CHAPTER III.

Life and Death

Morning found them but little, if at all refreshed, though it was with

a feeling of intense relief that they saw the day dawn.

As soon as they had made their meager breakfast of salt pork, coffee

and biscuit, Clayton commenced work upon their house, for he realized

that they could hope for no safety and no peace of mind at night until

four strong walls effectually barred the jungle life from them.

The task was an arduous one and required the better part of a month,

though he built but one small room. He constructed his cabin of small

logs about six inches in diameter, stopping the chinks with clay which

he found at the depth of a few feet beneath the surface soil.

At one end he built a fireplace of small stones from the beach. These

also he set in clay and when the house had been entirely completed he

applied a coating of the clay to the entire outside surface to the

thickness of four inches.

In the window opening he set small branches about an inch in diameter

both vertically and horizontally, and so woven that they formed a

substantial grating that could withstand the strength of a powerful

animal. Thus they obtained air and proper ventilation without fear of

lessening the safety of their cabin.

The A-shaped roof was thatched with small branches laid close together

and over these long jungle grass and palm fronds, with a final coating

of clay.

The door he built of pieces of the packing-boxes which had held their

belongings, nailing one piece upon another, the grain of contiguous

layers running transversely, until he had a solid body some three

inches thick and of such great strength that they were both moved to

laughter as they gazed upon it.

Here the greatest difficulty confronted Clayton, for he had no means

whereby to hang his massive door now that he had built it. After two

days’ work, however, he succeeded in fashioning two massive hardwood

hinges, and with these he hung the door so that it opened and closed

easily.

The stuccoing and other final touches were added after they moved into

the house, which they had done as soon as the roof was on, piling their

boxes before the door at night and thus having a comparatively safe and

comfortable habitation.

The building of a bed, chairs, table, and shelves was a relatively easy

matter, so that by the end of the second month they were well settled,

and, but for the constant dread of attack by wild beasts and the ever

growing loneliness, they were not uncomfortable or unhappy.

At night great beasts snarled and roared about their tiny cabin, but,

so accustomed may one become to oft repeated noises, that soon they

paid little attention to them, sleeping soundly the whole night

through.

Thrice had they caught fleeting glimpses of great man-like figures like

that of the first night, but never at sufficiently close range to know

positively whether the half-seen forms were those of man or brute.

The brilliant birds and the little monkeys had become accustomed to

their new acquaintances, and as they had evidently never seen human

beings before they presently, after their first fright had worn off,

approached closer and closer, impelled by that strange curiosity which

dominates the wild creatures of the forest and the jungle and the

plain, so that within the first month several of the birds had gone so

far as even to accept morsels of food from the friendly hands of the

Claytons.

One afternoon, while Clayton was working upon an addition to their

cabin, for he contemplated building several more rooms, a number of

their grotesque little friends came shrieking and scolding through the

trees from the direction of the ridge. Ever as they fled they cast

fearful glances back of them, and finally they stopped near Clayton

jabbering excitedly to him as though to warn him of approaching danger.

At last he saw it, the thing the little monkeys so feared—the man-brute

of which the Claytons had caught occasional fleeting glimpses.

It was approaching through the jungle in a semi-erect position, now and

then placing the backs of its closed fists upon the ground—a great

anthropoid ape, and, as it advanced, it emitted deep guttural growls

and an occasional low barking sound.

Clayton was at some distance from the cabin, having come to fell a

particularly perfect tree for his building operations. Grown careless

from months of continued safety, during which time he had seen no

dangerous animals during the daylight hours, he had left his rifles and

revolvers all within the little cabin, and now that he saw the great

ape crashing through the underbrush directly toward him, and from a

direction which practically cut him off from escape, he felt a vague

little shiver play up and down his spine.

He knew that, armed only with an ax, his chances with this ferocious

monster were small indeed—and Alice; O God, he thought, what will

become of Alice?

There was yet a slight chance of reaching the cabin. He turned and ran

toward it, shouting an alarm to his wife to run in and close the great

door in case the ape cut off his retreat.

Lady Greystoke had been sitting a little way from the cabin, and when

she heard his cry she looked up to see the ape springing with almost

incredible swiftness, for so large and awkward an animal, in an effort

to head off Clayton.

With a low cry she sprang toward the cabin, and, as she entered, gave a

backward glance which filled her soul with terror, for the brute had

intercepted her husband, who now stood at bay grasping his ax with both

hands ready to swing it upon the infuriated animal when he should make

his final charge.

“Close and bolt the door, Alice,” cried Clayton. “I can finish this

fellow with my ax.”

But he knew he was facing a horrible death, and so did she.

The ape was a great bull, weighing probably three hundred pounds. His

nasty, close-set eyes gleamed hatred from beneath his shaggy brows,

while his great canine fangs were bared in a horrid snarl as he paused

a moment before his prey.

Over the brute’s shoulder Clayton could see the doorway of his cabin,

not twenty paces distant, and a great wave of horror and fear swept

over him as he saw his young wife emerge, armed with one of his rifles.

She had always been afraid of firearms, and would never touch them, but

now she rushed toward the ape with the fearlessness of a lioness

protecting its young.

