ly been a pet of man; but
that theory was not tenable in the face of the isolation of his
uninhabited island. He seemed continually to be searching for someone,
and during the first days of the return voyage from the island he was
often discovered nosing about in various parts of the ship; but after
he had seen and examined each face of the ship's company, and explored
every corner of the vessel he lapsed into utter indifference of all
about him. Even the Russian elicited only casual interest when he
brought him food. At other times the ape appeared merely to tolerate
him. He never showed affection for him, or for anyone else upon the
Marjorie W., nor did he at any time evince any indication of the savage
temper that had marked his resentment of the attack of the sailors upon
him at the time that he had come among them.

Most of his time was spent in the eye of the ship scanning the horizon
ahead, as though he were endowed with sufficient reason to know that
the vessel was bound for some port where there would be other human
beings to undergo his searching scrutiny. All in all, Ajax, as he had
been dubbed, was considered the most remarkable and intelligent ape
that any one aboard the Marjorie W. ever had seen. Nor was his
intelligence the only remarkable attribute he owned. His stature and
physique were, for an ape, awe inspiring. That he was old was quite
evident, but if his age had impaired his physical or mental powers in
the slightest it was not apparent.

And so at length the Marjorie W. came to England, and there the
officers and the scientists, filled with compassion for the pitiful
wreck of a man they had rescued from the jungles, furnished Paulvitch
with funds and bid him and his Ajax Godspeed.

Upon the dock and all through the journey to London the Russian had his
hands full with Ajax. Each new face of the thousands that came within
the anthropoid's ken must be carefully scrutinized, much to the horror
of many of his victims; but at last, failing, apparently, to discover
whom he sought, the great ape relapsed into morbid indifference, only
occasionally evincing interest in a passing face.

In London, Paulvitch went directly with his prize to a certain famous
animal trainer. This man was much impressed with Ajax with the result
that he agreed to train him for a lion's share of the profits of
exhibiting him, and in the meantime to provide for the keep of both the
ape and his owner.

And so came