itch carried another piece of cord in his hand. There was a noose
in one end of it which he was continually playing with. He walked back
and forth, up and down the room. His pock-marked features were working
horribly as he talked silent to himself. The boy had never seen him
thus--it made him uneasy. At last Paulvitch stopped on the opposite
side of the room, far from the ape.

"Come here," he said to the lad. "I will show you how to secure the
ape should he show signs of rebellion during the trip."

The lad laughed. "It will not be necessary," he replied. "Ajax will
do whatever I tell him to do."

The old man stamped his foot angrily. "Come here, as I tell you," he
repeated. "If you do not do as I say you shall not accompany the ape
to Dover--I will take no chances upon his escaping."

Still smiling, the lad crossed the room and stood before the Russ.

"Turn around, with your back toward me," directed the latter, "that I
may show you how to bind him quickly."

The boy did as he was bid, placing his hands behind him when Paulvitch
told him to do so. Instantly the old man slipped the running noose
over one of the lad's wrists, took a couple of half hitches about his
other wrist, and knotted the cord.

The moment that the boy was secured the attitude of the man changed.
With an angry oath he wheeled his prisoner about, tripped him and
hurled him violently to the floor, leaping upon his breast as he fell.
From the bed the ape growled and struggled with his bonds. The boy did
not cry out--a trait inherited from his savage sire whom long years in
the jungle following the death of his foster mother, Kala the great
ape, had taught that there was none to come to the succor of the fallen.

Paulvitch's fingers sought the lad's throat. He grinned down horribly
into the face of his victim.

"Your father ruined me," he mumbled. "This will pay him. He will think
that the ape did it. I will tell him that the ape did it. That I left
him alone for a few minutes, and that you sneaked in and the ape killed
you. I will throw your body upon the bed after I have choked the life
from you, and when I bring your father he will see the ape squatting
over it," and the twisted fiend cackled in gloating laughter. His
fingers closed upon the boy's throat.

Behind them the growling of the maddened beast reverberated against the
walls of the little room. The boy paled, but no other sign of fear or
panic showed upon his co