Captured by Apes; or, How Philip Garland Became King of Apeland

by Harry Prentice

At this moment the arrival of a ship would be most opportune. I am positive any captain could be persuaded or hired to remain at anchor here three or four weeks, while a portion of our company sailed in search of natives. In any event, word could be sent to Batavia; therefore, in the hope of signaling a vessel that shall lend such assistance, I have had a fire built in the crater of the old volcano, which is the highest point of land, and detailed a force of men to feed it night and day. Should any European craft pass within sight, her commander would unquestionably endeavor to learn the reason for the beacon, and thus my object may be attained.

“I am gradually learning the cause of the apes’ movements,” Philip said to himself, as he looked up from the book thoughtfully. “Goliah’s force probably enjoyed the glare of the flames, and since then, when having nothing better to occupy their attention, have kept the fire alive as I saw it on the night they captured me. If I ever succeed in reaching home again I shall have a true story to tell which will seem in the highest degree improbable.”

Then he turned his attention to the journal once more, and read the following:

During the past week the officers have been making ready for a ball to be held in this building, and I do not consider it necessary to put an end to the festivities. This merry-making will serve to allay any suspicions regarding our safety which may have sprung up among the colonists, owing to our protracted consultation of the morning, and it is in the highest degree essential that no panic shall ensue, whatever plan we may decide upon. The officers are warned to keep our deliberations a secret, and the people will dance and sing as if we were in perfect security, instead of living, as is really the case, on the crater of a sleeping volcano, which has already begun to seethe and boil preparatory to an eruption.

This last paragraph completed the page, and Philip eagerly turned to the next leaf, but it was blank. The journal, which he had believed would extend very much further, was suddenly ended. Not a word respecting the ball, nor any mention of the weapon left in the sand!

A sinister blank followed the last line penned by the captain. What had happened to the colony and to the writer himself since this final entry? No one was present to answer these questions; but an ominous reply was written everywhere around in the silence and desolation; the houses partially destroyed and their contents pillaged; savage and vindictive animals wearing, as if in raillery, the habiliments of gallant officers.

During the remainder of that day Philip sat in the library studying over what was apparently a solution of the mystery, but arriving at no satisfactory conclusion. It seemed almost certain the pirates had interrupted the merry-making, and that the captain was massacred before the dawning of another morning, otherwise he would have written more, for the journal bore evidence of an entry, however slight or insignificant, each day.

“But,” Philip asked himself, “if the Malays did make the descent, why was not the village destroyed, and why were the valuable contents of the houses left behind? If the pirates overcame the colonists they would have had plenty of opportunity to sack and pillage, for there was no possibility of an interruption, since they were masters of the surrounding sea.”

One other supposition flashed across Philips mind, although it seemed too absurd to be seriously entertained, and this was that the apes had forestalled the murderous intentions of the pirates. Despite the apparent foolishness of such a conjecture Philip could not banish the idea, even though he said many times that if all belonging to the colony had been assassinated in some mysterious way, he would certainly have found their remains during his travels since the shipwreck.

Night came and he was still seated in the library sad and disheartened. During the hours of darkness he alternately slumbered and speculated upon the tragedy which must have taken place. Before morning he solved the mystery or believed he did; and, terrible as was his theory, it had strangely ’ enough the effect of calming him to a wonderful degree.