough and tumble fighting of which thegreat apes had never learned, nor ever would learn.
* * * * *
He hurled himself upon the animal that was on the point of pullingApeman apart as though he had indeed been a fly, and literallyflattened him against the ground. His mighty hands searched for thethroat of the great ape, while he instinctively pulled his stomach outof the way of possible disemboweling tactics on the part of hisantagonist. But the great ape twisted from his grasp, struggled erect.
And, amazed at what he was doing, surprised that he, Lee Bentley,could even conceive of such a thing, he launched his attack with baredand glistening fangs straight at the throat of his enemy. His mouthclosed. His fangs ripped home--and the great ape whose throat he hadtorn away, whose blood was salt on his slavering lips, was tossedaside as an empty husk, to die convulsively, a dripping horror whichwas humanlike in a ghastly fashion. Bentley felt like a murderer. Notlike a murderer, either, but like a man who has slain unavoidably--andhates himself for doing so.
Ellen was backed against the tree into which Apeman had tried to forceher.
Apeman was up now, moving to stand beside her. Apeman had discoveredthat he was not the invincible creature he had thought himself.
Bentley moved in closer to the two, as other apes charged upon himfrom both sides, smothering him, giving him no time. He was astranger, seemingly, an upstart to be destroyed.
And he was forced to fight them with all his ape strength and humancunning, while Apeman, whimpering, caught up Ellen and darted awaywith her, straight into the jungle.
For Bentley this was a sort of respite. Ellen was not afraid to gowith Apeman, thinking him Bentley. The great apes were bent ondestroying this strange ape which had come into their midst and hadalready destroyed one of their number, perhaps their leader.
He must be destroyed.
* * * * *
Bentley fought like a man possessed. His arms were gory with crimsonfrom the slashing fangs of his enemies. His mouth was dripping withred foam as he slashed in turn, with deadly accuracy. A great armclutched at the hair of his chest--and fell away again, broken in twoplaces, as Bentley snapped it like a pipe stem because he knewleverages and was able to force his ape's body to obey the will of hishuman mind.
One ape whimpering, rolling away to lick at his wounds; whimperingoddly like a baby that has burned its fingers. A great ape weighinghundreds of pounds, crying like a child! Yet that "child," with hisarm unbroken, could have taken a grown man, no matter how much of agiant, and torn him to pieces.
Two other apes were out of the fray, one dead, the other with onlyempty eye-sockets where his red-rimmed eyes had been.
Bentley guessed that Apeman had gone at least a mile into the jungle,heading directly away from the dwelling of Caleb Barter. He must getfree and pursue. There was nothing else he could do. If he were slain,Ellen was doomed to a fate he dared not contemplate. Apeman wouldnever be accepted by the apes because to all outward seeming he was aman. His body would never stand the hardship of the jungle, yet Apemanwould never guess that, and would be slain. Bentley must preventthat.
He must make sure that Apeman's body at least remained sufficientlyhealthy that it could become his own again without the necessity of along sojourn in some hospital. Ellen must not be left alone withApeman, who was still an ape, running away with a she.
A ghastly muddle.
* * * * *
Now the apes broke away from Bentley. They broke in all direction intothe jungle. Some of them seemed on the trail of Apeman. One of themtook to the trees, swinging himself along with the speed of a runningman, flying from limb to limb with no support save his hands.
Bentley stared after the fleeing ape, and then gave chase. He feltthat the ape was on the trail of Apeman. Bentley did not know that hehimself could follow the spoor of Apeman, for he had not yet analyzedall of his new capabilities. But while he was discovering, he wouldfollow something he could see--the fleeing ape, who would overhaulApeman as though Apeman were standing still.
So, in a manner of speaking, Bentley essayed his wings.
He took to the trees after the fleeing ape, and was amazed that hisgreat arms worked with ease, that he swung from limb to limb as easilyand as surely as the other apes. He climbed to the upper terrace,where view of the ground was entirely shut off. His eyes took note oflimbs capable of bearing his weight--after he had made one mistakethat might easily have proved costly. He had leaped to a limb thatwould have supported Bentley of the _Bengal Queen_
, but that was amere twig under the weight of Manape. It broke and he fell, clutchingfor support; and fate was kind to him in that he found it, and soclambered back and swung easily and swiftly along.
In his nostrils at intervals was a peculiar odor--a peculiarly humanodor, reminding him of the work-sweat of a man who seldom bathed. Heknew that for the odor of Apeman, and a thrill of exaltationencompassed him as he realized that he was following a spoor by thecunning of his nostrils.
* * * * *
There was a great leap across space. The ape ahead of him made it withease. Bentley essayed it without hesitation, hurling himself intospace, all of a hundred feet above the ground; with all the might ofhis arms--and almost overshot the mark, almost went crashing once morethrough the branches. But the tree swayed, and held, and Bentley wentswinging on.
It was wildly exhilarating, thrilling in a primitive way. Bentleyremembered those dreams of his childhood--dreams of falling endlesslybut never striking. Racial memories, scientists called them, relics ofour simian forebears. Bentley thought of that and laughed; but hislaughter was merely a beastly chattering which recalled him to thegrim necessity of the moment.
Fifteen minutes passed, perhaps. Twenty. Half an hour. He wasfollowing a trace which led away from the coast, and further away fromthe cabin of Caleb Barter. But with his jungle senses, and his humanmemory, Bentley was sure he could return when the time came.
Had Barter foreseen all that? Was Barter smiling to himself, backthere in his awful hermitage, waiting for the working out of his"experiment"?
But Apeman had jungle knowledge, and must have forced Bentley's bodyto the limit of its endurance, for it was near evening when Bentley,who had lost the ape ahead of him, but had continued on the spoor ofApeman by the smell, came to swift pause on his race through thetrees.
* * * * *
He had heard the voice of Ellen Estabrook, and the voice was pleading.
"Lee! Lee! If you love me try to regain control of yourself. Please donot stare at me like that. Oh, your poor body! The brush and briarshave literally torn you to bits."
But the answer of "Lee" was a bestial snarl, and traveling as quietlyas he could, Manape dropped down so that he could gaze upon hisbeloved, and the thing she believed she loved.
Ellen was unaware of him. But he had scarcely dropped into view beforeApeman became aware of him, and rose weakly to tottering limbs, tobeat his bruised and bleeding chest in simian challenge. Apeman wassimply an ape that had run until he was finished, and now was turningto make a last stand against a male who was stronger--a last bid forlife and possession of the she he had carried away.
Then Ellen saw Manape, screamed, and for the first time since she hadbeen saved from the deep by Bentley, fainted dead away.
The two so strangely related creatures faced each other across hersupine body--and both were savagely snarling. Apeman weakly butangrily, Manape with a sound of such brute savagery that even thetwittering of birds died away to awed silence.
CHAPTER VIII
_Struggle for Mastery_
It was Apeman who charged. Pity for Apeman welled up in Bentley. Thatwas his own body which Apeman was so illy using. His own poor bruisedand bleeding body, which Apeman had all but slain by forcing it farbeyond human endurance. It must be saved, in spite of Apeman.
But there was something first to do. Bentley bent over Ellen, caughther under his arm, and returned to the trees, with Apeman chatteringangrily and futilely behind him. Bentley found a crotch in the treewhere he could place Ellen, made sure that she was safely proppedthere and that no snakes were near, and hurried back to the contestwith Apeman which could not be avoided.
He did not fear the battle he knew he must fight. He hurried backbecause Apeman might realize himself beaten and escape into thejungle. In his weakened condition he could not travel far and would beeasy prey for any prowling leopard, easy prey for the crawling thingswhose fangs held sure death. Or would the cunning of Apeman, denizenof the jungle, warn him against any such? His ape brain would warnhim, but would his human strength avail in case of necessity, in caseof attack by another ape, or a four-footed carnivore?
Bentley hurried back because Apeman must be saved, somehow, evenagainst his will. Apeman hated Manape with a deadly hatred. Yet tosubdue the travesty of a human being, Manape must take care that hedid not destroy his own casement of humanity. Any moment now and agreat cat might charge from the shadows and destroy Apeman.
* * * * *
Apeman, snarling, beating his puny chest with his puny hands, waswaiting for Manape his enemy.
