Walking sharply, Meldrum soon came in view of the quaint wooden house with its trees and grass plots. The sun had not yet set, and in the clear evening light Meldrum could see the small crouching figure sitting in its accustomed place. He stopped, as he reached the house, and stood watching a moment, and then, suddenly became petrified with astonishment.
For there came all at once into view, over and beyond the head of the small monkey, the great gray face of the old baboon with its long lips curled back and its doglike tusks displayed!
It gazed forth for an instant, seeming to hold back with one hand the lace curtain that overhung the window, and then disappeared as suddenly as it had come. Meldrum rubbed his eyes, then continued staring stupidly. The little monkey made no sign.
Thinking that perhaps the baboon had found its way into the house through an open window during Needham’s absence, Meldrum felt that he ought to warn the South African, without delay, of his unpleasant visitor. He went up the path to the house and rang the bell. He thought that at the sound he detected a far off scampering, but no one came in answer to his summons. He tried the door and found it locked.
In some perplexity, Meldrum came down the garden path to the sidewalk, wondering exactly what course to pursue. He looked again at the window. The little monkey still sat gazing intently at the street. Of the baboon there was no sign.
“It may have been imagination,” mused Meldrum. “But it looked uncommonly real.”
He had turned his steps back in the direction of the town, and was meditating whether or not to communicate his fears to the authorities, when to his relief he saw the tall figure of Needham striding toward him. They stopped to greet one another, and Meldrum hastened to tell the other what he had seen.
“Oh, nonsense!” said Needham, his moustache twitching. “They don’t come around houses like that—not in the day time, anyway. The place was all right at midday and has been locked up tight ever since. No; you must have imagined it.”
He laughed lightly, and in a subconscious kind of way Meldrum seemed to get the impression that the tall man was more anxious to laugh the story off than to continue to discuss it. However, he offered to accompany Needham home and help search the house.
“Just wait there for a moment if you don’t mind,” said Needham (again with nervous haste, it seemed to Meldrum) “and I’ll walk around and have a look at the windows. If they are all right I’ll give you a wave.”