The man swung his ax with all his mighty strength, but the
powerful brute seized it in those terrible hands, and tearing it
from Clayton's grasp hurled it far to one side.
With an ugly snarl he closed upon his defenseless victim,
but ere his fangs had reached the throat they thirsted for,
there was a sharp report and a bullet entered the ape's back
between his shoulders.
Throwing Clayton to the ground the beast turned upon his
new enemy. There before him stood the terrified girl vainly
trying to fire another bullet into the animal's body; but she
did not understand the mechanism of the firearm, and the
hammer fell futilely upon an empty cartridge.
Almost simultaneously Clayton regained his feet, and without
thought of the utter hopelessness of it, he rushed forward
to drag the ape from his wife's prostrate form.
With little or no effort he succeeded, and the great bulk
rolled inertly upon the turf before him--the ape was dead.
The bullet had done its work.
A hasty examination of his wife revealed no marks upon
her, and Clayton decided that the huge brute had died the
instant he had sprung toward Alice.
Gently he lifted his wife's still unconscious form, and bore
her to the little cabin, but it was fully two hours before she
regained consciousness.
Her first words filled Clayton with vague apprehension.
For some time after regaining her senses, Alice gazed
wonderingly about the interior of the little cabin, and
then, with a satisfied sigh, said:
"O, John, it is so good to be really home! I have had an
awful dream, dear.
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