ad, carrying the neck of the broken bottle,
his quaint feet, like huge hands, flopping in the dust. Mahdi's make-up
did Professor Thunder great credit--it was grotesquely inhuman. The shape
of the costume demanded a stooping attitude and shambling gait. Only in a
good light and at close quarters could the deception be seen.

People came running from all directions. A cab horse backed in terror
before the monster, reared, plunged furiously and bolted into a peanut
stall.

Nickie waddled on, blissfully unconscious of the sensation he was
creating. He invaded a secondhand clothes shop.

"Shemima, mother of der brophet!" gasped Moses Aaronstein, throwing out
his palms in a gesture terror, and Moses bolted through a side door.

The Missing Link appropriated a spangled skirt and trailed it after him
down the street. The shouting crowd followed at a respectful distance. In
a small eating-house the Link encountered two men eating fried steak and
onions. They beheld him with indescribable emotion, glared for a moment
and fled. A girl coming in with a tureen of stew dropped the lot on the
floor, threw her apron over her head, and fainted amongst the broken
crockery and scattered viands.

For a moment the strange inebriate stood swaying over the prostrate girl,
making a grave, drunken effort to grasp the situation, then the Italian
proprietress came into the room humming a cheerful strain, and carrying a
burden of fried sausages. She beheld the horror, uttered a piercing
scream, and dashed up the narrow stairs. Nickie went up the stairs after
her, anxious to explain. The horrified people pressing at the front door
and the windows saw him pass out of sight. There was now a large, excited
crowd in the street. All sorts of rumours were afloat. Already it was
stated that the mighty gorilla had killed three men and eaten half a
horse. Two policemen were busy beating back the crowd, and collecting
evidence from excited onlookers who had seen nothing.

At this stage, Professor Thunder dashed through the assemblage. The
Professor was in an agitated frame of mind.

"What is it?" he cried. "Has anyone seen a Missin' Link--a dark brown
Missin' Link?"

Ten persons explained at once.

"He's in there now," cried a bewildered cabman, pointing to the
eating-house. "He's ate er girl, an' he's out after the missus with a
club."

"'T went up them stairs," cried a trembling woman.

Yells from the crowd in the road brought the people surg