Manape found himself thinking of the line: "'O wad some power thegiftie gie us, to see oursilves as ithers see us,'" and adding somethoughts of his own.
"If that were actually 'I' down there, my chance of preserving thelife of myself, and that of Ellen against the rigors of the jungle,would be absolutely nil. How helpless we humans are in primitivesurroundings! The tiniest serpent may slay us. The jungle cats destroyus with ease, if we be not equipped with artificial weapons which ourbetter brains have created. As Manape, Barter's trained ape, I ambetter fitted to protect Ellen than if I were Bentley--the Bentley ofthe _Bengal Queen_. Yet she will cower away from me when she wakens."
Now Bentley was down, and Apeman was charging. He charged at astaggering run. He stepped on a thorn, hesitated, and whimpered. Buthe possessed unusual courage, for he still came on. Apeman knew thelaw of the jungle, that the weakest must die. Death was to be hisportion if he could not withstand the assaults of Manape, and he cameto meet his fate with high brute courage.
Apeman was close in. His hands were swinging, fists closed, in astrange travesty of a fighting man. Apeman was snarling. He groped forthe throat of Manape with his human teeth--which sank home in thetough hide of Manape, hurting him as little as though Apeman weretoothless.
"As Bentley I would have no chance at all against a great ape," saidBentley to himself.
* * * * *
How could he take the pugnacity out of Apeman without destroying him?If he struck him he might strike too hard and slay Apeman--which wasthe equivalent of slaying himself. So Manape extended his mightyhands, caught Apeman under the armpits and held him up, feet swingingfree. Yet Apeman still struggled, gnashed his teeth, and beat himselfon the chest.
How utterly futile! As futile as Bentley in his own casement wouldhave been against a great ape! Apeman might destroy himself throughhis very rage. How could Bentley render the travesty unconscious andyet make sure that Apeman did not die?
If he struck he might strike too hard and slay.
What should he do?
A low coughing sound came from somewhere close by. From the deeps ofhis consciousness Bentley knew that sound. He clutched Apeman in hisright arm, swung back to the tree and up among the branches. He wasjust in time. The tawny form of a great cat passed beneath, missinghim by inches.
But while he had saved himself and Apeman, he had been clumsy. He hadstruck the head of Apeman against the bole of the tree, and Apemanhung limp in his arm. Bentley, fear such as he had never before knowngripping him, pressed his huge ear to Apeman's heart. It was beatingsteadily and strongly. With a great inner sigh of relief he climbed tosafety in the tree, bearing Apeman with him.
* * * * *
He reached the crotch where Ellen rested, and disposed Apeman nearby,his own gross body between them. He even dared to gather Ellen closeragainst him for warmth. His left hand held tightly the wrist of theunconscious Apeman, so that he should not fall and become prey of thenight denizens of the jungle.
So, the two who seemed to be human--Apeman and Ellen, passed fromunconsciousness into natural sleep, while Bentley-Manape remainedmotionless between them, afraid to close his eyes lest something evenmore terrible than hitherto experienced might transpire. But his earscaught every sound of the jungle, and his sensitive ape's nostrilsbrough
t him every scent--which his man's mind strove to analyze,reaching back and back into the dim and misty past for identificationof odors that were new, or that were really old, yet which had beenlost to man since they had left forever the simian homes of theirancestors and their senses had become more highly specialized.
The questions which turned over and over in Bentley's mind were these:
How shall I tell Ellen the truth? Will she believe it?
What is the rest of Barter's experiment? How shall I proceed from thismoment on? How shall I procure food for Ellen? What food will Apemanchoose for my body to assimilate?
And jungle night drew on. Once Ellen shivered and pressed closer toManape as she slept.
What would morning bring to this strange trio?
CHAPTER IX
_Fate Decides_
Morning brought the great apes of the jungle--scores of them. They hadapproached so silently through the darkness that Bentley had not heardthem, and his ape's nostrils had not told his human brain the meaningof their odor. It appeared too that his ape's ears had tricked him.For when morning came there were great apes everywhere.
Bentley still held the wrist of Apeman, whose chest was rising andfalling naturally, though the body was limp and plainly exhausted, andexuded perspiration that told of some jungle fever or other illnessperhaps, induced by hardship and over-exertion. The ape's brain ofApeman had driven Bentley's body to the uttermost, and now that bodymust pay.
Bentley wondered how far he was now from the cabin of Caleb Barter.
He doubted if Apeman could stand the return journey, though Bentley'sape body could have carried Apeman's with ease. But would Apemanstand the journey? Apeman, Bentley knew, was going into the Valley ofthe Shadow, and something must be done to save him. But what?
And the great apes constituted a new menace, though they were makingno effort to molest the three in the tree. Apeman must be placed in ashady place and some attention paid to his needs. But the human bodywith the ape's brain could not tell how it hurt or where.
The first task was to get the two beings down from the tree, and muchdepended upon chance. To the apes Bentley was another ape, onemoreover which had slain a number of them. But Apeman was a humanbeing, as was Ellen Estabrook. The whole thing constituted a fineproblem for the brain of Manape.
* * * * *
If Manape were to attempt first aid for Apeman, how would such a sightreact upon Ellen Estabrook? If Manape were to attempt to take Apemanback to Caleb Barter, leading the way for Ellen, would she follow, andwhat would his action tell her? She would think herself demented,imagining things, because a great ape did things which only humanbeings were supposedly capable of doing.
If she knew, of course, it would make a difference. But she did not,and Bentley had no means by which to inform her. That was a problemfor the future. Ellen was sleeping the sleep of utter exhaustion andhe felt that he could safely leave her for the moment while he swungApeman down from the tree. He must work fast, and return for Ellenbefore the great apes discovered the helpless Apeman at the foot ofthe tree. He hoped to get Ellen down while she slept, knowing that shewould be in mortal fear of him if she wakened and found herself in hispower.
Bentley got Apeman down, and looked about him. No apes were closeenough, as far as he could tell, to molest Apeman before Bentley couldreturn with Ellen. He raced back into the tree, lifted Ellen so gentlythat she scarcely altered the even motion of her breathing--and for amoment he hesitated. So close to him were her tired lips. Sowoe-begone and pathetic her appearance, a great well of pity for herrose in the heart of Bentley--or what was the seat of this emotionwithin him? Was the brain the seat of the emotions? Or the heart? ButBentley's true heart was in Apeman's human body, so there must be someother explanation for the feeling which grew and grew within Bentleyfor Ellen.
He leaned forward with the intention of touching his lips to the tiredthin lips of Ellen Estabrook, then drew back in horror.
How could he kiss this woman whom he loved with the gross lips ofManape, the great ape?
He could, of course, but suppose she wakened at his caress and saw thegreat figure of the jungle brute, with all man's emotions and desires,yet with none of man's restraint--bending over her? Women had goneinsane over less.
* * * * *
He hurried down with Ellen, and placed her beside Apeman.
By now the great apes had discovered the strange trio and were comingclose to investigate. There was a huge brute who came the fastest andseemed to be the leader of the apes, if any they had. But even thisone did not offer a challenge, did not seem perturbed in the least.But he did seem filled with childish curiosity. The apes themselveswere like children, children grown to monstrous proportions, advancingand retreating, staring at this trio, darting away when Apeman orEllen made some sort of movement.
Bentley could sense too their curiosity where he was concerned. Theirsenses told them that Bentley was a great ape. Their instincts,however, made them hesitate, uncertain as to his true "identity"--orso Bentley imagined.
Ellen still slept, but she must have sensed the near presence ofpotential enemies, for she was stirring fitfully, preparing to waken.
What would her reaction be when she opened her eyes to see Manape nearher, standing guard over Apeman, with the jungle on all sides filledwith the lurking nightmare figures of other great apes?
A moan of anguish came from Apeman. He stirred, and groans whichseemed to rack his whole white bruised body came forth. The brain ofthe ape was reacting to the suffering of Bentley's body--and a brutewas whimpering with its hurts. The advancing apes came to pause. Theyseemed to stare at one another in amazement. They were suddenlyfrightened, amazed, unable to understand the thing they saw and werelistening to. Bentley crouched there, watching the apes, and hefancied he could understand their sudden new hesitancy.
