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[Illustration: The front of the house gave way under the shower of stones
thrown at Philip by the monkeys.—(See page 191.)]
CAPTURED BY APES;
OR,
HOW PHILIP GARLAND BECAME KING OF
APELAND.
BY HARRY PRENTICE.
Author of “The Slate-Picker,” “Captured by Zulus,” etc., etc.
ILLUSTRATED.
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
A. L. BURT, PUBLISHER,
COPYRIGHT 1892, BY A. L. BURT.
THE KING OF APELAND.
Transcriber’s Note: This table of contents has been added as a
convenience for the reader.
CHAPTER I. THE DEALER IN ANIMALS
CHAPTER II. MAGOG’S REVENGE
CHAPTER III. A TERRIBLE NIGHT
CHAPTER IV. THE WRECK
CHAPTER V. ASHORE
CHAPTER VI. DISAGREEABLE NEIGHBORS
CHAPTER VII. A SINGULAR DISAPPEARANCE
CHAPTER VIII. A PERILOUS PREDICAMENT
CHAPTER IX. A TERRIBLE FIGHT
CHAPTER X. A REMARKABLE GATHERING
CHAPTER XI. AN ODD VILLAGE
CHAPTER XII. THE TREASURE-CAVE
CHAPTER XIII. TREASURE-GATHERING
CHAPTER XIV. THE BABOON TASK-MASTER
CHAPTER XV. A MONKEY-FEAST
CHAPTER XVI. AN APISH ORGY
CHAPTER XVII. INCONVENIENT MEMORIES
CHAPTER XVIII. FROM THE FRYING-PAN TO THE FIRE
CHAPTER XIX. BESIEGED
CHAPTER XX. CAPTAIN SEAWORTH’S JOURNAL
CHAPTER XXI. A HAPPY DISCOVERY
CHAPTER XXII. SOLVING THE MYSTERY
CHAPTER XXIII. THE BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES
CHAPTER XXIV. A METAMORPHOSIS
CHAPTER XXV. THE NEW KING
CHAPTER XXVI. A KINGLY GRAVE-DIGGER
CHAPTER XXVII. A SERIOUS ACCIDENT
CHAPTER XXVIII. A ROYAL INVALID
CHAPTER XXIX. EXCESSIVE AFFECTION
CHAPTER XXX. THE RETREAT
CHAPTER XXXI. THE RETURN OF THE COLONISTS
CHAPTER XXXII. A BOATSWAIN’S FATE
CHAPTER XXXIII. A PITCHED BATTLE
CHAPTER XXXIV. APISH STRATEGY
CHAPTER XXXV. THE RETREAT
CHAPTER XXXVI. A DISAPPOINTMENT
CHAPTER I.
THE DEALER IN ANIMALS.
Several years ago, or, to speak more accurately, in 1871, Philip Garland,
a young man of not more than seventeen years, succeeded his father in the
business of buying, selling and training wild animals, making a specialty
of those belonging to the monkey kingdom.
Garland, senior, was well and favorably known throughout the country by
proprietors of museums, circuses, and collectors generally, and his son
found himself the fortunate possessor of an unblemished reputation and an
extensive establishment, together with a large capital of ready money,
but not a relative to whom he could turn for relaxation from the cares of
business.
Philip and his father had led lonely lives, so far as intercourse with
other members of the human family was concerned. As a matter of fact they
were well acquainted with their regular customers; but these came only
in the hours devoted to business, tarried no longer than was absolutely
necessary, and probably cared not one whit how these merchants passed
their leisure time.
Perhaps this comparative isolation was the cause of Philip’s devoting
himself with such assiduity to his profession, if such it may be termed.
From his childhood the senior Garland had instilled into his son’s mind
the rudiments of natural history, and having the rare faculty of so
presenting dry subjects as to make them interesting, he had so thoroughly
enlisted the boy’s attention and sympathies that when Master Philip
found himself at the head of the establishment he was one of the most
enthusiastic students.
Unlike his father, he was a naturalist in the full sense of the word, and
devoted himself more particularly to noting the peculiarities and habits
of four-handed mammals, otherwise known as the monkey tribe.
In two months after the elder Garland died Philip’s collection was
composed principally of apes, he having so reduced the stock by forced
sales that nearly every other species of animal, as well as the entire
lot of birds, had given way to the tribe in whose habits he was so deeply
interested.
As a matter of course, any variety of the monkey-kind are more valuable
when their talents for imitation have been developed by the aid of
education, and the new head of the house of Garland & Co. made a point of
instructing his live articles of merchandise in the most thorough manner.
During every hour of the day, when not engaged with customers, Philip
taught the apes to throw somersaults, jump through hoops, dance, play
the tambourine, and a variety of similar accomplishments. He also had
several so highly educated as to march at the word of command, present
arms, fire a musket, fence, or salute in true military fashion.
Quite naturally this reduction of stock to a single and not very rare
species of animal caused a corresponding falling off in the number
of customers. But for this Philip cared little. His bank account was
sufficiently large to admit of his conducting the business after his own
peculiar fashion, regardless of whether the balance at the end of the
year was in his favor or not; and as the sales were limited so did his
stock increase, until, at the time when an old friend of his father’s,
Captain Seaworth, master of the good ship Reynard, called in company with
his first and second officers at what was now little more than a monkey
emporium, to give the young man good advice, he was greatly amused at the
proficiency to which these long-tailed animals had been brought.
