Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 63: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE APES OF DEVIL’S ISLAND, evidently heard the tune, but did not real- ize the full significance of it. It would dawn on her, I thought. And then one of the bodies rose slowly and began to look around. I stepped out into the moonlight and continued to whistle softly. Another body moved slightly and grunted. I quit whistling. The body that had raised itself peered at me intently for a moment, and then waved. It was Elea- nor. My joy was so great that I thought the pounding of my heart would surely awaken the apes. I prayed that Eleanor would not make any noise. Slowly, ever so slowly, she crept toward us through the sleeping forms. I followed her course with the muz- zle of my revolver, ready to send a bullet through the first ape that hindered her ad- vance. It seemed centuries before she reached us. “Thank God!” were her first words. “ Here’s your shoe,” was my abrupt re- ply, as I gave her the frail pump I had un- consciously held in my hand. “Come!” whispered Grame. no time to lose.” Eleanor detained him with a gesture. ‘““ Nicky’s there!’ she whispered. ‘‘ He has gone mad. I can’t leave him.” ‘Tl go wake him,” I volunteered. “ No! No!’ said Eleanor hastily. “ He would give us away. He has attached him- self to those things. If he wakes he will surely cry out.” “We'll both go,” said Grame, drawing out a handkerchief. ‘“‘ We'll gag him with “ There’s 689 this. If he tries to gurgle I'll cut off his wind. We will carry him with us.” I must admit that the thought of expos- ing Eleanor to danger again almost made me object to this plan, yet I knew she would never forgive me if I did. So I asked: “Which one is he?” Eleanor pointed out her brother to us and we began to crawl toward the sleeping band. As we left, Grame whispered to the girl. “If there’s any trouble stay behind the tree.” It was delicate work. We passed the first sleeper without mishap, Grame in the lead. As we approached the second ape, he groaned and flapped his arms. We crouched down, hardly breathing. However, he gave no more signs of awakening, and we con- tinued our advance. Two were passed in safety; nevertheless I could not help think- ing of our return trip with Nicky. Would we be able to keep him quiet? It was a big chance. Then we reached him. He was lying on his left side with his face away from us, apparently asleep. I crawled up beside Grame, who motioned to me that I was to seize Nicky when he gave the word. He seemed to hesitate before applying the gag. Who wouldn’t have hesi- tated? How large a chance did we have of extracting a sleeping boy from the midst of thirty or more sleeping apes, especially when the boy did not wish to be carried away? The wind sighed through the leaves of the forest, and some crawling thing rus- tled over the dried twigs near by. TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK. U Le} SPRING Spring! "Ty is T Earth is awakening. And he who is not blind, will see The signs of immortality; He who is not deaf, will hear And know the truth, that God is near; And he who is not dumb, will sing, Now it is Spring! 4A Ida M. Thomas. COMmMicoooks (C@