"If it had been one of our sailors," said Willis, "he would have
recognized my voice long ago."
"Who are you?" asked one.
"Where do you come from?" inquired another.
"Do not attempt to escape," said a third.
"We mean you no harm; on the contrary, we are friends, disposed to do
you good if we can."
"If all his brothers and sisters are as talkative as himself,"
remarked Jack, "they must be a very amusing sort of people."
"He can walk at all events," said Fritz giving him a smart push.
The chimpanzee fell flat on the floor.
"It appears, sir, that you are determined to have your own way, we
must therefore wait till daylight."
An hour passed in polyglot expostulations with the stranger on the
score of his obstinacy, but all to no purpose; to use a popular
expression, he was as dumb as the Doges. He deigned, however, to empty
at a single draught a calabash of Malaga that Willis gave him, but
there his condescension stopped.
The Pilot, who now encountered mosquitoes in all directions, made
preparations for smoking; the light he struck, however, instead of
clearing up the mystery, only perplexed them more and more; there lay
their new companion, stretched on the ground, staring at them with a
ludicrous grin.
If, on the one hand, it occurred to them this man was an animal, on
the other the animal was a man, and Buffon did not happen to be there
at the time to assign him officially a place in the former kingdom.
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