* * * * *
He did not know, but he guessed that the moans and groans of Apemanwere comprehensible to the great apes. They knew that this strangelywhite creature was an ape, though he looked like a man. Already theyhad wondered as much as they were capable, about Manape. They hadsensed something not simian about him which puzzled them.
But from the lips of Apeman, to add to their mystification, came thegroans and moans of an ape that was suffering. Bentley held hisposition, wondering what they would do. That they meant no harm he wassure, else they would long since have charged and overborne thethree--unless they remembered the super-simian might of Manape andwere afraid to attack again. Bentley hoped so, for that would makethings easier for them all.
Now the nearest apes were almost beside the body of Apeman, which wasstill covered with agony sweat. The lips emitted moans and faint blursof gibberish. Bentley noted that the leading ape was a great she. Thefemale came forward hesitantly, making strange sounds in her throat,and it seemed to Bentley that Apeman answered them. For the she cameforward with the barest trace of hesitancy, stared for a moment atManape, with a sort of challenge in her savage little red eyes, thendropped to all fours beside Apeman and began to lick his wounds!
The she knew something of the injuries of Apeman and was doing whatinstinct told her to do for him. Now the rest of the apes were allabout them--and Ellen wakened with a shrill cry of terror.
Bentley remained as a man turned to stone. If he moved toward thewoman he loved she would flee from him in terror--out among the otherapes and into the jungle where she would have no slightest chance forlife. If he did nothing she might still run.
* * * * *
Wildly she looked about her. She screamed again when she saw the shebending over the travesty she thought to be Bentley, and licking thepoor bruised body. Ellen cast a sidelong look at Manape, and there wassomething distinctly placating in her eyes. She recognized Manape, andwanted his friendship. What thoughts crowded her brain as she realizedthat she was in the center of a group of anthropoids wh
o could havedestroyed her with their fingers in a matter of seconds!
She did the one thing which proved to Bentley that she was worthy ofany man's love. The great she who licked the wounds of Apeman wasthrice the size of Ellen. Yet Ellen crawled to Apeman, little soundsof pity in her throat. Instantly the snarling of the she sent herback. The she had, for the time being at least, assumed proprietorshipof Apeman, and was bidding Ellen keep her distance. And the she meantit, too. For she bared her fighting fangs when Ellen again approachedclose enough to have touched the body of Apeman.
This time the she advanced a step toward the girl, and her snarl was aterrible sound. Ellen retreated, but no further than was necessary tostill that snarl in the throat of the she. Manape moved in quite closenow, into position to interfere if the she tried to actually injureEllen Estabrook. If only, Bentley thought, there were some way ofmaking himself known to Ellen! But how could she believe, even if away were discovered?
"What shall I do?" moaned Ellen aloud, wringing her hands. "Poor Lee!I can't move him. That brute won't let me touch him. Oh, I'm afraid!"
Bentley wanted to tell her not to be afraid, but had learned fromexperience that when he tried to speak his voice was the bellowing oneof a great ape. And if he were to enunciate words that Ellen couldunderstand, what then? English from the lips of a giant anthropoid!She would not believe, would think herself insane--and with excellentreason. Slowly, as matters were transpiring, she had already beengiven sufficient reason to believe that her mind was tottering.
* * * * *
Manape stood guard over her. A she had adopted the thing she thoughtwas Bentley. A score of great apes, which only three days ago hadtried to destroy both Bentley and herself, now surrounded Bentley andEllen with all the appearance of amity--crude, true, butunmistakable. Certainly this was sufficiently beyond all humanexperience to make Ellen believe she were in the throes of some awfulnightmare. What would she think if an ape began to address her inEnglish, and "Bentley" suddenly held speech with the great apes?
Add to this possibility, suppose she were suddenly confronted with thetruth--that the essential entities of Bentley and Manape had beenexchanged, and the whole thing were explained to her from the grosslips of Manape himself, while "Bentley" looked on and chattered achallenge in ape language while Manape talked?
No, at first she might have understood. Now it would have been evenmore horrifying for her to hear the truth. She must think what shewould, and be allowed to adjust herself to the astounding state ofaffairs. Apeman could not be moved for some time. Ellen would notleave him, naturally. Nor would Manape. And the apes apparentlyintended to remain with them. Which made the problem, after all, asimple one. The trio must remain for the time being among the greatapes. They needed one another in a strange way, and they needed theapes themselves, which were like a formidable army at their backs, asprotection against the other beasts of the wilds.
Bentley watched the great she continue her rude first aid for Apeman.Apeman was still moaning, though less fitfully, like a child thatnuzzles the milk bottle, but is drifting away into sleep. The she gavethe travesty her full attention. There was something horribly humanabout her maternal care of this creature before her. Her great armsheld Apeman close while her tongue caressed his wounds. Bentley knewthat that tongue was an excellent antiseptic, too. All animals lickedtheir own wounds, and those wounds healed. Only human beings knew thedangers of infection, because they had departed from Nature'sdoctrines and had tried to cheat her with substitutes. Only theanimals, like that great she, still were Nature's children, healingtheir own wounds in Nature's way.
* * * * *
Satisfied that the apes would not molest Ellen, so long as she kepther distance from Apeman, Bentley decided to seek food, which Ellenmust sorely need. The need for water was urgent, too. Bentley knew thedanger of drinking water found in the jungle--but an ape couldscarcely be expected to build a fire with which to boil the water, norto produce a miracle in the shape of something to hold it in over thefire.
Here were many makeshifts indicated, then. Bentley smiled inwardly,the only way he could smile. He must feed himself, too. He must gowandering through the woods, feeding the body of Manape with grubs,worms and such nauseous provender, because it was the food to whichManape was accustomed. Apeman, when he was well enough to eat, wouldsicken the body of Bentley with the same sort of food, because thebrain of Apeman would not know what was good or bad for the body of ahuman being--nor even would understand that his body was human. What_did_ Apeman think of his condition, anyway?
That question, of course, would never be answered--unless Barter couldreally speak the language of the great apes and somehow managed tosecure from Apeman, if Apeman lived, a recital of these hours in thejungle.
What food should Manape secure for Ellen? What fruits were edible,what poisonous? How could he tell? He watched the other apes, whichwere scattering here and there now, tipping over rocks and sticks tosearch for grubs and worms--to see what fruits they ate, if any. Theywould know what fruits to avoid.
An hour passed before Bentley saw one of the brutes feed upon anythingexcept insects. A cluster of a peculiar fruit which looked like wildcurrants, but whose real name Bentley did not know. Now, feeling safein his choice, because the ape was eating the berries with relish,Bentley searched until he found a quantity of the same berries, andbore them back to Ellen Estabrook.
* * * * *
Beside Apeman, who now was awake and exchanging crazy gibberish withthe she who had licked his wounds, Ellen Estabrook, trying to bebrave, did not cry aloud. But her face was dirty, and her tears madefurrows through the grime.
Manape dropped the berries beside her. The she snarled as Ellenreached for the berries. Manape flung himself forward as the shestrove to take the berries before Ellen could grasp them--and cuffedher over backward with a cumbersome but lightning-fast right swing.
"Manape," said Ellen, "if only you could talk! I feel that you are myfriend, and my fears are less when you are with me. I'll pretend thatyou can understand me. It helps a little to talk, for one scarcelyseems so much alone. How would you feel, I wonder, Manape, if you weresuddenly taken entirely out of the life you've always known, andforced to live in another world entirely? It would not be easy to bebrave, would it? Suppose you were taken out of the wilds and droppedinto a ballroom?"
Bentley could have laughed had the jest not been such a grim one. Whatwould Ellen think if he were to answer her:
"I would be much more at home in that ballroom than that thing on theground that you love--as matters are at this moment!"
She would not understand that.
Nor did she understand when the she went away for a time and came backwith a supply of worms and grubs--which nauseous supply vanished withgreat speed under the wolfish appetite of Apeman. There was littlewonder that Ellen found it difficult to orient herself.
"I must tell her somehow," thought Bentley, "and that soon. Surelyenough has been done to satisfy the devilish curiosity of CalebBarter."
