SIR CLIFFORD'S GORILLA . 
the heavy curtains that were drawn across 
the window came a faint light, for the moon 
was shining, and as his eyes became accus- 
tomed to it he began to make out the dark 
outline of pieces of furniture around him. lie 
was still looking in the direction of the mirror, 
not daring to turn his head in case the ape 
should hear. 
The noise from the falling lid of the inkpot 
did not make the animal move. Hall could 
hear nothing, and his hand went on creeping 
steadily towards the button. His fingers 
touched the ivory surface. Hut before press- 
ing it he paused. Would the sound of the 
bell ringing in the servants’ quarters be 
audible? If so, the noise might startle the 
ape — and more than that, for the brute 
in the darkness behind him seemed to have 
an almost human knowledge, and would 
probably understand why the bell was ring- 
ing. Hall, in an agonizing effort, tried to 
remember if the bell could be heard from the 
study. 
There was a movement behind him, and 
against the faintly-luminous curtains lie saw 
the huge bulk of the gorilla. Hall pressed 
the button. The sound of the bell rang out 
clearly in the stillness of the house. 
Although his hand was trembling violently, 
he kept his finger jammed hard on the button. 
The bell, far away, went on ringing shrilly. 
Hall was suddenly caught by the shoulders 
and wrenched away from the writing-table. 
The bell stopped abruptly. 
It happened that Howard, the butler, was 
in the yard at the back of the building, giving 
the house-dogs a run before locking up, when 
the bell began ringing. He listened to it for 
a moment, and then, since the sound was 
continuous, became alarmed and hurried in- 
doors, He ran through the servants’ hall 
and looked up at the indicators. It was the 
study bell that rang so wildly, and while he 
was looking it stopped and there was silence. 
Howard went quickly up the stairs and 
reached the main hall. The lights were 
burning. He instinctively looked down the 
corridor that led to the billiard-room, and 
saw that the door at the far end was ajar. 
He stood for a moment staring. Before 
he had decided what to do he heard the study 
door open. He jumped round and saw 
the gorilla standing in the doorway, looking 
at him. 
Howard saw the study was in darkness 
behind the beast. With considerable presence 
of mind the butler sprang into ti e electric 
lift beside him, touched the key, and was 
borne swiftly to the upper storey. The 
gorilla remained where it was, and Howard 
caught a last glimpse of it watching him dully 
from the study door with an expressionless 
face. 
The butler made his way to the servants’ 
quarters and roused the two footmen. The 
three men went down by the back stairs 
and crept cautiously to the gun-room, where 
they armed themselves. Each carrying a 
gun, they stole up the hall in a little group. 
There was no sign of the gorilla. '1 1 cy 
went into the billiard-room. The cage was 
empty and its door was open. Then Howard 
led the way into the study. 
On turning up the lights they found their 
master lolling in the chair by the writing- 
table. His neck was broken. 
The keepers and grooms were roused and 
a search for the gorilla with dogs commenced. 
A broken window in the drawing-room showed 
which way the animal had escaped, and the 
dogs were soon on its trail. The head keeper 
was the first to catch sight of the beast, 
running swiftly along the crest of a low hill, 
its great frame clearly outlined against the 
starry sky. He fired, and the gorilla 
staggered. Others came up and fired, and 
the ape was seen to drop and lie still. 
They approached it, cautiously. It lay 
in a heap on the grass, a big black mass in 
the moonlight. The head keeper stirred it 
with the butt of his gun, but the beast did 
not move. It was dead. They crowded 
round it. 
Jt was the head keeper who first drew the 
attention of the others to the fact that the 
animal’s arms had a curious feel about them. 
The muscles seemed inelastic and strangely 
lumpy. Then someone tried to force the 
beast’s jaws open and failed. A lantern 
was brought, and a piece of wood wedged 
between the jaws. They opened suddenly 
with a tearing sound, and pieces of broken 
wire were seen glinting in the light. 
A gasp of astonishment went round, for 
the whole head of the beast fell back and 
they saw before them the face of a man, 
white and ghastly, with closed eyes and an 
expression of strange agony and dismay on 
his features. Across the left side of the fore- 
head ran a long white scar. 
It was in this manner that Charles Ilobray 
replied to Hall’s advertisement. 
