For half a minute the ape-man stood noting distant landmarks that
he judged might be in the vicinity of the fallen plane, for no
sooner had he realized that these people were again in trouble than
his inherent sense of duty to his own kind impelled him once more
to forego his plans and seek to aid them.
The ape-man feared from what he judged of the location of the machine
that it had fallen among the almost impassable gorges of the arid
country just beyond the fertile basin that was bounded by the
hills to the east of him. He had crossed that parched and desolate
country of the dead himself and he knew from his own experience
and the narrow escape he had had from succumbing to its relentless
cruelty no lesser man could hope to win his way to safety from
any considerable distance within its borders. Vividly he recalled
the bleached bones of the long-dead warrior in the bottom of the
precipitous gorge that had all but proved a trap for him as well.
He saw the helmet of hammered brass and the corroded breastplate of
steel and the long straight sword in its scabbard and the ancient
harquebus--mute testimonials to the mighty physique and the
warlike spirit of him who had somehow won, thus illy caparisoned
and pitifully armed, to the center of savage, ancient Africa; and
he saw the slender English youth and the slight figure of the girl
cast into the same fateful trap from which this giant of old had
been unable to escape--cast there wounded and broken perhaps, if
not killed.
Pages:
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264