Toward evening the apes began to drift further into the jungle. Theshe gathered Apeman in her arms and moved off with him. There wasnothing for Manape to do but follow, and nothing for Ellen to do butfollow, too--if she loved the thing she thought was Bentley. She didnot hesitate.
With unfaltering courage she followed on, and the lumbering forms ofthe great apes drifted further away from the sea, seemingly headedtoward some mutely agreed upon jungle rendezvous. Everything dependedfor the time upon the return to health of Apeman. All other mattersdepended upon that. Each in his own way, Manape and Ellen, realizedthis. Caleb Barter had schemed better than he could possibly haveforeseen.
CHAPTER X
_Written in Dust_
As Apeman was borne deeper into the jungle in the great arms of theshe, what was more natural in the circumstances than that Ellen keepclose to her only remaining link with the world she had left--
Manape,the trained anthropoid of Caleb Barter? A natural thing, and one thatfilled Manape with obvious pleasure.
Once she touched his hand, rested her own small one in his mighty palmfor a moment--and Bentley was afraid to return the pressure of herpalm with the hand of Manape, lest he crush every bone in her fingers.Thereafter at intervals, while the whole aggregation drifted deeperinto the jungle, Ellen clung to Manape; depended upon him. Was it herwoman's intuition which told her that Manape was a safe guardian?
Bentley refused to dwell on that phase of this wild adventure however,for there were other things to think about. It required many hours forhim to discover the truth, but he knew it at last. He, Manape-Bentley,was the lord of the great apes! Before his capture, or before thecapture of Manape by Caleb Barter, Manape had been leader of theseapes. Now he had returned and was their ruler once more. Upstarts hadtaken his place, and he had slain them--back there when Apeman hadtried to escape into the jungle with Ellen in his arms. To the apesthis must have seemed the way it was.
Bentley was putting things together, hoping and believing that theymade four--yet not sure but that he was forcing them to equal fourwhen in actuality they were five or six. If Manape--the original apeof Barter's capture, whose body now was Bentley's--had been the leaderof the great apes, that explained why the animals remained constantlyin the vicinity of Barter's dwelling. Barter had needed them in hisplans, and had made certain their remaining near by making theirleader captive. And of course only an ape sufficiently intelligent torule other apes would have suited the evil scheme which must have beengrowing for years in the mind of Caleb Barter. Barter had merelywaited with philosophic calmness for human beings to drift into thisterritory--and the _Bengal Queen_ had obligingly gone down off thecoast, throwing Ellen Estabrook and Lee Bentley into Barter's power.
* * * * *
What was Barter doing now? Would he not be striving to watch thecourse of his experiment? Would he not think of details hithertooverlooked and plan further experiments, or an enlarging of thisexperiment of which three creatures were the victims? Surely Barterwould not remain quietly at Barterville while the subjects of hisexperiment went deeper into the jungle with the great apes. Barter wastoo thorough a scientist for that. Somehow, Bentley was sure, Barterwould know what was happening, even at this very moment.
He would wish to know how a modern woman would conduct herself ifsuddenly forced to live among apes. Therefore he would try in somemanner to keep watch over the conduct of Ellen Estabrook. He wouldwonder how a modern man would conduct himself if he suddenly found,himself the leader of that same group of apes, and how an ape wouldbehave if he suddenly discovered himself a man. It was a neat"experiment," and Bentley was beginning to believe that there wasprobably far more to it than there first had seemed.
Barter would wish to know how all three creatures would conductthemselves in certain circumstances--Apeman, Ellen and Bentley. Hewould not leave it to chance, for Bentley now realized that Barterhimself did not feel inimical to either Ellen, Apeman or Bentley. Tohim they were merely an experiment. Barter would not wish for Apemanto die, and thus deprive Barter of a certain knowledge relative to oneangle of his unholy experiment. He would not wish for Manape-Bentleyto remain forever as Manape-Bentley, lacking the power of speech,either human speech or the gibberish of the apes.
No, all this was not being left to chance. Bentley believed thatBarter was directing the destination of these three subjects of his,as surely as though he were right with them at this moment, drivingthem to his will with that awful lash which had made him feared by thegreat apes.
* * * * *
Yes, Barter was still the master mind. It made Bentley feel awfullyhelpless. Yet--he was the leader of the great apes. That, too, Bartermust have foreseen. Would Barter try in any way to discover howBentley would behave in an emergency as leader of the apes? Would hewish to know sufficiently to create an emergency? From Bentley'sknowledge of the twisted genius of Caleb Barter, he fully believedthat Barter planned yet other angles to his experiment.
If he did, then what would he do next?
It was not until the storm broke over the strange aggregation of greatapes, who seemed to be holding two white people prisoners, thatBentley understood that from the very beginning he should have beenable to see the obvious denouement--the mad climax which even then waspreparing in the jungle ahead, simply waiting for the great apes todrift, feeding as they went without a thought of danger, into the trapset for them.
Ellen now kept her hand in the great palm of Manape. She wept onoccasions, when she thought of the apparent hopelessness of herposition, but for the most part she was brave, and Bentley grew tolove her more as the hours passed--even as he grew more impatient athis inability to express his love. If he tried he could simplyfrighten her--fill her with horror because, gentle though he was withher and he was a great ape, a fact which nothing could change. Norcould anybody change the fact, except Caleb Barter. Where was thescientist? What would be his next move if he were not leaving theworking out of his experiment entirely to chance, which seemed not atall in keeping with the thorough manner of his experiment thus far.
The future was a dark, painful obscurity, in which all things werehidden, in which anything might happen--because Caleb Barter wouldwish for it to happen.
* * * * *
How long would Barter wait before making his next move? Long enoughfor Ellen to accustom herself to life among the apes? Long enough todiscover whether her natural intelligence would guide her to eke outexistence among hardships such as human beings never thought of,except perhaps in nightmares? Long enough to allow the brain ofBentley to discover what miracles intellect might do with the body ofManape? Long enough for Apeman to be well of his illness, so that hemight observe what havoc an ape's brain might work with a human body?
Certainly when one gave the hideous experiment full thought, itspossible angles of development, its many potential ramifications, wereastounding in the extreme. Was it not up to Bentley then to dosomething besides mope and pine for the impossible, and thus hastenthe hour when Barter should be wholly satisfied with his experiment?
What would Apeman do, how would he behave, when the white body ofBentley was well again? Would that body grow well faster when guidedby an ape's brain than when a human brain was in command? CertainlyCaleb Barter must have listed all these questions and hundreds ofothers which had not as yet occurred to Bentley. If he had he wouldnot transfer the two intelligences back to their proper places untilall of his questions were answered to his satisfaction. Bentleyhimself must somehow force an answer to some of them.
To do this he must try to guess what sort of questions Barter wouldhave listed, and try to work out their answers--assuming all the timethat Barter, from some undiscovered coign of vantage would be watchingfor the answers he hoped his experiment would provide.
Bentley arrived at a decision. Ellen must long since have becomenumbed to the horror which encompassed her. Bentley knew that a humanbrain could stand only so much, beyond which it was no longersurprised or horrified. He guessed, noting the pale face of hisbeloved, that Ellen had well nigh reached that stage.
He decided to take a tremendous risk with her sanity, hoping therebyto do his part in working out the details of Barter's experiment.
* * * * *
The sun was creeping into the west when the roving apes came to pausein a sort of clearing. Some of them curled up in sleep. The she whocarried Apeman squatted with Apeman in her arms, and licked his woundsagain.
That Apeman was recovering was plainly evident, and when he saw itfilled Bentley with an odd mixture of thankfulness and revulsion.Apeman was essentially an ape. With all his strength back he wouldrevert to type, and what if he forced the body of Bentley to dohorrible things that Ellen would never be able to forget orcondone--even when she at last knew the truth? What if Apemanselected, for example, a mate
--from among the hairy she's? For Apemanthat would be natural, for Bentley horrible.
Yet it might easily transpire. Apeman might relinquish the white sheto a successful rival--which he would regard Manape as being--andcontent himself with a choice from the ape she's. Somehow that unholything must not happen. That was up to Manape-Bentley.
Or, with his strength fully returned, Apeman might again desire Ellen,and force the issue with Manape for her possession--which seemedequally horrible to the brain of Bentley.
