t difficulty that presented itself was, how they were to get
him along; when they broke in the onagra, they ran a prong through his
ear; in reducing the buffalo to subjection, they did not feel the
slightest compunction in thrusting a pin through the cartilage of his
nose; then, in order to give elasticity to the legs of the ostrich,
they yoked him to two or three other animals, and, willing or
unwilling, he was compelled ultimately to yield obedience to the lords
of creation. But whether the creature before them was a lower order of
negro or a higher order of ape, there was too great a resemblance
between the captured and the capturers to admit of any of these
methods of impulsion being adopted. It was, therefore, stretched on a
plank, like a nabob in his palanquin, that the chimpanzee made his
first appearance at Rockhouse.

When the cavalcade arrived there, all the family, with the exception
of Ernest and Frank, were still asleep. The first thing they did was
to clothe the creature they had captured in a sailor's pantaloons and
jacket, with which he seemed rather pleased, and the result of this
operation was, that he began to assume a less ferocious aspect, and
behave more respectfully towards his captors. All the family had sat
down to breakfast, when Fritz and Jack, taking him by the hands, led
him gravely into the gallery. A cord was attached to his legs,
allowing him to walk, but was so arranged that he could not run.

On his appearance the young girls fled at once; and, more accustomed
to drawing-rooms than the rude realities of savage life, Mrs.
Wolston's first impulse was to do the same.

"Goodness gracious!" she cried with an air of alarm, "what horror is
that?"

"That, madam, is precisely what we have been anxious for the last two
or three hours to find out," replied Fritz.

"Does the creature speak?"

"Up till now, madam," replied Willis, "he has only opened his mouth to
swallow my calabash of Malaga; beyond that, he has kept as close as a
purser's locker."

When the first shock had passed, and the company had regained their
self-possession, Jack related, with his customary originality, the
incidents of the nocturnal expedition, of which Fritz was the
originator, leader, and hero. The ladies then, for the first time,
were made acquainted with the doubts, fears, perplexities, and
battues, which, out of gallantry, they had hitherto been kept in
ignorance of. Becker then, having carefully investigated