But Bentley knew that it wasn't all right, and that she did mind,
terribly.

* * * * *

Barter finished eating. Bentley had noticed that despite the long
years he had been a virtual hermit, Barter ate as fastidiously as he
probably had done when he had lived among his own kind. He pushed back
his chair with a swift movement.

Instantly the roaring of Manape rang through the room. The great brute
rose to his full height and grasped the bars of his cage, shaking them
with savage fury. He glared at his master and bestial rage glittered
from his red-rimmed eyes. He was a horrible sight. Ellen Estabrook,
with no apology, stepped around the table and crouched wide-eyed in
the arm of Lee Bentley.

"Lee," she said, "I'm terribly afraid. I almost wish we had trusted
ourselves in the jungle."

"I'll look out for you," he whispered, as Barter turned his attention
to the great ape.

But Bentley was watching the animal. So was Barter. The eyes of the
scientist were shining like coals of fire. For the moment he appeared
to 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, Bentley
studied the ape anew. Now he was positive of another thing: Manape was
scarcely concerned with Barter, whom he appeared to hate with an
utterly satanic hatred. His beady eyes were staring at Bentley
instead!

"The brute is jealous of me!" thought Bentley. "Good God, what does it
mean, 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 purpose
of it? What experiment was he performing? What part of it had the
castaways been witnessing that they had not recognized? Bentley,
recalling the distinct impression that the ape had stared at Ellen
almost with the eyes of a lustful man, and had even appeared to be
jealous of him because the girl had gone into his arms--Bentley felt a
shiver 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 r