Among the large collection were four which attracted the most attention;
and, as may be supposed, these were the ones upon whom Philip had spent
the greater portion of his time in teaching. Two were enormous baboons,
strong as giants, and of corresponding ferocity. When their instruction
was begun they would oftentimes seize the iron rods which were used in
the way of discipline, bending them like straws; and more than once had
their teacher battled for his life when these pupils escaped from the
stoutly-barred cage. Finally, however, both had been partially subdued
through fear, not love, until, with many a grimace and angry gesture,
they would obey in a surly manner the orders given.
That these brutes knew exactly what their teacher desired of them was
shown even when they refused to do his bidding. Both were well aware when
the hour for study had come, and from their movements one would have said
they were discussing the question as to whether it was best to learn
anything on this particular day or hold out against the master at the
expense of a severe flogging.
Philip often said that there was no animal in his collection who
understood the human voice better than these same ferocious brutes, and
their disobedience was only proof of their vicious natures.
“Those fellows know enough to put me through the same course of
instruction, provided they held the iron rod and had the opportunity,”
Philip often said to his assistants; and at such remarks the larger of
the baboons actually wrinkled his face into what was very like a smile,
as if thinking of the glorious time he could have in turning the tables
on his not very gentle teacher.
This interesting couple had not inaptly been christened Goliah and Magog.
The other notable members of the collection were quite the opposite, both
in disposition and appearance. They were a male and female chimpanzee,
young, and not absolutely ill-favored, if one should compare them with
the monkey type of beauty. Both were tractable, obeyed every command as
readily as the best-behaved children, and regarded their master with an
affection which seemed almost human.
Philip had named the male Ben Bolt and the female Sweet Alice, because
the regard which each apparently entertained for the other was quite as
fervent, in their monkey way, as is supposed to have been that of the
lovers mentioned in the song.
These two appeared to be perfectly contented in the Garland
establishment. They were not only docile, but seemingly delighted at
being able to show their proficiency when Philip taught them new tricks,
and the female in particular obeyed the slightest word as readily as any
human being could have done. Yet these tractable pupils, who never needed
the discipline of the iron rod, had more than their share of trouble
in the fact that Goliah was most desperately smitten with Sweet Alice,
and would at every opportunity display this fact in a very disagreeable
manner.
In his own peculiar fashion it could plainly be seen, even by a casual
observer, that this monkey-love was something terrible in its intensity.
Whenever, as frequently happened, the two favorite animals were allowed
the liberty of the museum, this huge baboon would give proof of the most
violent rage toward Ben Bolt, and on more than one occasion had Philip’s
iron rod been the only thing which saved the chimpanzee from Goliah’s
hideous jealousy. He would shake the bars of his cage in an excess of
anger if Ben came near him, and make the most frantic efforts to seize
his rival; but thus far the lovers had escaped any serious injury.
Captain Seaworth, actuated by a desire to assist the son of his old
friend, decided to purchase, for his amusement during the long voyage
he was about to undertake, one of the baboons, and to this end selected
Goliah, much to the pleasure of Philip.
His officers, following the example of their commander, also made
overtures for the purchase of Ben Bolt and Sweet Alice, together with
four other less intelligent but well-mannered apes of the collection.
For some time Philip was undecided whether to part with the two
chimpanzees, whom he looked upon more as pets than articles of
merchandise; but yielding to persuasion and promises that they should not
only be cared for tenderly, but kept far from the ill-favored Goliah, he
finally consented.
It seemed as if the chimpanzees understood that they were about to
be separated from their kind master, and in every way by which it is
possible for brutes to show grief they displayed it, until the animal
dealer was forced to leave his establishment during the transfer.
Of Captain Seaworth’s intended voyage Philip already knew, as did that
portion of the public who make a practice of reading all the daily
newspapers.
Under the auspices of a corporation made up of coffee merchants in New
York and its vicinity, the Reynard was bound for one of the many islands
of the Malay Archipelago, there to found a colony for the purpose of
raising coffee on a gigantic scale. The captain’s orders were to consult
with the agents of the corporation at Batavia, who would make a selection
of some land near Borneo which could be leased or purchased, there
landing the laborers, and directing their movements until the enterprise
should be well begun. After that, Captain Seaworth would proceed in
accordance with such instructions as might be received from home.
Thus it was a long voyage that these dumb members of Philip’s
establishment were to take, and it is little wonder that he feared for
the safety of Ben Bolt and Sweet Alice while on shipboard with the
ferocious and mighty Goliah.
If the young merchant had had the slightest idea of the wicked cunning
in the breast of the huge baboon, it is safe to say he would never have
consented to sell him to a friend such as Captain Seaworth; and, also,
could he have known how much suffering this same animal would cause him
in the future, Goliah’s career might have been ended very suddenly by a
pistol-ball. Then the reasons for the writing of this story could hardly
have existed.
“Treat the animals well, but let them know you are the master,” Philip
said to the captain on the day the latter made his final visit to
the establishment. “They have considerably more intelligence than is
generally credited to them, and I oftentimes imagine they understand
very much of ones conversation.”
Philip really believed that this species of animal comprehended many
words; and it was destined that his experience in the future, although
covering but a short space of time, should eclipse all he had thus far
learned from books or by observation.