f
the utter hopelessness of it, he rushed forward to drag the ape from
his wife's prostrate form.

With little or no effort he succeeded, and the great bulk rolled
inertly upon the turf before him--the ape was dead. The bullet had
done its work.

A hasty examination of his wife revealed no marks upon her, and Clayton
decided that the huge brute had died the instant he had sprung toward
Alice.

Gently he lifted his wife's still unconscious form, and bore her to the
little cabin, but it was fully two hours before she regained
consciousness.

Her first words filled Clayton with vague apprehension. For some time
after regaining her senses, Alice gazed wonderingly about the interior
of the little cabin, and then, with a satisfied sigh, said:

"O, John, it is so good to be really home! I have had an awful dream,
dear. I thought we were no longer in London, but in some horrible
place where great beasts attacked us."

"There, there, Alice," he said, stroking her forehead, "try to sleep
again, and do not worry your head about bad dreams."

That night a little son was born in the tiny cabin beside the primeval
forest, while a leopard screamed before the door, and the deep notes of
a lion's roar sounded from beyond the ridge.

Lady Greystoke never recovered from the shock of the great ape's
attack, and, though she lived for a year after her baby was born, she
was never again outside the cabin, nor did she ever fully realize that
she was not in England.

Sometimes she would question Clayton as to the strange noises of the
nights; the absence of servants and friends, and the strange rudeness
of the furnishings within her room, but, though he made no effort to
deceive her, never could she grasp the meaning of it all.

In other ways she was quite rational, and the joy and happiness she
took in the possession of her little son and the constant attentions of
her husband made that year a very happy one for her, the happiest of
her young life.

That it would have been beset by worries and apprehension had she been
in full command of her mental faculties Clayton well knew; so that
while he suffered terribly to see her so, there were times when he was
almost glad, for her sake, that she could not understand.

Long since had he given up any hope of rescue, except through accident.
With unremitting zeal he had worked to beautify the interior of the
cabin.

Skins of lion and panther covered the floor. Cupboards and bookc