Ham's Pet Ape
"Chemistry"
"It
was a monkey. But such a monkey. It was larger than a chimpanzee, but
smaller
than a gorilla. It had no tail and its hair was rust colored. Strangest
of all was the astounding resemblance the newcomer bore to Monk. The
strange
anthropoid advanced toward Ham making small mumbling sounds which were
very like those Monk made on the occasion when he talked to himself.
"Monk's
twin brother or I hope to kiss that pig Habeas Corpus", he gulped. The
tailless anthropoid bounded up and down - a thing Monk did when he was
mad - and gave no indication of holding any thoughts of departure. At
that
point came an interruption. Accompanied by a faint noise of shuffling
leaves
and shifting weeds, the pig Habeas Corpus appeared. The shote caught
sight
of the anthropoid. Habeas promptly stopped. His big ears went up like
sails.
He grunted rapidly. Plainly, Habeas did not think a great deal of Ham's
new companion. The feeling seemed to be mutual. The tailless simian
seized
a stick, rushed at Habeas, and gave the porker a resounding whack.
Habeas
fled emitting a series of wild grunts. That decided Ham. He sat down
and
laughed, laughed until tears came to his eyes. "I am going to keep that
funny looking baboon as a pet", he declared. "Boy will that burn Monk
up.
And will it give that pig, Habeas Corpus, something to do besides chew
holes in my clothes whenever he can find them." The tailless simian,
having
chased Habeas from the vacinity, came ambling back, carrying a stick
over
one shoulder, gun fashion. Ham struck an attitude, relaxed, scratched
his
head, then straightened. "I christen thee Chemistry," he told the
simian.
The remarkable looking anthropoid clucked happily as if the new name
were
perfectly agreeable. Laughing to himself, Ham struck out again on
Monk's
trail."
(from
Doc Savage, Dust Of Death by Kenneth Robeson)
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