The Son of Tarzan | Page 7

aboard often discussed the beast, but
they were unable to account satisfactorily for the strange ceremony
with which he greeted each new face. Had he been discovered upon the
mainland, or any other place than the almost unknown island that had
been his home, they would have concluded that he had formerly been a
pet of man; but that theory was not tenable in the face of the isolation
of his uninhabited island. He seemed continually to be searching for

someone, and during the first days of the return voyage from the island
he was often discovered nosing about in various parts of the ship; but
after he had seen and examined each face of the ship's company, and
explored every corner of the vessel he lapsed into utter indifference of
all about him. Even the Russian elicited only casual interest when he
brought him food. At other times the ape appeared merely to tolerate
him. He never showed affection for him, or for anyone else upon the
Marjorie W., nor did he at any time evince any indication of the savage
temper that had marked his resentment of the attack of the sailors upon
him at the time that he had come among them.
Most of his time was spent in the eye of the ship scanning the horizon
ahead, as though he were endowed with sufficient reason to know that
the vessel was bound for some port where there would be other human
beings to undergo his searching scrutiny. All in all, Ajax, as he had
been dubbed, was considered the most remarkable and intelligent ape
that any one aboard the Marjorie W. ever had seen. Nor was his
intelligence the only remarkable attribute he owned. His stature and
physique were, for an ape, awe inspiring. That he was old was quite
evident, but if his age had impaired his physical or mental powers in
the slightest it was not apparent.
And so at length the Marjorie W. came to England, and there the
officers and the scientists, filled with compassion for the pitiful wreck
of a man they had rescued from the jungles, furnished Paulvitch with
funds and bid him and his Ajax Godspeed.
Upon the dock and all through the journey to London the Russian had
his hands full with Ajax. Each new face of the thousands that came
within the anthropoid's ken must be carefully scrutinized, much to the
horror of many of his victims; but at last, failing, apparently, to
discover whom he sought, the great ape relapsed into morbid
indifference, only occasionally evincing interest in a passing face.
In London, Paulvitch went directly with his prize to a certain famous
animal trainer. This man was much impressed with Ajax with the result
that he agreed to train him for a lion's share of the profits of exhibiting
him, and in the meantime to provide for the keep of both the ape and

his owner.
And so came Ajax to London, and there was forged another link in the
chain of strange circumstances that were to affect the lives of many
people.

Chapter 2

Mr. Harold Moore was a bilious-countenanced, studious young man.
He took himself very seriously, and life, and his work, which latter was
the tutoring of the young son of a British nobleman. He felt that his
charge was not making the progress that his parents had a right to
expect, and he was now conscientiously explaining this fact to the boy's
mother.
"It's not that he isn't bright," he was saying; "if that were true I should
have hopes of succeeding, for then I might bring to bear all my energies
in overcoming his obtuseness; but the trouble is that he is exceptionally
intelligent, and learns so quickly that I can find no fault in the matter of
the preparation of his lessons. What concerns me, however, is that fact
that he evidently takes no interest whatever in the subjects we are
studying. He merely accomplishes each lesson as a task to be rid of as
quickly as possible and I am sure that no lesson ever again enters his
mind until the hours of study and recitation once more arrive. His sole
interests seem to be feats of physical prowess and the reading of
everything that he can get hold of relative to savage beasts and the lives
and customs of uncivilized peoples; but particularly do stories of
animals appeal to him. He will sit for hours together poring over the
work of some African explorer, and upon two occasions I have found
him setting up in bed at night reading Carl Hagenbeck's book on men
and beasts."
The boy's mother tapped her foot nervously upon the hearth rug.

"You discourage this, of course?" she ventured.
Mr. Moore shuffled embarrassedly.