y himself. He entered the room with
Ellen and barred the door behind him. He likewise barred the door
which led to that other room. Now in total darkness it was all he
could do from clambering on the bed where Ellen slept, and begging her
to touch him--anything--if only to prove to him that there still were
sane creatures left in a mad world.

Outside Barter laughed.

"Oh, Bentley," he called after a long interval of silence, "do you
like the odor of violets? Goodnight, and pleasant dreams!"

What had Barter meant?

Again assuring himself that the connecting door could not be opened if
anything or anybody tried to enter that way, Bentley flung himself
down before the door which gave on the reception room. He had no
intention of sleeping. But in spite of himself he dozed off, though he
fought against sleep with all his will.

Strange, but as he gradually slipped away into unconsciousness he was
cognizant of the odor of violets--like invisible tentacles which
reached through the very door and wrapped themselves gently about him.

His last conscious thought was of Manape, the ape with the brain of a
jungle savage. But in spite of the vague feeling of horror he could
not fight off the desire for sleep.

CHAPTER IV

_Grim Awakening_

Bentley returned to consciousness with a dull headache. He rose to a
sitting posture and looked dully about him. Dimwittedly he tried to
recall all that had passed since he had last been awake. He knew he
had 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 yesterday
afternoon. Yonder was the bed he guessed Barter customarily used, and
he shuddered a little as he fancied a man sleeping in the same room
with that ghastly travesty which was neither ape nor human--Manape.
The creature's name was simple, being simply "man" and "ape" joined
together to fit the creature perfectly--too perfectly. Barter's bed
had 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 the
place 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, he
turned his eyes toward the corner where the beast's cage was.

The cage was empty!

The door of