“Back, Alice,” shouted Clayton, “for God’s sake, go back.”

But she would not heed, and just then the ape charged, so that Clayton

could say no more.

The man swung his ax with all his mighty strength, but the powerful

brute seized it in those terrible hands, and tearing it from Clayton’s

grasp hurled it far to one side.

With an ugly snarl he closed upon his defenseless victim, but ere his

fangs had reached the throat they thirsted for, there was a sharp

report and a bullet entered the ape’s back between his shoulders.

Throwing Clayton to the ground the beast turned upon his new enemy.

There before him stood the terrified girl vainly trying to fire another

bullet into the animal’s body; but she did not understand the mechanism

of the firearm, and the hammer fell futilely upon an empty cartridge.

Almost simultaneously Clayton regained his feet, and without thought of

the utter hopelessness of it, he rushed forward to drag the ape from

his wife’s prostrate form.

With little or no effort he succeeded, and the great bulk rolled

inertly upon the turf before him—the ape was dead. The bullet had done

its work.

A hasty examination of his wife revealed no marks upon her, and Clayton

decided that the huge brute had died the instant he had sprung toward

Alice.

Gently he lifted his wife’s still unconscious form, and bore her to the

little cabin, but it was fully two hours before she regained

consciousness.

Her first words filled Clayton with vague apprehension. For some time

after regaining her senses, Alice gazed wonderingly about the interior

of the little cabin, and then, with a satisfied sigh, said:

“O, John, it is so good to be really home! I have had an awful dream,

dear. I thought we were no longer in London, but in some horrible place

where great beasts attacked us.”

“There, there, Alice,” he said, stroking her forehead, “try to sleep

again, and do not worry your head about bad dreams.”

That night a little son was born in the tiny cabin beside the primeval

forest, while a leopard screamed before the door, and the deep notes of

a lion’s roar sounded from beyond the ridge.

Lady Greystoke never recovered from the shock of the great ape’s

attack, and, though she lived for a year after her baby was born, she

was never again outside the cabin, nor did she ever fully realize that

she was not in England.

Sometimes she would question Clayton as to the strange noises of the

nights; the absence of servants and friends, and the strange rudeness

of the furnishings within her room, but, though he made no effort to

deceive her, never could she grasp the meaning of it all.

In other ways she was quite rational, and the joy and happiness she

took in the possession of her little son and the constant attentions of

her husband made that year a very happy one for her, the happiest of

her young life.

That it would have been beset by worries and apprehension had she been

in full command of her mental faculties Clayton well knew; so that

while he suffered terribly to see her so, there were times when he was

almost glad, for her sake, that she could not understand.

Long since had he given up any hope of rescue, except through accident.

With unremitting zeal he had worked to beautify the interior of the

cabin.

Skins of lion and panther covered the floor. Cupboards and bookcases

lined the walls. Odd vases made by his own hand from the clay of the

region held beautiful tropical flowers. Curtains of grass and bamboo

covered the windows, and, most arduous task of all, with his meager

assortment of tools he had fashioned lumber to neatly seal the walls

and ceiling and lay a smooth floor within the cabin.

That he had been able to turn his hands at all to such unaccustomed

labor was a source of mild wonder to him. But he loved the work because

it was for her and the tiny life that had come to cheer them, though

adding a hundredfold to his responsibilities and to the terribleness of

their situation.

During the year that followed, Clayton was several times attacked by

the great apes which now seemed to continually infest the vicinity of

the cabin; but as he never again ventured outside without both rifle

and revolvers he had little fear of the huge beasts.

He had strengthened the window protections and fitted a unique wooden

lock to the cabin door, so that when he hunted for game and fruits, as

it was constantly necessary for him to do to insure sustenance, he had

no fear that any animal could break into the little home.

At first he shot much of the game from the cabin windows, but toward

the end the animals learned to fear the strange lair from whence issued

the terrifying thunder of his rifle.

In his leisure Clayton read, often aloud to his wife, from the store of

books he had brought for their new home. Among these were many for

little children—picture books, primers, readers—for they had known that

their little child would be old enough for such before they might hope

to return to England.

At other times Clayton wrote in his diary, which he had always been

accustomed to keep in French, and in which he recorded the details of

their strange life. This book he kept locked in a little metal box.

A year from the day her little son was born Lady Alice passed quietly

away in the night. So peaceful was her end that it was hours before

Clayton could awake to a realization that his wife was dead.

The horror of the situation came to him very slowly, and it is doubtful

that he ever fully realized the enormity of his sorrow and the fearful

responsibility that had devolved upon him with the care of that wee

thing, his son, still a nursing babe.

The last entry in his diary was made the morning following her death,

and there he recites the sad details in a matter-of-fact way that adds

to the pathos of it; for it breathes a tired apathy born of long sorrow

and hopelessness, which even this cruel blow could scarcely awake to

further suffering:

My little son is crying for nourishment—O Alice, Alice, what shall I

do?

And as John Clayton wrote the last words his hand was destined ever to

pen, he dropped his head wearily upon his outstretched arms where they

rested upon the table he had built for her who lay still and cold in

the bed beside him.

For a long time no sound broke the deathlike stillness of the jungle

midday save the piteous wailing of the tiny man-child.