The former stood at the edge of the tunnel and pointed downward with an impatient gesture.
Philip descended into a narrow excavation barely large enough to admit of his crawling on his hands and knees; and here, as if waiting for him, was the other chimpanzee, who immediately led the way through the passage, assuring herself that he would follow by winding her long tail around his neck in such a manner that he must perforce be dragged if he could not creep.
Had a spectator been in the place so lately occupied by Philip he would have seen Ben Bolt pull the furniture together even above his head, and then, retreating into the hole, drag some of the floor-boards after him to hide the existence of the tunnel.
In this he displayed reasoning powers beyond a peradventure, for those who were working above would, on reaching the bottom, find no evidences of an excavation, and it was hardly probable they would pursue their investigation any further than the floor of the room.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE RETREAT.
Philip did not attempt to speculate upon the intelligence displayed by the chimpanzees as he half-followed and was half-dragged along the narrow tunnel by Alice.
That these two had recognized in the king of the apes their old master whose life they had previously tried to save there could be no question, for on entering the narrow hiding-place in the house Ben Bolt had shown no surprise at finding confined there a man instead of an ape; and on her part, Alice acted as if recognizing the object of their search.