as no ordinary animal. The Professor's show being conducted in a small
shop, and owing nothing of its popularity to expensive advertisments in
the "Amusements" columns, received no recognition from the press,
consequently fame on a large scale did not come to Professor Thunder.
Nevertheless the Museum of Marvels enjoyed a reputation in humble
circles, and here Mahdi was talked of, and accepted without a question,
as an astonishing vindication of the Darwinian hypothesis about which the
Professor discoursed so fluently in his three minutes' lecture before the
cage. It had only taken Nicholas Crips two weeks to assert himself, and
already he had introduced many novelties into the recognised "business"
for Missing Links.

Occasionally a too-inquisitive visitor with a taste for natural history
became obtrusive and sought close investigation. It was part of Nickie's
duty to fill such visitors with a proper respect for Missing Links, but
ninety-nine out of every hundred accepted Mahdi in good faith. It is an
axiom in the show business that the people who can't be deceived are so
few that they are not worth considering.

It was a hot day, life in the cage was very oppressive. Nickie the Kid
was painfully thirsty. Probably no Missing Link since the day when man
began to emerge from the monkey had ever been so sorely afflicted with
the craving for alcoholic stimulants.

Mahdi had a fixed allowance his beer supply was rigorously prescribed by
Professor Thunder, and precisely measured by Madame Marve. It was this
precision that prevented Nickie being quite content with an artistic
career.

He had had his first pint. The second pint was not due for two hours.