mendous force, at the same time giving vent to a peculiar sound. At its cry, the other two ran forward and the extraordinary spectacle was seen of all three creatures staring fixedly at Needham as he made his way toward them.
There were not many people in the tent-the hour being early-but the few who were there turned toward the spot. Needham laughed and shook hands with Meldrum, at the same time waving one of his hands playfully in the direction of the old baboon. Light lightning, a long hairy arm shot forth toward him, but the distance was too great for the creature. Again it thundered on the bars.
"Hey Kruger, what's the matter now?" shouted an attendant, approaching. "Quit that! Do you want to bring the house down?"
He struck with a pole at the hands of the animal on the bars, making it shift them from place to place. But it was not to be driven back, and it still continued to stare at Needham.
The attendant drew away, saying in a sulky tone: "Don't meddle with the animals, please."
"It's all right, old chap," said Needham pleasantly. "He wanted to shake hands with me, but I declined with thanks."
"Don't do nothin' to annoy him, please," said the man in surly tones, preparing to depart. "God knows what might happen if he got loose. He did once, and we had a hell of a time. He nearly killed a man."
"Ah, did he?" said Neeham with interest. "He's pretty strong, I take it?"
"You can bet your sweet life he is!" the man called back over his shoulder. "We take no chances with him."
"By Jove!" said Needham, gazing at the baboon. "He's mighty like the old fellow in the fight I told you about, now that I look at him closely."
The three walked away from the spot at Meldrum's suggestion, but, looking back every now and then, the teacher noted, with some uneasiness, that the creature still retained its position and still followed Needham's figure with attentive eyes. There were a few other cages in the tent containing smaller monkeys and other animals and, having strolled past these, they soon found themselves once more opposite the baboons.
The place was now clearer than before, and Needham, glancing around to see that he was not observed, made a swift cross-wise motion with his hand and emitted the peculiar noise that Meldrum had heard him make on the night of their visit. Its effect was electrical. The two younger baboons, who had seat themselves near their older companion, ran at once to the back of the cage, where they cowered, whimpering and exhibiting every indication of alarm.
But the old baboon acted differently. The tension, which had up to this point kept its figure severely rigid, now relaxed. It squatted down on the floor of the cage and commenced nodding its head briskly up and down, its features distorted by what to Meldrum's fancy, looked extraordinarily like a grin. Needham smiled too, and, glancing from one to the other, Meldrum felt his flesh creep slightly.
"Let us go," he said hastily. "We have seen enough of these brutes."
Needham acquiesced, and they made their way to the exit.
v.
"beastly clever things, though," said Needham, as they passed out into the clear night air. "And strong as the very devil. I think myself there is something in the old idea of the African natives that apes pretend not to understand speech for fear they should be made to work." He laughed his unpleasant laugh, and again Meldrum felt squeamish.
"You seem to have given them some study," said Meldrum, as they made their way toward the main tent.
"I have seen a good deal of them one way and another," said Needham carelessly," and read a little too. A curious thing I discovered was that when under the influence of liquor (and it's some sight to see, believe me!) they are peculiarly receptive to autosuggestion. I
