Hesitatingly he did so, and looking through the bars saw the other animal he had sold to Captain Seaworth—Ben Bolt!
The sight of this captive gave Philip a solution to the riddle, and he uttered a low exclamation of surprise that he had not sooner guessed it.
There could no longer be any question but that he was on the island where the corporation, whose agent Captain Seaworth was, had started their colony.
Upon examining the iron cages more closely he saw that they were the same taken from his establishment when the animals were purchased, and in them had been confined the gigantic Goliah. But how had he escaped? Where was the captain and those who had been brought out as colonists?
It was hardly possible the tribe of monkeys could have vanquished the entire party, and not probable Goliah had been released until the human beings were disposed of in some way. Was this seeming capture of the village the sequel to a story of which he had seen the first chapter in the skeleton among the mimosas?
Philip had solved one problem only to find himself confronted by another yet more perplexing and painful. He was on the very island where his friends had landed, and yet no signs of them could be seen save in the clothing, the cottages, and the behavior of the apes.
These thoughts passed through the shipwrecked youth’s mind very rapidly. Only for a few moments did he stand undecided before the cage which confined Ben Bolt, and then he drew the bars, allowing the unhappy captive to go free.
Instantly the chimpanzee was released he rushed toward Philip, fawning around him several minutes, and then turned to Alice, whom he greeted with every evidence of affection. During fully five minutes these two animals capered like dogs who evince joy at a master’s return. Then Alice suddenly raised her head as if in fear, lowering it again as the hair on her neck stood erect like that of an angry cat’s, while she motioned with one paw toward the forest, and with the other thrust Ben Bolt back into the cage, expressing by every gesture her desire that the door should be fastened again.
So much intelligence had these chimpanzees displayed while in his establishment that the animal-trainer felt no hesitation about following the mute instructions; and the bars were hardly replaced when hoarse, guttural cries in the distance told that Goliah was approaching.