Ellen remained as close to Apeman as the she would permit her.Manape-Bentley crouched close by. After a time Apeman slept, andBentley was pleased to notice that the agony sweat no longer beadedApeman's body, and that Apeman was recovering with superhumanswiftness--thanks to the ministrations of the unnamed she who hadtaken charge of him. Apeman now rarely groaned, sleeping or waking.
Ellen watched the sleeping Apeman with her heart--and her fears--inher eyes. Satisfied that he slept, and that his sleep was healthy,Ellen again approached the creature she knew as Manape, Barter'strained ape.
"If only you could talk," she said to him. "If only you were able togive some hope. If only there were some way I could cause you tounderstand my wishes--understand and help me."
* * * * *
Bentley did not answer. He knew that to be useless. But his brainremembered something. His brain recalled that moment in the cage inthe dwelling of Barter, when his human brain had tried to forceobedience from the great clumsy hands of Manape, when he had tried toforce those mighty fingers to unfasten the knots which held the cagedoor secure.
Could he force those hands to something else?
Did he dare try?
It was a terrible risk to take with Ellen's sanity, but Bentley feltit must be taken. She was watching him hopelessly, and her lips movedas though she prayed for a miracle--as though by some weird necromancyshe might force Manape to understand her words, and to answer her,allaying her fears, destroying her hopelessness.
When Ellen watched him, Bentley searched about nearby until he found adried stick perhaps eight feet in length. He held it up, sniffed atit, fumbled it with his heavy, grotesque fingers. He focussed theattention of Ellen upon that stick, while his excitement mounted andmounted, and his fear of possible consequences kept pace with hisexcitement.
Then, his decision reached, he began again that species of hypnosiswhich seemed necessary to compel the hands and fingers of Manape to dothings no ape's hands had ever done before, no ape's brain had everthought of doing.
He pressed one end of the stick against the ground at his sprawlingfeet. With his left palm he smoothed out an area of dust several feetin either direction--a rough dusty rectangle.
Interested, her brows puckered in concentration. Ellen watched asManape went through these gestures which were so strangely, terriblyhuman.
Her eyes were watching the end of that twig which the trained ape wasso clumsily clutching in both hands.
She saw the marks the twig made in the dust as Manape caused it tomove--slowly, horribly, fearfully, from left to right across the areaof dust.
* * * * *
Fear began to grow in her face, but Bentley forced himself on. Againthe fetid odor of ape sweat covered him. This awful concentration,this awful task of forcing Manape to write English words was in itselfa miracle, more miraculous even than Ellen would have thought ofpraying for.
Her eyes were glued to the sprawling, uneven, misshapen marks in thedust with hypnotic fascination. Bentley dared not look at her, becauseit required all his will to force the clumsy hands of Manape to hisbidding.
He could only watch the marks in the dust, and will with all the powerof his human intelligence that the hands of Manape make their shapesufficiently plain that Ellen might read them--and hope besides thatthis terrible thing would not send the sorely harassed girl into thejungle, madly shrieking for deliverance from a nightmare.
There, the words were written--and Ellen was staring at them, her eyeswide and unblinking, her body as rigid as stone, and her face as cold.Only three words were possible without an interval of rest, but thosethree words, among all Bentley might have selected, were the most tothe point, the most unbelievable, the most black-magical.
_"I am Lee!"_
Minutes went into eternity as Ellen stared at the words. Silence thatit seemed would never be broken hang over the clearing. The bickeringof the apes passed unnoticed as Ellen stared. Then, slowly, she triedto raise her eyes to meet those of Manape.
She failed. Her body went limp and she slid forward on her face in thedust. Manape-Bentley gently turned her on her side and waited. Whatwould he see in her beloved eyes when she regained consciousness?
CHAPTER XI
_Barter Acts_
Bentley remained motionless, awaiting Ellen's return to consciousness.He waited in fear and trembling. How would she react to the horriblething he had told her?
Now there was possibility of converse between them. If she knew andrealized the meaning of his revelation. But would her mind stand upunder the awfulness of it? He had thought so, else he would not havetaken the chance he had taken. Much now depended upon Ellen, and allhe could do was wait.
Slowly she began to move. Moans escaped her lips, little patheticmoans, and the name of Lee Bentley.
At last her eyes opened, and widened with horror when they met thoseof Manape. Bentley knew that there were tears on the face ofBentley-Manape. Manape, it seemed, cried easily, like a child.
Her eyes still wide with horror. Ellen Estabrook slowly turned themuntil she gazed at the dust rectangle in which presumably a great apehad written words in English. But Bentley-Manape had rubbed out thewords. She turned and looked at Manape again, and her lips writhed andtwisted. She was seeking for words, shaping words, to ask questionssuch as none in all the world's history had ever asked of a giantanthropoid, with any hope of receiving answers.
"You tell me you are Lee," she began slowly, hesitantly, as though thewords were literally forced from her against her will. "I cannot graspthe meaning of that. You say you are Lee, yet I recognize you asManape, Caleb Barter's great ape. Yet Manape could not have writtenthose words. Yet, if you are Lee Bentley, who or what is that?"
* * * * *
She turned and pointed a trembling finger at Apeman. Bentley of coursecould not answer her in words, yet his mind was busy conceiving ofsome way in which he might answer her. She turned back to him after along look at Apeman and studied him. His huge barrel chest, the mightyarms, the receding forehead--the outward seeming of a giant ape.
Again that hesitant, horribly difficult task, of forcing the arms ofManape to perform actions which were not natural to the arms of agreat ape. Bentley managed to raise the right arm in the gesture ofpointing.
He pointed at the other apes, some of which slept, some of which ateof grubs and worms, or bickered savagely among themselves overwhatever childish trifles seemed important to the ape mind.
"You mean," said Ellen huskily, "that Lee Bentley there is really anape?"
Manape nodded, ponderously.
Ellen's face became animated. She was beginning to understand how tohold speech with Manape.
"You tell me he is a great ape, yet he has the body of Lee Bentley.You tell me you are Bentley, yet I see you as Manape. Caleb Barter'strained ape. How am I to understand? Are my eyes betraying me, or isthis a nightmare from which I shall waken presently? I see the shapeof Manape, who writes in the dust that he is Lee. How can I know? Noneof you I can see is Lee Bentley. What part of you that I cannot see isLee?"
* * * * *
Again the effort of forcing the hands of Manape to obedience.
Manape-Bentley tapped his receding forehead with his knuckles, and agasp burst from the lips of Ellen Estabrook.
"You mean your brain is Bentley's brain, and that Bentley's body holdsthe brain of a great ape?"
Manape
nodded clumsily.
"But how? You mean--Caleb Barter? I remember about him now. A mastersurgeon, an expert on anesthesia--a thousand years ahead of his time.You mean then that we three are part of an experiment? You, Manape,have the brain of Bentley, and Bentley has the brain of a great ape?"
Bentley nodded.
The face of Ellen Estabrook writhed and twisted. Her eyes studied theperson of Manape the great ape. She could not believe the thing shehad been told, yet she was thinking back and back--back to when Apemanhad carried her away, his subsequent behavior, his behavior in thehouse of Barter, and his interest in the she ape who had licked hiswounds.
She remembered how Manape in the beginning had looked at her with theeyes of a lustful man--and how later all his attitude had beenprotective. There seemed evidence in plenty to support the statementManape had mutely managed to give her. She was forced to believe.
"But, Lee,"--she came closer to Manape as she spoke--"we must dosomething for that creature there--that thing with the ape she whichlooks like the man I love. You've heard me say that I love LeeBentley?"
Manape nodded.
"Does Lee Bentley love me?"
Again Manape nodded, more vehemently this time. Ellen smiled. Then,quickly, she came to Manape, thrust her fingers against his skull andexamined it closely. Her brows were furrowed in concentration. Sheleft Manape and strode to Apeman. The she growled at her but sheignored the beast as much as possible, though plainly cognizant of thefact that she dared not touch her hands to Apeman on pain of beingtorn asunder by the fighting fangs of the ape she.
* * * * *
Then Ellen came back.
