res which were so strangely, terribly
human.

Her eyes were watching the end of that twig which the trained ape was
so clumsily clutching in both hands.

She saw the marks the twig made in the dust as Manape caused it to
move--slowly, horribly, fearfully, from left to right across the area
of dust.

* * * * *

Fear began to grow in her face, but Bentley forced himself on. Again
the fetid odor of ape sweat covered him. This awful concentration,
this awful task of forcing Manape to write English words was in itself
a miracle, more miraculous even than Ellen would have thought of
praying for.

Her eyes were glued to the sprawling, uneven, misshapen marks in the
dust with hypnotic fascination. Bentley dared not look at her, because
it required all his will to force the clumsy hands of Manape to his
bidding.

He could only watch the marks in the dust, and will with all the power
of his human intelligence that the hands of Manape make their shape
sufficiently plain that Ellen might read them--and hope besides that
this terrible thing would not send the sorely harassed girl into the
jungle, madly shrieking for deliverance from a nightmare.

There, the words were written--and Ellen was staring at them, her eyes
wide and unblinking, her body as rigid as stone, and her face as cold.
Only three words were possible without an interval of rest, but those
three words, among all Bentley might have selected, were the most to
the point, the most unbelievable, the most black-magical.

_"I am Lee!"_

Minutes went into eternity as Ellen stared at the words. Silence that
it seemed would never be broken hang over the clearing. The bickering
of the apes passed unnoticed as Ellen stared. Then, slowly, she tried
to raise her eyes to meet those of Manape.

She failed. Her body went limp and she slid forward on her face in the
dust. Manape-Bentley gently turned her on her side and waited. What
would he see in her beloved eyes when she regained consciousness?

CHAPTER XI

_Barter Acts_

Bentley remained motionless, awaiting Ellen's return to consciousness.
He waited in fear and trembling. How would she react to the horrible
thing he had told her?

Now there was possibility of converse between them. If she knew and
realized the meaning of his revelation. But would her mind stand up
under the awfulness of it? He had thought so, else he would not have
taken the chance he had taken. Much now depende