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most uncomplimentary name to his captor. For this he received
a shaking that rattled his teeth. Those who know say that the
most painful punishment that can be inflicted upon an adult
male, short of injuring him, is a good, old fashioned shaking.
Malbihn received such a shaking.
"Now get out," said the stranger, "and next time you see me
remember who I am," and he spoke a name in the Swede's
ear--a name that more effectually subdued the scoundrel than
many beatings--then he gave him a push that carried him bodily
through the tent doorway to sprawl upon the turf beyond.
"Now," he said, turning toward Meriem, "who has the key
to this thing about your neck?"
The girl pointed to Jenssen's body. "He carried it always,"
she said.
The stranger searched the clothing on the corpse until he came
upon the key. A moment more Meriem was free.
"Will you let me go back to my Korak?" she asked.
"I will see that you are returned to your people," he replied.
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r r
"Who are they and where is their village?"
He had been eyeing her strange, barbaric garmenture wonderingly.
From her speech she was evidently an Arab girl; but he had
never before seen one thus clothed.
"Who are your people? Who is Korak?" he asked again.
"Korak! Why Korak is an ape. I have no other people. Korak and
I live in the jungle alone since A'ht went to be king of the apes."
She had always thus pronounced Akut's name, for so it had sounded
to her when first she came with Korak and the ape. "Korak could
have been kind, but he would not."
A questioning expression entered the stranger's eyes. He looked
at the girl closely.
"So Korak is an ape?" he said. "And what, pray, are you?"
"I am Meriem. I, also, am an ape."
"M-m," was the stranger's only oral comment upon this startling
announcement; but what he thought might have been partially
interpreted through the pitying light that entered his eyes.
He approached the girl and started to lay his hand upon
her forehead. She drew back with a savage little growl.
A smile touched his lips.
"You need not fear me," he said. "I shall not harm you. I only
wish to discover if you have fever--if you are entirely well.
If you are we will set forth in search of Korak."
Meriem looked straight into the keen gray eyes. She must
have found there an unquestionable assurance of the honorableness
of their owner, for she permitted him to lay his palm upon her
forehead and feel her pulse. Apparently she had no fever.
"How long have you been an ape?" asked the man.
"Since I was a little girl, many, many years ago, and Korak
came and took me from my father who was beating me. Since then
I have lived in the trees with Korak and A'ht."
"Where in the jungle lives Korak?" asked the stranger.
Meriem pointed with a sweep of her hand that took in, generously,
half the continent of Africa.
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"Could you find your way back to him?"
"I do not know," she replied; "but he will find his way to me."
"Then I have a plan," said the stranger. "I live but a few
marches from here. I shall take you home where my wife will
look after you and care for you until we can find Korak or Korak
finds us. If he could find you here he can find you at my village.
Is it not so?"
Meriem thought that it was so; but she did not like the idea
of not starting immediately back to meet Korak. On the other
hand the man had no intention of permitting this poor, insane
child to wander further amidst the dangers of the jungle.
From whence she had come, or what she had undergone he could not
guess, but that her Korak and their life among the apes was but
a figment of a disordered mind he could not doubt. He knew
the jungle well, and he knew that men have lived alone and
naked among the savage beasts for years; but a frail and
slender girl! No, it was not possible.
Together they went outside. Malbihn's boys were striking camp
in preparation for a hasty departure. The stranger's blacks
were conversing with them. Malbihn stood at a distance, angry
and glowering. The stranger approached one of his own men.
"Find out where they got this girl," he commanded.
The Negro thus addressed questioned one of Malbihn's followers.
Presently he returned to his master.
"They bought her from old Kovudoo," he said. "That is all that
this fellow will tell me. He pretends that he knows nothing
more, and I guess that he does not. These two white men were
very bad men. They did many things that their boys knew not
the meanings of. It would be well, Bwana, to kill the other."
"I wish that I might; but a new law is come into this part
of the jungle. It is not as it was in the old days, Muviri,"
replied the master.
The stranger remained until Malbihn and his safari had
disappeared into the jungle toward the north. Meriem, trustful
now, stood at his side, Geeka clutched in one slim, brown hand.
They talked together, the man wondering at the faltering Arabic
of the girl, but attributing it finally to her defective mentality.
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r r
Could he have known that years had elapsed since she had used it
until she was taken by the Swedes he would not have wondered that
she had half forgotten it. There was yet another reason why the
language of The Sheik had thus readily eluded her; but of that
reason she herself could not have guessed the truth any better
than could the man.
He tried to persuade her to return with him to his "village"
as he called it, or douar, in Arabic; but she was insistent upon
searching immediately for Korak. As a last resort he determined
to take her with him by force rather than sacrifice her life to the
insane hallucination which haunted her; but, being a wise man,
he determined to humor her first and then attempt to lead her as
he would have her go. So when they took up their march it was
in the direction of the south, though his own ranch lay almost
due east.
By degrees he turned the direction of their way more and more
eastward, and greatly was he pleased to note that the girl failed
to discover that any change was being made. Little by little she
became more trusting. At first she had had but her intuition to
guide her belief that this big Tarmangani meant her no harm, but
as the days passed and she saw that his kindness and consideration
never faltered she came to compare him with Korak, and to be very
fond of him; but never did her loyalty to her apeman flag.
On the fifth day they came suddenly upon a great plain and
from the edge of the forest the girl saw in the distance fenced
fields and many buildings. At the sight she drew back in
astonishment.
"Where are we?" she asked, pointing.
"We could not find Korak," replied the man, "and as our way led
near my douar I have brought you here to wait and rest
with my wife until my men can find your ape, or he finds you.
It is better thus, little one. You will be safer with us, and
you will be happier."
"I am afraid, Bwana," said the girl. "In thy douar they
will beat me as did The Sheik, my father. Let me go back into
the jungle. There Korak will find me. He would not think to look
for me in the douar of a white man."
"No one will beat you, child," replied the man. "I have not
done so, have I? Well, here all belong to me. They will treat
you well. Here no one is beaten. My wife will be very good to
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