After the judicial session was ended the monkeys would separate, forming bands of two or three hundred, each to go in search of food, and during such excursions Philip oftentimes found an opportunity to gain the kitchen unobserved, thus being able to vary the ordinary bill of fare by some of the dainties which had been so distasteful while he was a prisoner in the building. Never once, however, was he tempted to drink any of the wine. The remembrance of the days when he so ardently wished for water, but was unable to procure it, taught him the strictest temperance principles.
Every morning the apes held what might be called a grand military review, the entire body marching in front of the building occupied by their king. Philip, and those who attached themselves to his person as a sort of body-guard or staff, reviewed the troops with the utmost gravity, after which each ape executed marvelous monkey-maneuvers in the shape of ground and lofty tumbling, in which it was expected the king would take an active part.
It was at the first of these parades that Philip understood what was demanded of a monarch. After the main body of the party had turned somersaults or handsprings all eyes were directed at him, and words were not needed to let him know he should perform the same antics.
This opportunity of allowing the king to display his agility was never lost, and after the first exhibition Philip looked forward with fear and trembling to the moment when he must, before the assembled army, go through such contortions as would have put a professional acrobat to shame.
His method of life, as well as his costume, fitted him to a certain extent for these extraordinary antics, and while he did not succeed in performing them with the skill and agility displayed by his subjects, there were plenty of flatterers near at hand to lavish praise upon him as if he had outdone them all.
And now must be told that which may seem improbable.
Eager for labor, because it brought him relief from close communication with his followers, Philip set systematically at work, not only repairing the buildings, but laying out roads from one side of the island to the other; and this he accomplished with no more assistance than that afforded by the long-tailed inhabitants.
In less than one month the buildings which had been destroyed were rebuilt in the most substantial manner with walls of stone. Two or three additional dwellings were constructed later, and four splendid roads running north, south, east and west, from the village to the sea, were opened.
That which would have taken a small army of laborers many months to accomplish was completed by the apes in a little more than three weeks. It was only necessary for Philip to begin felling trees on the right and left of the four lines representing the routes to be opened through the thicket, when hundreds of pairs of hands were at work pulling up the underbrush, tearing down shrubs, and chopping at the tree-trunks with as many axes as could be found in the store-room.
During this work in the forest Philip had ample opportunity of noting the immense number and variety of spiders and lizards which were to be found on the island.