100 GORILLAS AND CHIMPANZEES 



robust youth, but now I beheld him in the decrepi- 

 tude of a feeble senility. What a transformation ! 



I diagnosed his case as well as I was able and 

 began to treat him, but it was evident that he was too 

 far gone to expect him to recover. My conscience 

 smote me for having left him, yet I felt that I had 

 not done wrong. It was not neglect or cruelty for 

 me to leave him while I went in pursuit of the chief 

 object of my search, and I had no cause to reproach 

 myself for having done so. But emotions that are 

 stirred by such incidents are not to be controlled by 

 reason or hushed by argument, and the pain that it 

 caused me was more than I can tell. 



If I had done wrong, the only restitution possible 

 for me to make was to nurse him patiently and 

 tenderly to the end, or till health and strength should 

 return. This was conscientiously done, and I have 

 the comfort of knowing that the last sad days of his 

 life were soothed by every care that kindness could 

 suggest. Hour after hour during that time he lay 

 silent and content upon my lap. That appeared to 

 be a panacea to all his pains. He would roll his 

 dark brown eyes up and look into my face, as if to 

 be assured that I had been restored to him. With 

 his long fingers he stroked my face as if to say that 

 he was again happy. He took the medicines I gave 

 him as if he knew their purpose and effect. 



His suffering was not intense, but he bore it like 

 a philosopher. He seemed to have some vague 

 idea of his own condition, but I do not know that 

 he foresaw the result. He lingered on from day to 



