To dig a grave with a sharpened stick as his only tool was by no means an easy task, since, owing to the enormous size of the mandrill Captain Seaworth had killed, it was necessary to make the excavation fully seven feet long.
He worked, however, as men will when they know their lives depend upon the effort. He threw aside the dark loam with feverish haste, regardless alike of the pitiless rain and the hurtling branches, until, just as the storm ceased and the moon peeped out from among the flying clouds as if for no other purpose than to tint the rattling bones with a most unearthly radiance, the grave was made, and the time had come when the skeleton must be cut down from the branches.
As a matter of course the former king of the island had no trousers pockets, therefore Philip was without a knife; but so strong is instinct that he attempted several times to insert his hand into the outer skin of his leg before realizing that his new clothes contained no convenient receptacle for tools. The rope by which the skeleton had been suspended was strong and resisted all his efforts to break it. It was necessary to ascend the tree and untie the halter, after which the well-dried anatomy fell to the ground with a clatter such as the end-man in a minstrel-show makes when he wishes to excite the greatest possible applause.
It was necessary to work now with the utmost haste, for, the tempest having ceased, it was more than probable his followers would soon come in pursuit, and Philip interred his skeleton with all possible speed, trampling the earth down until convinced that only the most careful scrutiny could reveal his secret.
Then he retraced his steps as best he could; but more than once did he deviate from the proper course, and the result of these involuntary detours was that day had already begun to break when he arrived within sight of the village.
Here was the loyalty of his subjects made manifest once more. Every individual ape had been looking for his king, occupying the piles of stones or roofs of houses as points of vantage, and when Philip appeared from the thicket a howl of joy went up which seemed to shake the very island.
During five hours the animal-trainer had been a man, but now he was an ape again, so to remain until rescuers should arrive or he be tempted to steal out once more under the friendly cover of a tempest.
Of course the first step which either king or peasant would naturally take after morning dawned was to procure breakfast, and Philip realized how necessary such a course was from the faintness which seized upon him after his arduous labors.
To enter the kitchen and there satisfy his hunger would be to squander all the provisions stored in the cupboards, for his subjects would make short work of Captain Seaworth’s dainties. Therefore, with a view of saving the stock for an emergency, Philip led the way, followed by hundreds of grinning, chattering, frolicsome monkeys, to the banana plantation, where all were soon busily engaged hunting for the yellow fruit.
It was Goliah himself who assumed the task of providing the king with food, and when the party had eaten their fill Philip led them back to the village, where for some moments he stood undecided as to how he should further comport himself.