his eyes wide in wonder. The trainer was not slow to note the boy's
handsome, eager face, and as one of Ajax's biggest hits consisted
in an entry to one or more boxes during his performance, ostensibly
in search of a long-lost relative, as the trainer explained, the
man realized the effectiveness of sending him into the box with the
handsome boy, who, doubtless, would be terror stricken by proximity
to the shaggy, powerful beast.

When the time came, therefore, for the ape to return from the
wings in reply to an encore the trainer directed its attention to
the boy who chanced to be the sole occupant of the box in which
he sat. With a spring the huge anthropoid leaped from the stage
to the boy's side; but if the trainer had looked for a laughable
scene of fright he was mistaken. A broad smile lighted the boy's
features as he laid his hand upon the shaggy arm of his visitor.
The ape, grasping the boy by either shoulder, peered long and
earnestly into his face, while the latter stroked his head and
talked to him in a low voice.

Never had Ajax devoted so long a time to an examination of another
as he did in this instance. He seemed troubled and not a little
excited, jabbering and mumbling to the boy, and now caressing him,
as the trainer had never seen him caress a human being before.
Presently he clambered over into the box with him and snuggled
down close to the boy's side. The audience was delighted; but they
were still more delighted when the trainer, the period of his act
having elapsed, attempted to persuade Ajax to leave the box. The
ape would not budge. The manager, becoming excited at the delay,
urged the trainer to greater haste, but when the latter entered
the box to drag away the reluctant Ajax he was met by bared fangs