For half-an-hour he wandered from cage to cage, until at last he stood in front of the monkey-house. He paused awhile here, looked from right to left, as though he would avoid the place if he could, then set his face resolutely, and entered. As with the rest of the place, the monkey-house was almost deserted. There were not more than a dozen people in it.
In chill fear he wandered around, looking with mingled fascination and loathing at the chattering crew.
Moment after moment his spirit sank lower until all the light and beauty had faded out of the world for him; and he stood in the presence of ruin and desolation more complete than reigns over the site of Carthage or Babylon.
Stone by stone that splendid Palace of his dreams was falling. This shock made a rift, that shock cast down a tower. Now a delicate campanile fell, anon a noble dome collapsed.
It was weary work watching these men and these creatures shaking the foundation of that beautiful Palace of Belief. All, all was going. All was gone. There was nothing but a dreary waste, a vast sandy void, littered here and there with the shaft of a shattered column, here and there a frieze, here the acme stone of an arch, there the copper of a cupola, here a marble altar-stone, and there a cross.
One of the attendants touched him on the arm, saying, 'We have something new here, sir, if you care to see.'
With a shudder, Osborne followed the man into a small room off the greater one.
The man led him up to a large square box made of stout wood. In this was a bundle of rugs or skins; George could not see more, for the light was dim. The covering moved slightly; with a spasm of horror Osborne thought of that vision and that dream. What an appalling coincidence! Was he awake or asleep, sane or mad?
The man bent over him and spoke in a low voice.
'They have just arrived from Africa. They came over in the stoke-hole of the steamer. They are perfectly quiet and friendly. On the passage over they lived in that box, where the female sat all day long minding her baby. But the male made great friends with the men, and, after a while, used to take the oil-can, crawl or swing himself in among the machinery, put the back of his left hand on the bearings, and then pour oil into the oil-wells.'