"The evidence is there, Lee," she said. "There are the marks of asurgeon's instruments. Marvelous. One is almost inclined to forget thehorror of it in the realization that a miracle has been performed. Theoperation was perfect. But what did he use for anesthesia? How didBarter manage to complete his operation and cause his two patients tofeel no-ill effects, to be to all intents and purposes well in mindand body--all within less than twelve hours? However, that does notmatter now. Something must be done. Since Caleb Barter was the onlyman who could perform this unholy operation, he is the only one whocould repeat it restoring each of you to your proper earthlycasements. So we must play in with him. I suppose you've long sincedecided that way, Lee?"
How strange it seemed to Ellen to discuss such matters with Manape.But behind his brutish exterior was the brain of the man whom sheloved.
"And there is one other thing," Ellen almost whispered, and her faceflushed rosily. "No harm must come to the body of Lee, you understand?He must never be permitted to do anything of which Lee Bentley ofafter years may have cause to feel ashamed."
Manape nodded. He understood her, and despite the grotesquerie of thewhole thing there was something intimate and sweet about thisinterchange. A man and woman loved. Just now that love was mentionedmore or less in the abstract, discussed on purely a mental basis--butboth Bentley and Ellen Estabrook were thinking of the future, and wereas frank with each other as they perhaps ever would be again.
* * * * *
Now the apes were beginning to stir themselves. It was time to be onthe move again. Eyes were turned toward Manape, who was plainlyintended to lead them further into the jungle. Ellen and the whitebody of Bentley were already being accepted as a matter of course.
If the great apes wondered why their returned lord did not jabber withthem in the gibberish of the great apes, there was no way of telling,for there was no way in which Manape could make himself understood,nor any way the great apes could tell their thoughts to Manape.
Then, without warning, the blow fell.
The storm broke, and even as the uproar started Bentley was sure thathe could sense behind it the fine hand of Caleb Barter--still workingout his "experiment," with human beings and apes as the pawns.
The apes were on the move, entering a series of aisles through thegloomy woods when the blow fell--in the shape of scores of nets, inwhose folds within a matter of seconds the great apes were fightingand snarling helplessly. They expended their mighty strength to noavail. They fought at ropes and thongs which they did notunderstand--and only Manape made no effort to fight, knowing ituseless.
Scores of black folk armed with spears danced and yelled in the brush,frankly delighted at the success of their grand coup. Barter wasnowhere to be seen, and there was a possibility that he knew nothingabout this. Yet Bentley knew better. Perhaps, in order to stimulatethe blacks, he had offered them money for great apes taken alive.Anyhow, scores of the apes were taken, and now exhausted themselves insavage bellowing and snarling, as they fought for freedom.
A half dozen to each net, the blacks gathered in their captives. Theymade much over Ellen Estabrook. They pawed over Apeman despite hissnarls and bellowings, and laughed when Apeman played the ape asthough to the manner born. They scented some mystery here, a white manraised by the apes, perhaps. But that Ellen and Apeman were prisonersof blacks, Bentley could plainly understand. He scarcely knew whichwas the more horrible for her--to be prisoner of the apes or theblacks.
But for the moment there was nothing he could do. And the blacks werenot torturing either Apeman or Ellen, though there was no mistakingwhat he saw in the faces of the blacks when they looked at Ellen andgrinned at one another.
Darkness had fallen over the world when the blacks went shouting intoa village of mud-wattled huts, bearing the trophies of their ape hunt.Still in their nets for safety's sake, the great apes were thrown intoa sort of stockade which had plainly just been built for theirreception--proof to Bentley that this decision to make an attackagainst the passing band of anthropoids had been a sudden one. Whatdid that indicate?
Someone had caused the blacks to react in a way that never would haveoccurred to them ordinarily.
Caleb Barter?
Bentley thought so. What now was Bentley supposed to do? What didBarter expect him to do? What did Barter expect Ellen to do? What didhe expect Apeman to do?
There was no question, as Bentley saw it, but that Caleb Barter stillpulled the strings, and that before morning this jungle village was towitness a horror it should never forget.
But at the moment Bentley had but one thought: to escape quietly withEllen and Apeman, and return to the dwelling of Caleb Barter.
CHAPTER XII
_Jungle Justice_
Again that grim concentration on the part of Bentley, forcing theunaccustomed great hands of Manape to perform things they had neverdone before. He must release himself from the rope net which held him.For the hands of a human being the task would have been easy. For thehands of Manape, even though guided by the will of Bentley, the taskwas far from easy.
But he persevered.
An hour after the apes had been dumped in the stockade, Bentley hadreleased himself from the rope net and was resting after the awfulordeal of forcing the hands of Manape to do his bidding. He pressedhimself against the uprights of the stockade, and carefully testedthem with his strength. The strength of Bentley would never haveavailed against the stout uprights of the stockade. Yet Manape-Bentleyknew that with the arms of Manape he could tear the uprights out ofthe ground as easily as though they had been match-sticks. What shouldhe do now?
His first impulse of course was to release the rest of the great apes.The brutes still fought at their bindings and were utterly insane withrage. What would they do when they were released? What was his dutywhere they were concerned? If they went wild through the nativevillage, slaying and laying waste, would Bentley be responsible forloss of life? If he left the apes in the hands of the natives, whatthen? He would never afterward forgive himself. He knew them aschildren of the wilds, carefree and happy brutes of the jungle. Now ifheld captives indefinitely they would either die or spend the rest oftheir lives in cages.
No, he would release the animals, one by one. The natives would haveto take their chances.
* *
* * *
A white figure loomed out of the darkness, coming from the directionof a great bonfire which showed all the jungle surrounding in weird,crimson relief. The white figure, all but nude, was Apeman! Followinghim were several natives, who laughed and prodded Apeman with thebutts of their spears.
Bentley understood that. They thought Apeman a demented white man,and to these natives a demented one was a butt of jokes. They did noteven suspect the horror of the possible revenge that was growing inthe brain of the ape which controlled the body of Apeman.
Twice or thrice Apeman tried to dart into the jungle, but always theblacks prevented, heading him toward the cage where the apes were heldprisoners. Bentley wondered where Ellen was and what was happening toher.
A celebration of some sort seemed going forward in the village. WasCaleb Barter somewhere near, perhaps on the edge of the jungle,grinning gleefully at this thing he had brought about as part of hisunholy experiment? There was no way of knowing of course, yet.
But....
Apeman reached the side of the stockade and snarled back at hisannoyers, while his white hands grasped the uprights and tore at themwith futile savagery. A strange situation. Inside the stockade a scoreof brutes who could rip the stockade to bits. Outside, one of themfree, but hampered by the puny strength of a human being.
The blacks shouted to Apeman but of course Bentley could notunderstand what they said. Apeman turned after snarling at them for afew moments, and began to chatter in that gibberish which appeared tobe Apeman's only mode of speech--ape language on the lips of a man!This was the only time it had ever happened.
The apes stirred fitfully as Apeman chattered, and began to renewtheir attacks on their bonds. The blacks, after watching Apeman for afew moments turned back toward the bonfire, evidently satisfied thatthis strange demented creature would not run away. Apeman chatteredand the apes made answer.
The she who had nursed Apeman managed to reach the side of thestockade, and for several moments Bentley listened to the horriblegrotesqueries--an ape she and a man talking together in brutishgibberish, and with hellish intimacy.
Now, wondering just how matters would work themselves out, Bentley sethimself the task of releasing the apes. They would at least create afuror in the village, during which Bentley could escape into thejungle with Apeman and Ellen Estabrook before the natives couldreorganise themselves and give chase.
His plan was hazy, and he figured without the savagery of Apeman whooccupied that white body which had been Bentley's. His one thought wasto free the apes, set them upon the village, and escape with Apemanand Ellen. Just that and no more; but he did not know the great apes,nor how thoroughly they followed the lead of their lord whom they knewas Manape, though how he was named in their brains he was never toknow.
One by one he released the apes. They seemed to sense the necessityfor stealth, for they began to ape the cautious behavior of Manape.Apeman, outside, seemed to be advising them, telling them what to do.
