As the ape approached the casement with its mutilated burden, the sailor shrank aghast to the rod, and, rather gliding than clambering down it, hurried at once home—dreading the consequences of the butchery, and gladly abandoning, in his terror, all solicitude about the fate of the Ourang-Outang. The words heard by the party upon the staircase were the Frenchman’s exclamations of horror and affright, commingled with the fiendish jabberings of the brute.
I have scarcely anything to add. The Ourang-Outang must have escaped from the chamber, by the rod, just before the breaking of the door. It must have closed the window as it passed through it. It was subsequently caught by the owner himself, who obtained for it a very large sum at the Jardin des Plantes. Le Bon was instantly released, upon our narration of the circumstances (with some comments from Dupin) at the bureau of the Prefect of Police. This functionary, however well disposed to my friend, could not altogether conceal his chagrin at the turn which affairs had taken, and was fain to indulge in a sarcasm or two, about the propriety of every person minding his own business.
“Let them talk,” said Dupin, who had not thought it necessary to reply. “Let him discourse; it will ease his conscience. I am satisfied with having defeated him in his own castle. Nevertheless, that he failed in the solution of this mystery, is by no means that matter for wonder which he supposes it; for, in truth, our friend the Prefect is somewhat too cunning to be profound. In his wisdom is no stamen. It is all head and no body, like the picture of the Goddess Laverna,—or, at best, all head and shoulders, like a codfish. But he is a good creature, after all. I like him especially for one master stroke of cant, by which he has attained his reputation for ingenuity. I mean the way he has ‘de nier ce qui est, et d’expliquer ce qui n’est pas.’”[A]
[A] Rousseau, Nouvelle Heloise.
Kilted Wraith and Bagpipe Spook Communicate With Spiritualists
A most colorful procession of spirits passed before the recent convention of the Illinois Spiritualist Association. There was a Highland gentleman with kilts of Stewart tartan who came to give a message to “Mary,” and who was accompanied by an uncle who played the bagpipe. “Eleanor Ives,” a little girl of four, returned to tell her mother that all was well in the world beyond. At first, she said, she had hated to go, but now she is happy and often visits her mother. Lastly, a colored “mammy” was materialized by Mrs. Waite, the medium. She was seen sitting before a cabin door smoking an old corncob pipe. She said she had a message for her granddaughter.
Here’s the Final, Thrilling Installment of
THE MOON TERROR
By A. G. BIRCH