about to do him some great
harm.

To rush on this monster, throw him on the ground in his turn, snatch
Herbert from him, then bind him securely, was the work of a minute for
Pencroft and Gideon Spilett. The sailor was of Herculean strength, the
reporter also very powerful, and in spite of the monster's resistance
he was firmly tied so that he could not even move.

"You are not hurt, Herbert," asked Spilett.

"No, no!"

"Oh, if this ape had wounded him!" exclaimed Pencroft.

"But he is not an ape," answered Herbert.

At these words Pencroft and Gideon Spilett looked at the singular
being who lay on the ground. Indeed it was not an ape, it was a human
being, a man. But what a man! A savage in all the horrible acceptation
of the word, and so much the more frightful that he seemed fallen to
the lowest degree of brutishness!

[Illustration: HERBERT IN DANGER]

Shaggy hair, untrimmed beard descending to the chest, the body almost
naked except a rag round the waist, wild eyes, enormous hands with
immensely long nails, skin the colour of mahogany, feet as hard as if
made of horn,--such was the miserable creature who yet had a claim to
be called a man. But it might justly be asked if there were yet a soul
in this body, or if the brute instinct alone survived in it!

"Are you quite sure that this is a man, or that he has ever been one?"
said Pencroft to the reporter.

"Alas! there is no doubt about it," replied Spilett.

"Then this must be the castaway?" asked Herbert.

"Yes," replied Gideon Spilett, "but the unfortunate man has no longer
anything human about him!"

The reporter spoke the truth. It was evident that if the castaway had
ever been a civilised being, solitude had made him a savage, or worse,
perhaps a regular man of the woods. Hoarse sounds issued from his
throat between his teeth, which were sharp as the teeth of a wild
beast made to tear raw flesh.

Memory must have deserted him long before, and for a long time also he
had forgotten how to use his gun and tools, and he no longer knew how
to make a fire! It could be seen that he was active and powerful, but
the physical qualities had been developed in him to the injury of the
moral qualities. Gideon Spilett spoke to him. He did not appear to
understand or even to hear. And yet on looking into his eyes, the
reporter thought he could see that all reason was not extinguished in
him. However, the prisoner did not struggle, nor even attempt to break
h