* * * * *
One by one as Manape released them, the apes squatted side by side,their red angry little eyes watching his every move. Bentley knew ofcourse what a fearful racket his own appearance would cause when hestrode out of the gloom among the blacks, seeking Ellen. But he knewthat surprise for a few precious moments would render the blacksincapable of stopping him until he got away. At least he hoped so.
Beyond that he had no other plan. All depended upon the behavior ofthe apes and the reaction of the blacks who were holding a devil'sdance about the mighty fire in the center of their village. Bentleydid not even yet dare guess what the apes would do when they saw whatManape-Bentley did. Would they follow him? Or would they race for thejungle to escape?
A few minutes now would tell the tale. He had released the last of thegreat apes, who now lined the side of the stockade, apparently holdingangry converse with Apeman. Bentley was reminded of the old fashionedmob of pioneer days--angrily muttering yet lacking a leader to directtheir efforts. Well, he had done his duty as he saw it. From now onthings must take their course.
But Bentley waited, watching the dancing figures about the fire. Asfar as he could tell the dance was approaching some sort of a climax.The figures leaped higher as they danced, and the noise of theirshouting raced and rolled across the jungle. They appeared to be drunkwith some sort of excitement, perhaps helped by native liquor, perhapsbecause of superstitious frenzy.
If he waited for their excitement to die down a bit, for some of themto go to sleep, his chances of releasing Ellen would be better. Itwould not be hard for him to find her--not with Manape's sensitivenose to lead him to her.
* * * * *
But time passed and the apes, though apparently being urged tosomething by Apeman, watching Manape sullenly, apparently waiting forhim to make some move.
Then, sharp as a knife, cutting through the other noises of thevillage, came Ellen's voice.
"Help, Lee! Help me!"
The scream was broken short off as though a hand had clutched thegirl's throat, but Bentley waited for no more--and Manape-Bentley flewinto action. His great hands went to the uprights of the stockade.His mighty shoulders heaved and twisted and the uprights were rippedapart.
The apes followed his lead, and the cracking of the stockade'suprights was like a volley of pistol shots. The great brutes fairlywalked through the green saplings which formed the prison. Manape wasleading the charge, and the apes, once through, did not hesitate. Iftheir leader charged the blacks they would follow--and did, whileamong them danced, cavorted and gibbered the travesty, Apeman.
He was Bentley's lieutenant, and Bentley-Manape was the lord of theapes. Just now he forgot that he was more ape than man. Just now hewas happy that his strength was the strength of many men. He washurrying to the assistance of the woman he loved.
Behind him came the great apes, following like an army of poorlytrained recruits, yet armed as no army has ever been armed since thedays when men fought with fist and fang against their enemies. Bentleylumbered swiftly toward the sound of Ellen's voice, aided in hisjourney by the odor of her which came to his sensitive ape's nostrils.
* * * * *
The blacks never saw the approach of the apes, until, led by Manapethe Mighty, the great apes were right among them. Bentley did notpause. A black man saw him and shrieked aloud in terror, a shriekwhich seemed to freeze the other blacks in all sorts of postures.Sitting men remained where they sat, and some of the motionless onessaved their lives by their immobility. Dancers paused in midstride,and those who did not, died.
For the hands of the great apes clutched at everything that moved, andthe great shoulders bulged, and the mighty muscles cracked, and menwere torn asunder as though they had been flies in the hands ofvengeful boys.
The black who had shrieked hurled a spear, purely a reflex,perhaps--an action born of its habitual use. It missed Bentley by anarrow margin, but passed through the stomach of the she who hadnursed Apeman. Snarling, snapping at the thing which hurt her, the shetore the weapon free--then waddled forward swiftly, caught the man whohad hurled the spear, and tore his head off with a single twistingmovement of her great hands.
Next moment her blood was mingling with that of her slayer as she fellabove him. But her hands, in the convulsions of death, still rippedand tore, and the black whom she held was a ghastly thing when the shewas finally dead. Bentley did not see the ghastly end of the spearman,for he was seeking Ellen, and at the some time keeping a close watchon Apeman.
Apeman seemed to be urging the apes to the attack, bidding them ripand tear and gnash, and the apes were doing that, making of thevillage a crimson shambles. But they did it in passing, for Manape wastheir leader, and him they followed--and he was seeking EllenEstabrook.
* * * * *
The door of the hut in which his nostrils told him she would be found,gave before his mighty chest as
though it had been made of paper.Inside, in the glow of the native lamp, a huge black man coweredagainst the further wall of the hut, with spear poised.
But the black man seemed frozen with terror.
"Lee! Lee!"
Bentley essayed one glance at her. In the other corner she was, withthe upper part of her clothing almost torn from her body.
Then the spearman hurled his weapon. Bentley strove to force the hugebulk of Manape's body to dodge the spear; but that body was slow indoing so--and took a mortal wound!
But it was a wound that would mean slow death. An aching, terriblewound. Then Manape-Bentley had grasped the body of the black, liftedit high above his head, and crashed it to the hard packed floor of thehut. The hut fairly shook with the thud of that fall. At once Manapestooped, caught the black by the ankles and pulled in oppositedirection with all his terrific might.
Then he whirled, masking what he had done from Ellen's sight with hishuge, sorely wounded body.
He tried to send her a message with his eyes, but it was notnecessary. She knew Manape, Barter's trained ape. She followed closeat his heels. Outside the hut's door Apeman still urged the apes todestruction of men and property, of women and children. The village ofthe blacks had become a place of horror.
"Hurry, Lee!" gasped Ellen. "You've been grievously wounded, and ifManape dies, nothing can save _you_--and I shall not care to live!"
But Bentley knew. His brain could sense the approach of death, andwhat he now must do was very plain.
He charged at Apeman and caught the struggling, snarling travesty upin his mighty arms. Then, with Ellen at his heels, he leaped into thejungle and began the race for the house of Caleb Barter.
* * * * *
Life was going from him, yet his brain forced onward the body ofManape. Behind came the great apes, following their leader. Now andagain they screamed and snarled at him, but he paid them no heed. Theycould follow or leave him, as they chose. They chose to follow.
Apeman fought and bit at Bentley, but he paid him as little heed asthough he had been nothing at all. Now and again when Ellen falteredBentley caught her up, too, and carried her with Apeman until Ellenwas rested enough to go on.
Some of the apes appeared to realize whither they were going, for theytook to the trees and vanished onward. With Apeman alone, Bentleyhimself would have taken to the trees as the swiftest way back toBarter's dwelling. But Ellen could not race along the upper terraces,and Bentley could not carry both Apeman and Ellen and leave theground. But he could travel swiftly on his race with death, with Ellenas the prize if he won.
The hours passed, and the strength of Manape decreased; but fiercelythe brain of Bentley drove the mighty body on. Ellen sobbed withweariness but continued on, and no words were spoken. There was notime for words. Now and again Bentley forced Apeman to walk, anddragged him forward with a hand clutching his wrist. At such timesBentley carried Ellen, and scarcely slackened his stride under herweight.
* * * * *
Once he tried to force Apeman to carry her, but the arms of Apemanwere not equal to the task for more than fifty yards or so, and hegave that up as being impracticable. His brain raced, thinking up waysto travel faster, to reach Barter's quarters before the mighty body ofManape should die, and with it the brain of Bentley.
Surely no stranger cavalcade ever before traversed the jungles of theBlack Continent.
So they came at last to the clearing. The apes protested and remainedin hiding, while Bentley, never pausing, raced across toward the househe would never forget.
The body of Manape was almost through, for it staggered like adrunken man. Blood covered the mighty chest, and the brain of Bentleyfelt hazy; nothing made sense; and the end was very near.
But they reached the door of Barter's dwelling, and Barter himself metthem, bearing his cruel whip in his hand. Ellen roused herself fromher extreme exhaustion and clutched at the scientist's hand.
"Professor Barter!" she begged. "Please, please! Manape is almostdead! Hurry! Hurry, for the love of God!"
"There, there, my dear young lady," said Barter soothingly. "Makeyourself easy. There's no cause for worry."
Manape-Bentley toppled forward on the floor of the cabin. Ellenscreamed and Barter comforted her. Apeman tried to escape to thejungle, but the lash of Barter drove him cowering and whimpering to acorner.
Then, oblivion--save that somewhere was the odor of violets. Or didviolets possess odor? Then, if not, the odor of flowers he thoughtwere violets.
