nd a thrill of exaltation
encompassed him as he realized that he was following a spoor by the
cunning of his nostrils.

* * * * *

There was a great leap across space. The ape ahead of him made it with
ease. Bentley essayed it without hesitation, hurling himself into
space, all of a hundred feet above the ground; with all the might of
his arms--and almost overshot the mark, almost went crashing once more
through the branches. But the tree swayed, and held, and Bentley went
swinging on.

It was wildly exhilarating, thrilling in a primitive way. Bentley
remembered those dreams of his childhood--dreams of falling endlessly
but never striking. Racial memories, scientists called them, relics of
our simian forebears. Bentley thought of that and laughed; but his
laughter was merely a beastly chattering which recalled him to the
grim necessity of the moment.

Fifteen minutes passed, perhaps. Twenty. Half an hour. He was
following a trace which led away from the coast, and further away from
the cabin of Caleb Barter. But with his jungle senses, and his human
memory, Bentley was sure he could return when the time came.

Had Barter foreseen all that? Was Barter smiling to himself, back
there in his awful hermitage, waiting for the working out of his
"experiment"?

But Apeman had jungle knowledge, and must have forced Bentley's body
to the limit of its endurance, for it was near evening when Bentley,
who had lost the ape ahead of him, but had continued on the spoor of
Apeman by the smell, came to swift pause on his race through the
trees.

* * * * *

He had heard the voice of Ellen Estabrook, and the voice was pleading.

"Lee! Lee! If you love me try to regain control of yourself. Please do
not stare at me like that. Oh, your poor body! The brush and briars
have literally torn you to bits."

But the answer of "Lee" was a bestial snarl, and traveling as quietly
as he could, Manape dropped down so that he could gaze upon his
beloved, and the thing she believed she loved.

Ellen was unaware of him. But he had scarcely dropped into view before
Apeman became aware of him, and rose weakly to tottering limbs, to
beat his bruised and bleeding chest in simian challenge. Apeman was
simply an ape that had run until he was finished, and now was turning
to make a last stand against a male who was stronger--a last bid for
life and possession of the she he had carried aw