SIR CLIFFORD’S GORILLA . 
27 
bending low and looking up at him Sir 
Clifford caught the glint of the half-closed 
eyes, and started away. 
“ By Jove ! ” he exclaimed, u he’s alive all 
right. I never saw such a gleam in any 
animal’s eyes before.” 
Others looked, but the gleam had died 
away. The strange brute from the depths 
of the Congo forests had looked only at Sir 
Clifford Hall with that sudden gleam. 
A discussion was started as to how gorillas 
slept, and it was suggested it should be 
provided with a bed. The nervousness of 
the guests, passed away-, for the beast seemed 
so mournful that everyone felt touched by 
its obvious despair at being torn from its 
savage home. 
Sir Clifford wanted to christen it, but no 
one could think of a suitable name. 
“ It’s curious,” he said, at length. “ I put 
an advertisement in the papers, and then wait, 
and six months later I get a gorilla. Every- 
thing done for you — all the business of making 
an expedition, setting traps, overland car- 
riage, and endless trouble. All done in reply 
to your advertisement.” 
He wanted to stir up the beast with a stick, 
but people restrained him. 
“ If that brute loses its temper, I don’t 
think those bars will count for much,” said 
someone. “ Mind you get him into a stronger 
place to-morrow. Look at his muscles.” 
The great ape’s muscles were enormous, 
so large that even when the arms hung loosely 
they showed in great lumps under the 
hairy skin. 
“ Perhaps it is safer to leave him alone,” 
said Hall. “ But I must have another look 
at his eyes.” 
He stooped down again, and once more 
saw those dark orbs light up with a sudden 
gleam that sent a thrill down his back and 
made a faint shiver pass over him. 
“ I believe he doesn’t like me,” he ex- 
claimed. “If that isn’t pure ferocity, 1 
don’t know what it is.” 
“ He’s probably guessed that you are the 
supreme cause of his troubles,” said the 
soldier. 
People began to stroll away to the drawing- 
room, and the gorilla was left alone in its 
cage. When the room was empty it moved 
slightly and turned its head. One of its 
arms crept towards the bolt that fastened 
the door, and then, as if the beast had 
lost interest, swung back slqwly to its 
side. 
Before midnight everyone had left except 
a certain Samuel Brockman, a financier, and 
intimate friend of Sir Clifford Hall. He was 
rather like Hall in appearance. 
“ Well,” he remarked, “ I congratulate you 
on your dinner, and your guests, and .your 
baronetcy. You are getting on in the world, 
Hall.” 
“ I am,” said the new baronet, com- 
placently. 
“ You must marry now,” advised the other. 
“ Marry one of the girls round about here.” 
Sir Clifford laughed and changed the 
topic. 
“ Come and look at my gorilla before you 
go,” he said, an hour later. “ Perhaps it 
will be a little more lively by now.” 
They went down the corridor to the billiard- 
room. The lights were still burning over 
the table. In the shadowy corner loomed 
the big cage. The ape was in much the same 
position as before, huddled up in its corner, 
a huge, bulky mass that scarcely moved. 
“ Wake up,” said Hall. He thrust his fat 
hand between the bars. The gorilla stirred 
a little. “ Wake up ! ” 
He snatched his hand back just in time, 
for the beast turned on it suddenly. 
“ Ah, would you ? ” said Hall, and he 
frowned. 
“ He doesn’t show his teeth,” remarked 
Brockman. “ I thought he would bare his 
tusks if he was angry. By the way, who did 
you get him through ? ” 
Sir Clifford lit a cigar and strolled to the 
fireplace. 
“ Well, it’s rather funny, but the name of 
the firm is Hobray and Child.” 
He looked across the lighted billiard- 
table at his friend, and blew a big cloud of 
smoke. 
“ Hobray ! ” 
“ Yes. Of course, it’s not he. Merely a 
pure coincidence.’ ’ 
“ It’s an uncommon name.” 
“ I know. But what on earth could (diaries 
Hobray have to do with a shipping firm in 
Little Thames Street ? I tell, you it is some- 
one else with the same name. Besides, even 
if it was Charles Hobray, what difference does 
that make ? You know lie’s far too much 
of a coward to touch me. He knows well 
enough 1 could arrest him if I cared to.” 
“ And he could arrest you, I suppose ? ” 
“ No, he couldn’t do that,” replied the 
other quickly. “ I’ve never done anything 
legally wrong to Hobray.” 
“ But you treated him about as badly as 
you could,” said Brockman, with a chuckle. 
“ If ever a man had good reason to hate 