CHAPTER XIII
_The Horror Passes_
Slowly consciousness returned to Bentley, and his first thought wasone of horror. From somewhere distinct came a doleful wailing sound.He thought he knew what it was--the mourning of great apes over amember that had died.
He had read somewhere that the great apes sorrowed when any of theirmembers died. Bentley opened his eyes. He could make out the ceilingof a room that he recognized. It was the room that had been firstassigned him in the dwelling of Barter.
Ellen Estabrook would be somewhere nearby. He opened his lips to callto her. Then he remembered. He'd tried to call to her before--and hadmerely bellowed like an ape. No, there was something he must knowfirst.
His arms and hands seemed as heavy as lead, but he lifted them andlooked at them--and a great feeling of peace descended upon him.Manape-Bentley was gone, and he was plain Lee Bentley again. There washis own ring, which Apeman had worn, and besides he had just spokenaloud, softly, for no ears save his own, and the voice had been LeeBentley's voice.
Yes, Barter had kept his promise, and Lee Bentley was Lee Bentleyagain.
But he was very weak, and his body was racked with pain. His hands andarms were covered with bandages. His body seemed packed in concrete,so moveless was it, and when he raised his voice it was terribly weak.
"Ellen," he managed to call; and again, "Ellen, darling!"
Instantly there came a swift patter of feet and Ellen was beside hisbed, on her knees, covering his face--what there was of itunbandaged--with kisses. There was really no need for words betweenthese two.
"Lee," she whispered, "I've been so afraid. You've been like this fora week, despite the miraculous knowledge and skill of ProfessorBarter. I've waited in fear and trembling, praying for you to live,and now you are Lee again, and will live on. Professor Barter haspromised me. All you need now is food, and care, and I shall showeryou with both. Barter has instructed me so carefully that I couldmanage even to care for you, sick as you are, without him here atall."
"And Manape?" Bentley's voice seemed to be stronger.
"He is dead," whispered Ellen. "I shall never forget him. There wassomething great, something even better than human about him, Lee! Oh,I know that he was you--but where would all three of us have been hadit not been for the powerful body of Manape, the great ape? Manape isdead, and in the jungle hereabouts the great apes mourn his passing.They've been wailing almost like human beings for a week.Manape--well, Professor Barter told me that you too would have died,had Manape reached his door five minutes later. As it was, he, andyou, were just in time!"
"It's amazing," whispered Bentley, "that the great apes stay aroundhere now that Manape is dead."
"Yes. It's strange--and terrible I think. There have been times when Ifelt they were waiting for something, for Professor Barter, perhaps.I've had the feeling they believe he killed their leader."
Now the two became silent, and Ellen held the bruised and broken handsof Bentley in both her own, and their eyes said things, one to theother, which eyes say so much better than lips do. They kissed eachother softly, and Ellen crooned with ecstasy, her cheek againstBentley's.
* * * * *
Then Caleb Barter entered.
"Well, well," he said, "when a man is in condition to make love to awoman, he is well on the road to recovery. It won't hurt you to talknow, Bentley, and before I begin asking questions, let me assure
youthat you will suffer no ill effects from your experience."
"What of my memories?" asked Bentley softly.
"Forget them!" snapped Barter tartly. "That is, after you have told meeverything that has happened. Miss Estabrook has already told me herangle of the experiment. Now, talk please--and then I shall make youwell, and you shall both go into the world with me, and tell peoplethat what I have to tell is true!"
So Bentley talked. Barter wrote like a man possessed. His fingersraced over the paper, repeating the words which fell from the lips ofLee Bentley, beside whom Ellen sat, holding his hands. Now and againBarter uttered an ejaculation of fierce joy. He was like a child witha toy that pleased him beyond words. He could scarcely wait for thewords to spill from the lips of Lee Bentley.
When Bentley paused for breath, Barter exclaimed impatiently, andurged him to greater speed. He thought of but one thing, hisexperiment.
And so at last Bentley had finished.
"That's all, Professor Barter!" he said softly.
"All!" cried Barter. "Everything! Fame! Wealth! Adulation! There isnothing in the world Caleb Barter may not have when this story istold! I can scarcely contain myself. You must hurry to be well inorder that the world may be told at once."
Laughing immoderately, Barter piled the manuscript he had written, andweighted it with a piece of rock. His face was a constant grin. Hisfingers trembled with eagerness. He could not contain himself.
Finally, as though from sheer joy of what he had accomplished, heraced from the cabin, and out across the clearing. Ellen and Bentleysmiled at each other. Moments passed. Still came to their ears themourning wails of the great apes.
* * * * *
Then suddenly there broke a sound so utterly appalling that the twowere frozen with terror for a moment. First it was the laughter ofCaleb Barter. Then, mingled with the laughter, the bellowing,frightful and paralyzing, of man apes challenging a hated enemy. Thedrumming of ape fists on huge barrel chests. Then the laughter ofBarter, dying away, ironic, terrible, into silence. Immediatelyafterward, high-pitched, mighty as the jungle itself, the concertedcries of half a dozen apes, as if bellowing their joy of the kill.
"They--they--" began Ellen in a choked voice. "The apes must have gotProfessor Barter!"
Silently Bentley nodded, and pointed.
Coiled on a nail near the door was Barter's whip. In his excitement hehad gone into the jungle without it for the first--and last--time.
"There is one thing to do," whispered Ellen, "before we prepare to getyou fully well. I shall care for you, and we shall both try to forget.And then we shall return to our own people."
"And the one thing?" asked Bentley.
The strained silence was suddenly broken by the bellowing of the greatapes, which now charged into the cabin. Bentley and Ellen cringed backfrom the murderous brutes to no avail. There was no denying them.Their slavering jaws, drooled below flaring nostrils, their eyesemitted sparks of animal fury. Bentley leaped to the girl andinterposed his body between hers and the vanguard of the apes, who nowwere surging into the room through the open door, and spreading apartwithin like water released from a dam.
The apes were bent on murder, there could be no doubt.
A very monster towered over Bentley. His jaws were wide, his littlered eyes fixed on the white man's neck. His great arms were comingforward to gather in both Ellen and Bentley--whom he could crush aseasily as he crushed the grubs which were his food.
Bentley was helpless and knew it. This was the end for Ellen andhimself. He must meet it unafraid. He tensed, awaiting the descent ofbestial destruction. His eyes met the murderous gleam in the eyes ofthe ape leader unflinchingly. And then the miracle happened.
The brute became suddenly and inexplicably hesitant. His bellow diedaway to a gurgling murmur in which there seemed somehow a hint ofapology. The fire went out of his eyes. His jaws closed with a snap.His great arms, already about Bentley, slid harmlessly over Bentley'sshoulders; dropped to his shaggy side.
The brute's little eyes looked long and in puzzled fashion into theeyes of Bentley. Then he began to chatter, and in a moment the otherapes ambled grotesquely toward the door and out. Ellen and Bentleywere alone together once more, unharmed--though numbed by realizationof the near passing of disaster.
"I don't understand it," muttered Bentley, brushing the beads ofperspiration from his brow. "It was a miracle!"
"Lee," Ellen answered, "I think I know, and it _is_ a sort of miracle.Somehow the apes felt that you were--whatever your guise--Manape. Theydid not recognize you by any of their means of recognition; yet thatbeast knew! How? Only God Himself might answer. But the beasts knew,and did not slay us. The inner voice which whispers inside us in timesof crises, whispers also to the great apes! Barter, then must haveunderstood their somehow spiritual kinship with us. His experiments--"
Her words reminded Bentley of what she had been saying when the greatapes had charged in upon them, murder bent. He interrupted her,gently.
"And the one thing we must do?" he rallied her.
Ellen rose, and her face was white and strained as she gatheredtogether Barter's manuscript. This she carried to the fireplace. Sheapplied a match and returned to Bentley's bedside. Then, side by side,the two who would never forget in any case watched the record ofBarter's unholy experiment burn slowly to ashes, while the screams ofthe great apes died away second by second, proof that they wereleaving this section of the jungle--going deeper and deeper into theforest gloom which was their rightful heritage, and from which no manhad a right to take them.
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