Owing to Goliah’s interference, however, the parade was not dismissed as quickly as under other and more pleasant circumstances. The troops marched and countermarched, directed by the baboon, until it seemed to the king, whose royal robe was shrinking rapidly, that the pageant would never end.
The fifteen minutes which passed after his refusal to salute seemed like so many hours; but the soldiers were finally dismissed, and by a series of the most extraordinary maneuvers Philip succeeded in reaching the veranda of his dwelling hardly more alive than dead, while clustered around him, with anxiety or curiosity written on every face, was a vast throng of apes, foremost among whom stood Goliah, glaring in the most suspicious manner, as if he fully understood the cause of the king’s discomfiture.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A ROYAL INVALID.
The king of the apes was a voluntary prisoner for a second time.
On gaining the building he shut the door in the faces of his anxious and suspicious subjects and betook himself once more to the second-story room, from the windows of which he had previously waged battle against the apes.
This apartment, like all others in the house, had been remodeled, and, thanks to the energy of his subjects, was in a better condition to withstand a siege than when he first entered it. During all his labor he had kept ever in mind the thought that at some future time it might be necessary to have a place of refuge, and to this end he restored the rooms to their original condition and location, thus giving him, as before, free range from the kitchen to what had been Captain Seaworth’s office.
It is true the doors were no stronger than before, and should the apes select either one of them as a distinct point of attack, it might soon be battered down. Against such an event he could take no precautions, but trusted that, should another battle ensue, the missiles would be thrown with the same absence of studied aim as had been previously displayed.
Arriving in this corner apartment, Philip threw himself in Captain Seaworth’s chair disheartened and almost weary of life, even though he was trying to devise some plan for prolonging it.